Read the grants description before you complete the application.
Information from the following individuals is required to complete the Mobilize grants application in the Convergence Portal.
Primary applicant:
Like all grants under the College and Community Innovation (CCI) program, Mobilize grants are for the institution, rather than an individual. Therefore, the applicant is normally a senior manager in the college’s administration who is delegated by the college president to create, prepare and complete the application with all required documentation and to manage the grant. The applicant should not be the college’s research grants officer.
Participants:
Participants are typically faculty or professional/technical staff from the college and/or from another eligible college who will contribute to the research activities.
Contributors (optional):
Contributors edit the application and typically help the applicant complete the application, but they do not contribute to research activities. Therefore, their information is not captured in the application.
Collaborators (optional):
Collaborators are members of the research team not affiliated with the college (e.g., partner staff or university faculty) who bring their own resources to the collaboration and do not have access to the grant funds. Collaborators are expected to contribute to the overall intellectual direction of the research project and/or play a key role in the conduct of the research and related activities.
The research grants officer (RGO) is the designated institutional liaison officer. This role is called Research Administrator in Convergence, and they approve and submit the grant application on behalf of the college.
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 Information about programs and information holdings. Details on the use and disclosure of this information are described on the Use and disclosure of personal information provided to NSERC page, in the NSERC program literature and below. The information is used in accordance with The Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.
Your application must be received at NSERC by .
You will not be able to edit your application once it has been submitted. You may not send material or updates separately before or after the deadline date.
As the applicant, you must create and submit your application in Convergence. Convergence is only supported on the latest versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox.
Follow the instructions provided in Convergence to complete your application. Additional details on the information needed to complete an application are outlined below.
The applicant and participant(s) will be required to complete enrolment steps when creating (applicant, steps 1 to 5 below) or accepting an invitation to participate in an application (participant[s], steps 2 to 5 below). If you have previously completed the enrolment steps in Convergence, some fields will be pre-populated (already filled out). At this point, you can also update any information that may have been previously provided.
Terms and conditions: Accept the terms and conditions to access the application.
Self-identification information
The applicant and participant(s) must complete the self-identification form to apply for NSERC funding however, you may select “Prefer not to answer” for any or all questions. NSERC appreciates your participation, which supports the granting agencies in monitoring the equity of their programs and strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the research enterprise. Self-identification information is collected as part of your profile when you enrol in Convergence. It is not part of your application and is not accessible to, or shared with, external reviewers and/or selection committee members.
Select View Application from the Applications tab to access the application.
Note: You can access the My profile section by selecting your name from the navigation menu in the top-right corner of the application. However, it is not necessary to complete your entire profile in Convergence. More specifically, the Funding, and the Interruptions and personal circumstances sections do not need to be completed as they are not captured in the application nor used in the assessment of applications.
You will be required to fill out the My information section, including the CV education, CV affiliation and employment, and CV documents sub-sections in the application itself after completing the enrolment steps.
The applicant and participant(s) must complete the My information section of the application.
After completing the enrolment steps, you will be re-directed to the home screen. In the Applications tab, select the application you created (applicant) or that you have been invited to contribute on (participant [s]) from the Actions menu. Once the application is open, complete the My information section, including the CV documents, CV affiliation and employment, and CV education.
CV documents (PDF attachments)
You must attach a CV contributions document (or university equivalent) to this sub-section. This free-form text document is limited to five pages, which should be used to list relevant experience and contributions to applied research and innovation in natural sciences, health and social sciences, including contributions to training. Ensure your name appears outside the set margins of the page, at the top right corner of each page.
CV affiliation and employment
You must provide at least one employment experience that is a postsecondary, research, professional or industrial position you have held.
If you are completing your My Information section for the first time in Convergence, add past and current affiliations by selecting Add New Affiliation. If you previously completed your profile, you may add previously completed affiliation information in Convergence by selecting Add Existing Affiliation.
CV education
You must provide at least one academic experience in a postsecondary program.
If you are completing your My information section for the first time in Convergence, add past and current education, if applicable, by selecting Add New Education. If you previously completed your profile, you may add previously completed education information in Convergence by selecting Associate Education.
The applicant and contributor(s) (as applicable) must complete the Shared information section of the application.
Application details
Provide the application title and the language of the application. The main body of your application should be written in either English or French, rather than in a mix of both official languages.
Invitations
Click Invite Participant to invite participants and/or contributors to complete their sections in the application. A maximum of 10 participants, excluding the applicant and contributors, can be invited for Mobilize grants. Collaborators are not invited; they are listed in the Collaborators sub-section.
Note: Only the applicant can invite others to participate in the application.
Participants
This section lists all the participants and contributors who have accepted your invitation and accessed Convergence. If an individual has not accepted your invitation, follow up with them to confirm they have received it.
If an invited participant has a status of Pending Eligibility, they have accepted your invitation but have not completed their enrolment (steps 1 to 4 in Convergence and agreeing to the terms and conditions of applying) to access the application.
If an invited participant has a status of Information not finalized, verify that they have completed the My information section (CV documents, CV affiliation and employment and CV education) by selecting View Information.
Once you (as the applicant) and all participants have completed the respective sections, you (the applicant) must finalize each participants’ record by selecting Finalize information from the Actions menu, which changes the status to Complete. Once finalized, the information cannot be edited by the applicant or participant(s), you need to email websupport@convergence.gc.ca, with a carbon copy to colleges@nserc-crsng.gc.ca, or call 613-995-4273 to unlock the My information section.
Note: Only the applicant can finalize information entered by participants.
Collaborators
If applicable, list the members of the research team not affiliated with the college who bring their own resources to the collaboration. These collaborators are expected to contribute to the overall intellectual direction of the research project and/or play a key role in the conduct of the research and related activities. Their CVs or biographical sketches (optional, up to two pages each) may be attached as a single PDF file in the Supporting documents section under CV collaborators.
Provide at least one primary socioeconomic objective relevant to the application. You may list up to three socio-economic objectives in total.
Note: Socio-economic objectives were previously referred to as ”areas of application.”
List at least one primary field of research that best describes this specific application. You may list a maximum of five fields of research.
List at least five keywords that best describe this specific application. You may list up to ten keywords.
The summary is intended to explain the proposal in language that the public can understand. Using simple terms, briefly describe the nature of the research and activities, the overall goal, and the objectives of the proposal. Indicate how the proposal is important for the college’s partners and community. This plain-language summary will be available to the public if your proposal is funded.
The maximum character count is 2,500.
Answer the questions in the Certification requirements sub-section ensuring that your responses are relevant to the proposed research activities. Depending on the answers you provide in the questionnaire, you may be asked to submit an Impact assessment form in the Supporting documents sub-section. For more information on certification requirements, consult the Requirements for certain types of research web page.
Before completing this section, consult the Tri-agency guide on financial administration and the Specific rules for the use of grant funds for information about the eligibility of expenditures and the regulations governing the use of grant funds.
Enter the planned expenditures in each category for each year of the grant. The budget can vary annually based on realistic projection of the planned expenditures. There is no minimum or maximum amount that can be requested from NSERC.
Use the Budget justification sub-section under Supporting documents (details below) to explain and justify each budget item.
Note: Overhead and administration costs equivalent to 20% of the annual grant amount are automatically calculated.
Supporting documents
You are responsible for submitting a complete application that conforms to the presentation standards established by NSERC. You must check the page lengths and formatting of any attachments uploaded to the application. Incomplete applications and applications that do not meet the presentation standards outlined below may be rejected, or be at a disadvantage, in comparison with those that are complete and respect the presentation standards. Where page limits are stated, pages in excess of the number permitted will be removed. If a submitted application contains one or more attachments that do not comply with the page length or formatting standard, the application may be deemed ineligible.
Important notes:
Convert the documents to PDF
All attachments must be converted to portable document format (PDF) before they can be attached to the application. The conversion process varies with the operating system and word processing or spreadsheet software you are using. If you have questions about converting your documents to PDF, contact your institution’s technical support staff. If you do not have a PDF conversion program, you may download a free version of PrimoPDF. Macintosh users have a PDF conversion option in the Macintosh system’s Print function.
The following supporting documents must be attached to the application. The File column in the Supporting documents section of Convergence indicates which documents are required.
Impact assessment (appendix A)
If applicable, download the Impact assessment form (appendix A), complete it and upload it to the Supporting documents sub-section of your application. For more information, consult NSERC’s guidelines on impact assessment.
Note: The brief instructions below are meant to provide some guidance on the contents of the research proposal and are not meant to be exhaustive or applicable to all situations. The activities of this grant can vary greatly among colleges and depend on the specific college context. Use your best judgement when determining the information to include. In some cases, similar information can be placed under more than one heading. If that is the case, use the limited space strategically to avoid repetition.
Your proposal will be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria detailed in the Mobilize grants description and in the merit indicators. Using the headings below, describe your research initiative by addressing the context, each evaluation criterion and sub-criterion in a maximum of 12 pages. Write the proposal in clear, plain language. Avoid jargon, acronyms and highly technical terms. Describe the proposed research in enough detail to allow the review committee members to make an informed assessment. Ensure that the information provided in the metrics table is consistent with the description in the research proposal.
Context
Potential for innovation
Applied research competence
Training
Excellence of the proposal
References
If needed, you may also include one additional page for literature references. Use this section to provide a list of the most relevant literature references. Do not refer readers to websites for additional information on your proposal. Do not introduce hyperlinks in the list of references. Include the reference page in the PDF file with the research proposal.
In a maximum of five pages, provide a detailed explanation and justification for each budget item in the budget table. Provide sufficient information to allow reviewers to assess whether the resources requested are appropriate. These pages should contain only information pertinent to the budget. Refer to the Specific rules for the use of grant funds section of the Mobilize grants description for a list of eligible expenditures not covered under the Tri-agency guide on financial administration.
Salaries and benefits
Give the names (if known), categories of employment and proposed salaries (with explicit indication of non-discretionary benefits) of those in each of the positions listed below. Briefly describe the responsibilities for each position and indicate the amount of time they will be spending on the research activities focused on partner innovation needs over this initiative’s lifespan.
Operating and equipment
Operating and equipment costs, including consulting fees, must not exceed 20% of the total Mobilize grants budget.
Miscellaneous
In this section, you may include other expenses attributable to specific projects or activities to be undertaken with this initiative, as follows.
Other expenditures
If applicable, add any other expenditures related to direct costs of research not listed above in this section. Add headings to indicate the type of expenditure.
Total support from the college
Indicate the cash amount the college will directly invest to fund the operational requirements of the Mobilize grant activities. The cash must go into an account that the college uses for the purposes of the grant, as set out in the budget in the grant application. NSERC may request that the college complete a form 301 to confirm that the cash was provided and that the funds were used for the purposes of the grant.
Overhead and administration
Overhead and administration costs equivalent to 20% of the annual grant amount are automatically calculated in the budget table. Overhead and administration expenditures eligible under the Research Support Fund are eligible under Mobilize grants.
Provide general information on the overhead and administration costs attributable to the grant. If applicable, provide information on the costs of specific activities supporting EDI in the research and training environment.
This section collects information on specific applied research and training metrics for the college as a whole to measure the level of partner-focused applied research activities across the research programs of the college. Do not include institutional research data or activities related to the college’s education research programs.
Download the metrics table template from Convergence and provide metrics on the college’s past and future applied research activities and partnerships. These data should support the past accomplishments and future goals of the college, as described in the Research proposal section of the application. NSERC recognizes that the future metrics provided in the table are best estimates based on the anticipated direction of the college’s research programs.
Please read the metrics table guidelines below carefully before completing the table. The application also allows you to add a two-page-maximum metrics description attachment to explain any assumptions and provide context for the metrics.
Colleges can choose the time period they wish to cover for the average compilation of the past three years. Typically, colleges would choose the previous three fiscal years for which they have complete data. However, if they have substantial data for a current year that is almost completed, they may wish to include that year. They should indicate in the two-page metrics description which fiscal years are included (e.g., 2020–21 to 2022–23).
The five years should begin with the start date (July following the competition) of the Mobilize grant you are applying for and should end five years after the start date.
Do not alter the template (font type and size, etc.). Sign at the bottom, save the completed table and upload it to Convergence. Once it is signed, the completed metrics table will be locked and cannot be changed. If you wish to make additional changes, remove the signature, edit the table and add the signature again when the table is finalized.
Metrics table guidelines
Funding and partnerships
Note: Salaries for faculty involved in research activities are not considered an eligible cash contribution. However, the salaries of replacement faculty hired to backfill a faculty member’s involvement in an applied research project are considered eligible.
Applied research capacity
Total salaries (including benefits) for research personnel and for faculty/teacher release for research carried out by the college and affiliated research centres, CCTTs and TACs. Exclude salaries for administrative and support staff, student researchers and volunteers. Routine work, such as testing of materials, should not be included.
Training
Total number of salaried (paid) college students engaged in research work on any applied research projects carried out by the college (or affiliated research centres, CCTTs or TACs). Do not include university students in this category; include them under applied research capacity.
Use up to two pages to explain important assumptions or factors associated with any metrics reported in the metrics table. Please include the information detailed below, as well as any other information that you feel is relevant and that the review committee should consider when assessing your application.
You may attach a biographical sketch or CV for collaborators whose expertise is essential in meeting the research objectives of the proposal. In a maximum of two pages for each collaborator, provide the individual’s name, employment/affiliation, relevant education/training, research funding received, and up to five significant contributions related to the project. Alternatively, a two-page CV may be provided for each collaborator.
All collaborator biographical sketches or CVs included in this section must be saved as a single PDF document and uploaded to the Supporting Documents sub-section.
Review the application to ensure that it is complete.
From the Finalize and submit section, follow the prompts to submit your application.
After you accept the terms and conditions, the status of your submission will change to Received by Administrator. If you want to make any changes at this point, you may request that your research grants officer return the application to you.
Once your research grants officer has approved and submitted your application, the application status will change to Received by Agency. No changes can be made after that point.
When you, as a research grants officer, receive an application submitted by an applicant at your institution, you will be asked to approve the application and submit it. By submitting it, you are confirming that:
By submitting the application, you, on behalf of your institution, are also certifying that the applicant: