Details
| Opportunity Name | Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program |
| Agency | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) |
| Value | Up to $1,650,000 |
| Indirect Costs | Ineligible |
| Duration | 6 years |
Deadlines
Letter of Intent (LOI)
| Internal NOI submission to ORS | 03-01-2024 |
| SPORT Committee feedback | End of March 2024 |
| Application due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for full review | 04-17-2024 |
| Application and fully signed ORS checklist due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for mandatory review | 04-24-2024 |
| Final application and fully signed ORS checklist due at ORS for mandatory review | 04-29-2024 |
| Application due at agency | 05-01-2024 |
Full application
| ORS deadline for complete application for SPORT review | Mid-August, 2024 |
| SPORT Committee feedback | Late August 2024 |
| Application due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for full review | 09-09-2024 |
| Application and fully signed ORS checklist due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for mandatory review | 09-16-2024 |
| Final application and fully signed ORS checklist due at ORS for mandatory review | 09-19-2024 |
| Application due at agency | 09-23-2024 |
Objective
CREATE initiatives provide a value-added experience to the university training environment that includes the development of professional skills among students and postdoctoral fellows that complement their qualifications and technical skills, with a focus on providing an enriched training experience for graduate students.
CREATE programs are recognized for:
- their innovative nature to create a rich research training environment;
- the excellence of the researchers, and their success in training highly skilled and educated personnel for future employment in all sectors, including industry, government and academia;
- their capacity to raise the standard for best practices in research training and development of professional skills;
- encouraging student mobility, as appropriate, either between different Canadian universities, or between the universities and potential workplaces or among participating Canadian and international institutions; and
- strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion in research communities.
Eligibility
CREATE grants are tenable only at NSERC-eligible Canadian universities, and the applicant must hold an eligible position at that university. Researchers at non-eligible organizations may participate as collaborators. Ensure that you consider the eligibility requirements for applicants, co-applicants and collaborators described on NSERC’s website under Eligibility criteria for faculty.
York University Internal Selection Process
The CREATE program has permitted York University a yearly quota of 4 LOIs, and only those researchers selected by York can submit LOIs.
Researchers planning to submit an application to the CREATE program (Phase 1: Letter of Intent) must first submit an internal Notice of Intent (iNOI). The iNOIs will be reviewed by the Strategic Project and Opportunity Review Team (SPORT), which will provide feedback to applicants and advice to the Vice-President Research and Innovation (VPRI) on which iNOIs should be advanced to the funder.
The CREATE grants are institutional awards and require substantial support from researchers’ respective Departments, Faculties, and Organized Research Units. As such, proposals with institutional supports will be prioritized to move forward to the funder.
Applicants must notify their Faculty and the Office of Research Services (Christina Corre – ccorre@yorku.ca) as soon as possible about their intention to apply. Doing so will both streamline the process of securing Faculty-level support for the partnership, and ensure that researchers receive adequate support in application preparation.
An information session on the NSERC CREATE program will likely be held in February 2024 (details to be confirmed later). For more information and to schedule a consultation, please contact Christina Corre, Strategic and Institutional Research Specialists, in the Office of Research Services at ccorre@yorku.ca.
The iNOIs are due no later than March 1, 2024 by email to Maheen Hasan (mhasan@yorku.ca), and must include the following:
- York iNOI form
- Outline of Training Program (2 pages)*
- Excellence of Proposed Team of Researchers (2 pages)*
- NSERC Form 100 – only required for the lead applicant
- Industry Partner Letters/Emails – required for Industry Stream applications
- Copy of NSERC Review Comments for Resubmissions
- Faculty letter of support (1 page) – attach as PDF document
The letter should detail the alignment of the project with the strategic research objectives of the Faculty, and the supports/resources that the Faculty is prepared to commit to the project. Commitments and supports from Organized Research Units (ORUs) should be included as appropriate.
PLEASE CONTACT sciapps@yorku.ca IMMEDIATELY IF YOU INTEND TO APPLY. FSc Research Services will need to work with you on the preparation and obtaining signatures on the required Faculty letter of support (item #7 above.)
*Please follow the NSERC CREATE guidelines
How to Apply
York University researchers are reminded that all applications for external research funding, including Letters of Intent, must be reviewed and approved by the Office of Research Services before they are submitted to the granting agency. For internal approval, the application must be accompanied by a completed ORS Checklist, which requires the Dean’s signature. Please send the complete application, with the finalized budget and a completed ORS checklist to sciapps@yorku.ca, five days prior to agency deadline.
ORS is accepting electronic applications – the process is outlined here.