Equity, diversity and inclusion

Self-Identification Data Reporting in Support of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

This interactive dashboard presents data from applicants to NSERC programs on whether they identify as belonging to one or more of the four designated groups: women, Indigenous peoples, members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities. A harmonized Tri-agency self-identification questionnaire was first launched in mid-2018 and was revised in 2021 for NSERC funding opportunities; more information can be found on the Self-identification Data Collection in Support of EDI web page.

• Methodology

  Competition Year: the calendar year in which the results of a competition were announced.

  Funding opportunity: a source of funding that eligible students, researchers and/or post-secondary institutions can apply to. The funding opportunities included in this dashboard are a subset of NSERC’s scholarships and grants, selected based on the availability of self-identification data.

  Program: A program combines funding opportunities into a meaningful group for budgetary and reporting purposes.

  % of applications: percentage of applicants who gave a specific answer on the self-identification questionnaire (number of applicants who gave a specific answer divided by the total number of applications). For example, in the “Women” tab, we see that 28% of all applicants identified as women.

  % of awards: percentage of awardees who gave a specific answer on the self-identification questionnaire (number of awardees who gave a specific answer divided by the total number of awards). For example, in the “Indigenous” tab, we see that 92.8% of all awards were given to applicants who did not identify as Indigenous.

  % of awarded funding: percentage of the funding that was awarded to individuals who gave a specific answer on the self-identification questionnaire (funding that was awarded to individuals who gave a specific answer divided by the total of all funding awarded). For example, in the “Visible Minorities” tab, we see that 9.3% of all funding was awarded to people who did not wish to answer whether they identified as members of a visible minority.

  Note 1: Although the terms "members of visible minorities" and "visible minorities" are used in legal and statistical contexts in Canada, they are considered outdated and can be inaccurate in a general context as they do not always reflect provincial, territorial or other regional demographic compositions in Canada. Also, the word "visible" suggests that being white is the standard and the word "minority" limits the concept to numbers, when it is in fact more often about the power that is held by a dominant group. In general contexts, it is preferable to use the term "racialized group."
  
  It is widely recognized that certain terms used in the Employment Equity Act are outdated. The Act is currently under modernization review by the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force. Source : https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/en/publications/equite-diversite-inclusion-equity-diversity-inclusion-eng

  Note 2: If an individual has applied more than once or holds more than one grant/award, they will appear multiple times in the dataset.

  Note 3: Allocations of Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) are assigned to eligible Canadian institutions, who select the award recipients. As such, this funding opportunity does not contribute to the “% of applications” measure. Furthermore, because of the large number of USRAs each year and the higher proportion of women and Indigenous people receiving these awards compared to other funding opportunities, the inclusion of USRAs has a large impact on the “% of awards” and “% of awarded funding” for these groups.

  Note 4: The values found in NSERC official reports (e.g., Departmental Plan, Departmental Results Report) have precedence over the values presented in this dashboard. These differences, while marginal in most cases, are mostly explained by methodological differences regarding the inclusion and exclusion of certain funding opportunities and the time at which the data was captured.