Canada-France call for proposals on artificial intelligence

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Review of your application

Eligibility

NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR will undertake an administrative review of the Canadian simplified application to ensure it is complete and complies with all requirements. This includes alignment with the research areas of the call, eligibility of the Canada-based applicants and co-applicants, benefits to Canada, and consideration of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the training plan (which is a screening criterion). ANR will review the eligibility of the France-based researchers and their applications.

All NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR and ANR eligibility requirements must be met before an application can be retained for merit assessment. Applications that are not deemed to be eligible and relevant will be withdrawn from the competition.

In supporting research partnerships that endeavour to obtain the greatest possible benefits to Canada and for Canadians, NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR reserve the right to:

• Determine the eligibility of proposals and request additional information from Canada-based applicants, as may be required for the review of their application
• Interpret the regulations and policies governing the national funding opportunities
• Apply conditions to individual grants as appropriate
• Terminate, suspend, reduce the amount or duration, or change the terms and conditions of an award with due notice to comply with Government of Canada laws, regulations, policies and directives, which are subject to change

On January 16, 2024, the Government of Canada published its Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern. This funding opportunity is in scope of this new policy, wherein grant applications that involve conducting research that aims to advance a sensitive technology research area will not be funded if any of the researchers involved in activities supported by the grant are currently affiliated with or in receipt of funding or in-kind support from, a named research organization. Please read the Tri-agency guidance on the STRAC Policy to understand how this policy may impact your grant application.

Merit assessment mechanisms

ANR is in charge of receiving submissions and organizing evaluations for both countries. ANR will review the Canada-France proposals based on their processes and merit review criteria (ANR-AAPG 2025 Guide section B.5.3: Scientific quality and ambition; Organization and implementation of the project; Benefits and impacts of the project). NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR will not conduct a parallel merit review. ANR will provide NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR with the merit review results.

Some sub-criteria are specific to the PRCI instrument (Annex PRCI Franco-Canadian, section 5 Evaluation), particularly those which are related to the project’s capacity to respond to the research challenges of the chosen scientific research theme.

On behalf of SSHRC and CIHR, NSERC can suggest external reviewers that ANR may call upon for project evaluation. IVADO will not be involved in this process.

Funding decision

ANR will provide NSERC with a ranked list of fundable projects, in order of merit, from those which passed the evaluation process.

ANR, NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR will jointly make funding decisions for the full applications submitted to ANR, which have undergone a merit review. NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR’s funding decision will take into consideration the ANR merit review. NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR’s funding decision will consider the potential risks to Canada’s national security pursuant to the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships where applicable.

When making their funding decisions, NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR will take into account the involvement of the Canadian team as described in both the ANR application and in the Canadian simplified application, as well as the benefit to Canada, alignment with the research topics, and the concrete measures to support equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the training plan as laid out in the simplified application that you will submit to NSERC.

IVADO supplement

IVADO will determine if the proposed activities align with their research program, R³AI: Shifting Paradigms for a Robust, Reasoning and Responsible Artificial Intelligence, based on the one-page requests included in the simplified applications.

IVADO reserves the right to reduce the amount requested, depending on the number of applications received, or if the proposed activities are not aligned with IVADO’s research program.

What's next?
Receiving your funding and starting your project