How to complete NSERC’s version of the Canadian Common CV

• General information
• How to access and complete the NSERC CCV
• How to submit your CCV to NSERC
• Detailed instructions on how to complete the NSERC CCV
• Personal information
• Education
• Recognitions
• Employment
• Research funding history
• Activities
• Memberships
• Contributions
• Obtaining consent from individuals supervised

General information

Who must complete the Canadian Common CV (CCV)?

All applicants and co-applicants for NSERC grants who use the NSERC Research Portal, as well as all Alliance applicants and co-applicants, must complete the NSERC version of the CCV.

Whom should I contact if I need help?

Consult the  Help Manual on how to use the CCV before you start completing it. For technical issues, send an email to support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca or call 1-888-603-4178. If you have questions related to a competition or to the instructions on how to complete the NSERC CCV, send an email to webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca or call 1-855-275-2861. Include in your message the email address and telephone number where you may be contacted.

How will my personal information be collected and used?

The information you provide in your application is collected under the authority of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Act and stored in a series of NSERC data banks described in Info Source. Details on the use and disclosure of this information are described in the Use and Disclosure of Personal Information Provided to NSERC, in the NSERC program literature and below. The information is used in accordance with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act (ATIP). Consult the CCV Web site for the  Privacy Statement on the Canadian Common CV (collection and use of personal information in the CCV).

How to access and complete the NSERC CCV

Step 1—Register and log in

Go to the  Canadian Common CV website. Follow the instructions to register and log in. 

Step 2—Select the NSERC CCV

• Select Funding from the CV drop-down menu located in the top menu bar.
• From the drop-down menus, select NSERC as the Funding Source and NSERC_Researcher as the CV Type, then click Load.

Note: Select the NSERC_CV and not the generic CV to ensure that you complete all the fields required by NSERC. If you have previously entered information in the generic version of the CCV, this information will automatically populate any identical sections in your NSERC CCV. The NSERC CCV can be written and/or downloaded in either official language. All the information from the English template will appear in the French template (and visa versa) except for the bilingual fields. To display these additional fields, click on the Show Bilingual Fields button.

Step 3—Add and edit entries in the NSERC CCV

• Click the pencil icon (Edit) to complete or update a section.
• Click Add to create new entries in a section or subsection.
• Click Done when you have completed a section or subsection.
• Within a section, use the Submit check box beside each entry to selectively choose the entries to be included in your NSERC CCV.
• Sections that have errors or that are incomplete are denoted with an X.

All mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*).

Review all of the sections to ensure that you have completed those that are relevant to your application.

How to submit your CCV to NSERC

Do not use the PIN/System Account functionality to submit your CCV.  NSERC does not use this functionality to validate your account.

• Once you have completed the NSERC CCV, click Submit.
• A confirmation number will automatically be provided onscreen after you agree to the consent statement. Click History in the top menu bar to view your submission history.

For the Research Portal (including Discovery Grants):

• Log in to the Research Portal to attach your CCV to your application.
• On the Welcome page, open your application.
• Go to the Canadian Common CV Uploaded section, click Attach.
• Enter your NSERC CCV confirmation number and click Upload. A message will appear indicating that you have successfully uploaded your CCV. Note: To successfully upload your CCV, the first name and family name used to create your CCV site account must be identical to those used to create your Research Portal account. As well, the email address used to create your Research Portal account must be identical to at least one of the emails you listed on the CCV site.
• In the Uploaded Canadian Common CV section, click on the CV link to preview your CV.
• If you are unable to preview your CCV or if you receive an error message, verify that you have the correct confirmation number. If the errors persist, contact the online services help desk.

For the NSERC online system (including Alliance grants):

• To upload a PDF version of your completed CCV, from the History tab, select the PDF icon to preview your completed version.
• Download and save a copy.
• Attach that copy to the Personal data form with CCV attachment (form 100A).

Note: In absence of these steps, only a draft copy will be included with your Personal data form with CCV attachment.

Detailed instructions for completing the NSERC CCV

• In the CCV, click on the question mark icon (Help) icon for information on what needs to be provided in a section or a field.
• NSERC imposes a six year limit in certain sections. The system will validate the information that can be included back to January 1 of the first permissible year. Entries exceeding the limit will be indicated as an error.
• The End Date field is mandatory in certain sections. You must enter the anticipated end date if the activity is in progress.
• For some programs, NSERC requires additional information to assess the excellence of the researcher and contributions to the training of highly qualified personnel (HQP). Consult the program instructions for details.

Personal information (mandatory)

Enter your identification information, language skills, address, telephone number and email address.

Note: Peer reviewers will have access to your family name, middle name and first name, but no other personal information.

Education (mandatory)

Enter your degrees and diplomas.

Recognitions

Enter the prizes and awards you (not your trainees) have received over the last six years. Describe the recognition received and its importance in the textbox provided.

User profile (mandatory)

Enter key words that best describe your area of expertise (research specialization key words).

Employment (mandatory)

Academic work experience

Enter your current and past academic work experience. 

If you currently have a firm written offer but have not taken up the position at the time of application, enter the information related to the offered position.

If you currently hold one of the following positions, you must complete the Work Description field:

• Adjunct professor
• Emeritus professor
• A part-time position  
• An appointment that is not a tenure or tenure-track

In the Work Description field, if applicable, you must provide

• the nature of your research, teaching, training, administrative and other activities
• the time typically spent on location at the post-secondary institution on each of these activities (e.g., one day every week, two weeks every four months)

Non-academic work experience

Enter your current and past non-academic work experience.

If you currently hold a non-academic position, you must complete the Work Description field and provide

• the nature of your research program and other activities at your other place of employment
• the relationship between your research program at this organization and the proposed research; refer to the institution’s involvement in research and development, if possible

Leaves of absence or delays and their impact on research

Provide information on any leave of absence or delay that affected research activities and/or dissemination of research results within the last six years (e.g., parental leave, bereavement, illness, extraordinary administrative duties). In the case of a medical leave, it is not necessary to explain the illness or the treatment but rather its impact on your research.

• Provide the start and end dates  
• Clearly explain the impact of the delay on your research activities, especially if a formal leave was not taken

Research funding history

List all sources of support (including NSERC grants and university start-up funds) you have held as an applicant or a co-applicant, including

• support held in the past six years but now completed
• support currently held
• support currently applied for (under review)

Notes:  

• Do not include unsuccessful applications.
• Enter all amounts in Canadian dollars (CAD).
• For Portion of Funding, enter the amount allocated to you personally.

A “Declined” funding status in this section refers to an award that was offered and then declined by the applicant.

Activities

Include your activities over the last six years that are relevant to the application you are submitting to NSERC.

Supervisory activities - student/postdoctoral supervision

The Supervisor Activities section includes students ranging from undergraduate theses and summer projects to trainees at the postdoctoral level, and includes research associates and technicians.

• Do not use “Academic Advisor” in your NSERC CCV. Include only the roles of “Principal Supervisor” and “Co-supervisor.”
• Include only highly qualified personnel (HQP) whose research training was under your direct and formal supervision. Do not include students supervised as part of your undergraduate course, a postdoctoral position, a thesis advisory committee, or normal teaching duties like undergraduate courses and capstone design projects.
• Complete the fields Present Position and Present Organization to show where the HQP is currently working or studying. This information is used by reviewers to assess the impact and success of highly qualified personnel (HQP) training.

Administrative activities

Enter the services you’ve contributed in administrative, institutional and executive activities.

Advisory activities

Enter the expert witness activities you’ve participated in where services contributed to a legal proceeding.

Assessment and review activities - organizational review activities

Include only review activities related to the assessment of an institution.

Do not include other assessment and review activities such as journal reviews and external reviews of research funding applications in the CCV. You may describe these activities in the application as part of the Additional Information on Contributions section, if relevant.

Knowledge and technology translation activities

List activities related to practical application, such as community engagement and outreach, activities with industry, activities with government, and innovation.

International collaboration activities

Enter international collaborations where you have worked with others outside of Canada on administrative, professional, research or knowledge translation projects. These activities should be relevant to the application you are submitting to NSERC.

Include work with international researchers, where you have participated jointly in research as the result of a research grant. Briefly describe the nature of the collaboration and the research project.

Memberships

Enter the committee and other memberships you have held over the last six years.

Do not include activities as part of thesis committees.

Contributions (mandatory)

Include your contributions to research over the last six years that are relevant to the application you are submitting to NSERC.

Presentations

List the presentations that you have given at conferences and events.

Do not include presentations given by highly qualified personnel (highlight these HQP achievements in the application instead, not in your CCV). Do not duplicate information listed under Conference Publications.

Interviews and media relations

List the broadcast interviews and/or text interviews you have participated in.

Publications

List any journal articles, journal issues, books, book chapters, reports, manuals, conference publications (e.g., abstracts, papers, posters) for which you are an author or a co-author.

In the list of authors, use an asterisk to identify highly qualified personnel whom you supervised or co-supervised.

To import publications go to Utilities in the top menu bar and select Import publication from Web or Import publication from file.

Intellectual property

List any patents, licenses, disclosures, registered copyrights or trademarks you have contributed to.

Obtaining consent from individuals supervised

To comply with federal Privacy Act provisions governing the collection of personal information, applicants are asked to obtain consent from the individuals they have supervised before providing personal data about them to NSERC. In seeking this consent, the NSERC applicant must inform these individuals which data will be supplied and assure them that information will be used solely by NSERC and only for the purpose of assessing the applicant’s contribution to the training of highly qualified personnel. To avoid the need to seek consent several times for multiple applications, applicants only need to seek consent from an individual supervised once every six years.

The Consent to provide limited personal information about highly qualified personnel (HQP) to NSERC form must be obtained from these individuals and retained by the applicant. If the trainee provides consent by email, the message must include confirmation that he or she has read and agrees to the text of the consent form.

If consent cannot be obtained, applicants are asked to withhold names or other information that would identify those supervised. You may enter “unknown” in those cases and provide the type of training and status, number of years supervised or co-supervised, a general description of the project or thesis, and a general indication of the individual’s present position, if known.