Applications for Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) must be completed and submitted to the Canadian institution where you wish to hold an award through NSERC’s online system. Selected applications are submitted to NSERC by institutions. No USRA applications may be submitted directly to NSERC.
Overview | |
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Value | $6,000 plus host institution contribution |
Application deadline | |
How to apply | See below |
Application forms |
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For more information |
Refer to the ![]() |
USRAs are meant to nurture your interest and fully develop your potential for a research career in the natural sciences and engineering (NSE). They are also meant to encourage you to undertake graduate studies in these fields by providing research work experience that complements your studies in an academic setting. NSERC encourages qualified Indigenous students to apply for this award. See the Indigenous applicants section below for more details.
Incorporating diversity considerations, including but not limited to sex (biological), gender (socio-cultural), race, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, geographic location, among other factors in your research design can make it more ethically sound, rigorous and useful.
NSERC is acting on the evidence that achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to advance knowledge and understanding, and to respond to local, national and global challenges. This principle informs the commitments described in the Tri-agency statement on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). For more information consult the document: Equity, diversity and inclusion considerations at each stage of the research process.
Note: USRAs may be held during co-op placements. Your institution’s co-op office or USRA liaison officer (LO) may be able to assist you in finding a placement. The LOs are institution administrators and usually work in your institution’s scholarship office.
To be eligible to apply for an award, you must
In addition
To hold an award, you must
Note:
You are not eligible to apply for a USRA if
NSERC will not reimburse the institution for any period during which you worked part time. No payment will be approved for any vacation leave you take during tenure of the award.
Without exception, USRA awards are tenable only at eligible Canadian institutions with an assigned allocation.
An eligible supervisor is a person authorized by the institution to independently supervise students. Your institution will decide if your proposed supervisor is eligible. You must work under the supervision of a person who has been approved by the institution.
To be considered eligible for the USRA program, your proposed research project must clearly lie within the NSE. Refer to NSERC’s Eligibility criteria for students and fellows for additional information. It is not necessary for your proposed supervisor’s research program to be exclusively within the NSE.
To apply for these awards, you must complete and submit your application using NSERC’s online system. Refer to the instructions for completing form 202.
You can apply to more than one institution. You must apply directly to the institution where you would like to hold the award. However, please note that it is the institution’s choice whether to accept candidates from other institutions.
Eligible Canadian institutions are assigned an allocation of awards to offer each year. Refer to the Undergraduate Student Research Awards allocations web page for a list of allocations by institution.
The selection process is done by the institution based on the following three criteria:
All application and review processes are internal to the institution. It is the institution’s responsibility to establish its own selection criteria within the broad guidelines that NSERC provides, and it may choose to apply stricter criteria. When selecting students for awards, the institution will take into account the objectives of the USRA program. For details on the institution selection procedures, refer to the USRA LO at the institution where you would like to hold the award.
Institutions may recommend applications from self-identified Indigenous applicants to the USRA program beyond their quota allocation.
Each eligible institution sets its own deadline dates for receiving applications. For information about these dates, contact the USRA LO at the institution where you intend to apply for an award.
Although awards may be held in the summer, fall or winter term, each institution will determine the number of selection processes it holds each year.
Each institution will inform applicants of its award decisions after it has completed its selection process. To find out if your application was recommended to NSERC, contact the USRA LO at your institution. Candidates approved by NSERC will receive an award letter on SharePoint from NSERC midway through their award. Award letters should be read carefully and kept for future reference.
Once NSERC has approved your USRA for tenure at one particular institution, you may not transfer it to another institution.
You will receive your payment from the institution. The institution will issue payments to you for the total value of the award in accordance with its pay procedures. It will also issue a T4 or T4A slip (statement of income) to you at the end of the calendar year.
NSERC will pay its contribution directly to the institution.
Travel allowances are not provided by NSERC.
The first point of contact regarding the USRA program should be the USRA LO at the institution where you intend to apply for an award or where you are currently registered in an eligible program of study.
For general information about this program, consult the contact list.