Details on transfer payment programs

The Business-led Networks of Centres of Excellence (BL-NCE) program funds large-scale collaborative research networks that bring a wide range of research expertise to bear on specific challenges identified by an industrial sector. This tri-agency program is administered by NSERC on behalf of SSHRC, CIHR and NSERC.

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

In 2022-23, the Business-led Networks of Centres of Excellence (BL-NCE) program continued to help connect businesses to Canada’s world-class research enterprise. The total tri-agency investment in the BL-NCE program was $3.7 million.

The funding for NCE suite of programs will be gradually transferred to ISED’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) as grants reach the end of their terms.

The Canada 150 Chairs program provides Canadian universities with a one-time investment to attract top-tier, internationally based scholars and researchers (including Canadian expatriates) to Canada. This program is administered by SSHRC on behalf of CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC.

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

In 2022-23, the Canada 150 Research Chairs program invested a total of $13.3 million to support 23 Canada 150 Research Chairs.

Of the 23 chairholders, about 60% are women and 42% are Canadian researchers choosing to return to Canada to carry out their ambitious research programs. Each chairholder can recruit students from Canada and beyond who will help further their work in various disciplines such as chemistry, microbiology, evolutionary genomics, gender and African politics, global governance, neurosciences, epigenetics, public health, and psychology.

The Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) program is a tri-agency initiative that supports Canadian universities in their efforts to build on Canada's growing reputation as a global leader in research and innovation. The program awards world-renowned researchers and their teams to establish ambitious research programs at Canadian universities. This program is administered by SSHRC on behalf of CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC.

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

In 2022-23, the program supported 12 Canada Excellence Research Chairs with a total budget of $16.8 million, including three grants that align with CIHR’s mandate, seven grants that align with NSERC’s mandate and two grants that align with SSHRC’s mandate. The chairholders are building a competitive research environment that is both attracting top talent to the Canadian research ecosystem and building a critical mass of expertise in the country’s priority areas.

To ensure the program continued to meet its objectives, the program was redesigned in 2021 in response to its second evaluation completed in 2020, to include an emphasis on EDI requirements in the research design and research team, requirements for funded projects to develop a comprehensive EDI action plan in the first 12 months of the grant, and separate requirements relating to Indigenous research. A fourth competition, which included these program changes, was launched in 2022-23. Results will be announced in 2023-24. Two maximum award values were considered in the review process ($1 million or $500,000 per year) with a total initial budget envelope of approximately $248 million over eight years starting in 2023-24.

The Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) supports Canada’s postsecondary institutions in their efforts to become global research leaders. CFREF helps institutions: (i) compete with the best in the world for talent, for partnership opportunities and to make breakthrough discoveries; (ii) seize emerging opportunities and strategically advance their greatest strengths on the global stage; and (iii) implement large-scale, transformational and forward-thinking institutional strategies. This program is administered by SSHRC on behalf of CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC.

Thirteen CFREF recipients from the second CFREF competition (launched in 2015-2016) continued to receive support in 2022-23, for a tri-agency investment of $154 million.

The third CFREF competition was delivered in 2022-23. The competition was redesigned with an emphasis on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) requirements in the research design and research team, requirements for funded projects to develop a comprehensive EDI action plan in the first 12 months of the grant, and separate requirements relating to Indigenous research. The competition awarded $1.38 billion over seven years to 11 institutions to foster community, provincial, national, and international partnerships across the academic, private and not-for-profit sectors, to deliver research leading to important social and economic benefits for Canadians. From this total amount, $44 million was transferred to the 11 successful recipients in 2022-23, bringing the total support for all CFREF recipients to $198 million in 2022-23.

CFREF funding supports several areas of strategic relevance to Canada, including environment and agriculture; health and related life sciences; advanced manufacturing; information and communications technology; and natural resources and energy.

NSERC's Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS) program provides financial support to high-calibre scholars who are engaged in Master's or doctoral programs in the natural sciences or engineering. This tri-agency program is administered by each respective agency (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC).

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

In 2022-23, NSERC awarded 842 Master’s-level scholarships, with an investment of $15 million. At the doctoral level, NSERC’s total investment for new awards and on-going awards from previous years was $37 million, with 1,021 students supported through CGS. An additional 1,108 students were supported by NSERC’s Postgraduate Scholarships, with an investment of $23 million.

The Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) program bridges the challenging gap between innovation and commercialization. The program matches clusters of research expertise with the business community to share the knowledge and resources that bring innovations to market faster. Centres advance research and facilitate commercialization within four priority areas: the environment; natural resources and energy; health and life sciences; and information and communications technologies. This program is administered by NSERC on behalf of CIHR, SSHRC and NSERC.

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

In 2022-23, the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) program continued to help connect businesses to Canada’s world-class research enterprise. The total tri-agency investment in CECR was over $7.7 million.

The funding for NCE suite of programs will be gradually transferred to ISED’s Strategic Innovation Fund as grants reach the end of their term.

The College and Community Innovation (CCI) program is managed by NSERC in collaboration with CIHR and SSHRC. The CCI program increases innovation at the community and/or regional level by enabling Canadian colleges to increase their capacity to work with local companies, particularly small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), in areas of the natural and social sciences, engineering, humanities and/or health. It supports applied research and collaborations that facilitate commercialization, as well as technology transfer, adaptation and adoption of new technologies, in areas of strategic importance to Canada.

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

In 2022-23, NSERC continued its efforts to simplify and streamline the College and Community Innovation (CCI) program, better enabling it to address the changing dynamics of applied research in colleges and communities across Canada, and helping more Canadian organizations access the expertise and research and development facilities they need to resolve their innovation challenges, while supporting students in developing career skills.

Key redesign principles implemented included: the broadening of eligible partners to include not-for-profit and public sector organizations, in addition to those of the private sector; the creation of Mobilize grants to provide dependable long-term funding for the colleges; streamlined application and reporting processes; the implementation of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) requirements; simplifying the partner cash matching ratio to 25% of the grant amount; and an increased focus on student training.

In 2022-23, the total tri-agency investment in the CCI program was $102.8 million. Through the first CCI-Mobilize grants competition, the Tri-agency awarded 50 grants for a total value of $78.4 million over 5 years.

NSERC's class grant Grants and Scholarships program supports university-based basic and project research, college-based project research, provides scholarships and fellowships to young researchers, and facilitates links between universities, colleges, the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and governments.

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

In 2022-23, NSERC supported over 12,900 researchers at post-secondary institutions through its funding opportunities under the Discovery Research, Research Training and Talent Development, and Research Partnerships Programs.

To lessen the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and to support researchers and highly qualified personnel, over 1,950 recipients of active grants received one-time, one-year extensions with funds, valued at $74.7 million for 2022-23.

In 2022-23, NSERC continued to provide targeted support for early career researchers (ECRs). In the 2022 Discovery Grants competition, 529 supplements, valued at $12,500 each, provided timely resources to support ECRs as they established their research programs and hired students. As a result, $96.7 million was committed over six years for new awards to ECRs through the Discovery Grants and the Discovery Launch Supplements.

In June 2022, NSERC launched the first competition for the Chairs for Inclusion in Science and Engineering (CISE) program as a two-year pilot in the Atlantic region. The CISE program builds on the successful Chairs for Women in Science and Engineering (CWSE) program, continuing to promote the participation and retention of women in science and engineering while expanding to further address issues faced by a broader range of underrepresented groups. With this program expansion, NSERC is increasing its support to fund a team of three CISE Chairs at multiple universities coordinating their efforts to enhance the impact of the program in the region and to celebrate diverse role models.

In 2022-23, NSERC awarded over 7,200 scholarships and fellowships to support research trainees and invested over $526 million in domestic and international student training through grants.

The Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) funding opportunity helps trainees develop technical and professional skills. In 2022-23, 94 CREATE awardees received $29.9 million. 90% of CREATE initiatives offered trainees the opportunity to gain experience in enriched and varied research environments beyond their home institution, including 74% of initiatives that offered internships in industrial, government, non-profit or other settings.

An additional three CREATE grants were funded, with an additional commitment of $4.9 million, through the National Quantum Strategy.

The evaluation of the Canada Research Chairs was underway and is expected to be completed by April 2023.

The evaluation of Research Training and Talent Development was underway and is expected to be completed by December 2023.

The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships evaluation was underway. This evaluation is being led by CIHR, with an expected completion date of December 2023.

The evaluation of I2I was underway; expected completion is March 2024.

The evaluation of EDI Capacity-building grants was underway; expected completion is September 2023.

The evaluation of Dimensions was underway; expected completion is September 2023.

The program supports large-scale academically led research networks that harness the creativity and inventiveness of Canadian health, natural, and social scientists and engineers. Partners from industry, government and not-for-profit organizations contribute additional expertise and bring cash and in-kind support. This is a tri-agency program administered by NSERC on behalf of CIHR, SSHRC and NSERC.

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program continued to mobilize multi-disciplinary research teams from across the country to help find solutions to major social, economic or health issues for Canada and train the next generation of highly qualified personnel. In 2022-23, the total tri-agency investment in NCE was 15.9 million.

The gradual transition of NCE funding to the New Frontiers in Research Fund will continue over the next year with a complete wind-down of the NCE suite of programs by 2024-25. During the transition period, networks will continue to be supported until the end of their funding agreement.

There are no plans to evaluate this program, as the NCE is no longer an ongoing program and its funds are being gradually transferred to the New Frontiers in Research Fund. This program has been evaluated regularly (i.e., every 5 years) since its inception (as a sunset program) in 1985.

The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships program is tri-agency program designed to attract and retain world-class doctoral students by offering them a significant financial award. This financial award assists students during their studies at Canadian universities. Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health-related fields. This program is administered by CIHR on behalf of CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC.

There is no repayable contribution under this TPP.

Through the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) program, the Government of Canada invests up to $25 million annually, divided among the budgets of CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC, to attract and retain world-class doctoral students and establish Canada as a global centre of excellence in research and higher learning. Up to 166 scholarships are awarded annually to Canadian and international doctoral students studying at Canadian universities who demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and/or engineering, and health.

In 2022–23, the total tri-agency investment in the Vanier CGS program was $24.9 million over three years.

The evaluation of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship is planned to be completed by March 2026.