SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 – Laurentian has been awarded $3.5 M from the Federal Government in Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funding.
NSERC will deliver nearly $3.15M to Laurentian University through the CREATE, Discovery Grant and Research Tools and Instruments Grant programs. “A greater number of researchers applied for funding through these programs this year and the University saw a record amount of successful proposals,” said Dr. Thomas Merritt, Laurentian’s NSERC Leader.
To increase success in the NSERC competition, Laurentian has offered workshops, mentoring and peer-to-peer support to researchers which strengthened the applications.
Laurentian was successful in increasing SSHRC funding this year. “We saw an 11% increase in SSHRC funding over last year,” said Dr. Gillian Crozier, Laurentian’s SSHRC Leader. “This increase is due in large part to new awards in the Insight and Insight Development Grant programs.”
Laurentian researchers were also awarded new funding through SSHRC’s Connection Grant program which supports large-scale knowledge mobilization initiatives.
Dr. Rui Wang, Vice-President Research, wishes to congratulate all Laurentian researchers and thanks NSERC and SSHRC for their support, “I am proud of Laurentian’s researchers across all seven faculties who excelled in this year’s NSERC and SSHRC competitions. Our achievements in these peer-reviewed national funding competitions is evidence of Laurentian’s national recognition and excellence in these areas.”
Key facts include:
- SSHRC funding amount increased by 11% in 2015-2016 over 2014-15;
- NSERC funding amount increased by 45% in 2015-16 over 2014-15;
- Areas of research that will benefit from NSERC funding include: Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Human Kinetics, Math and Computer Science, and Physics;
- The success rate of Laurentian’s NSERC Discovery grant applications is 55% in 2016 compared to 29% in 2015;
- The NSERC CREATE Grant Program supports the training of teams of highly qualified students and postdoctoral fellows from Canada and abroad through the development of innovative training programs;
- The NSERC Discovery Grants Program supports ongoing research with long-term goals;
- The NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Grants Program provides the primary avenue for university researchers in the natural sciences and engineering to obtain up to $150,000 in support for research tools and instruments;
- The primary objective of the SSHRC Insight Program is to build knowledge and understanding from disciplinary, interdisciplinary and/or cross-sector perspectives through support for the best researchers;
- SSHRC Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and/or ideas. Funding is provided for short-term research development projects, of up to two years, proposed by individuals or teams;
SSHRC Connection Grants support events and outreach activities geared toward short-term, targeted knowledge mobilization initiatives.