University of Ottawa Wednesday, October 25, 2012 Dave Bowen – Team Leader NSERC NSERC Update.

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University of Ottawa Wednesday, October 25, 2012 Dave Bowen – Team Leader NSERC NSERC Update

Transcript of University of Ottawa Wednesday, October 25, 2012 Dave Bowen – Team Leader NSERC NSERC Update.

University of OttawaWednesday, October 25, 2012

Dave Bowen – Team Leader NSERC

NSERC Update

Outline

NSERC NewsNSERC Frontiers Climate and Atmospheric Research (CCAR)Northern Research Supplements (NRS)Federal budget 2012

2012 Discovery Grants Competition ResultsGeosciences (EG 1506)

Questions

Discovery Frontiers

First project (Northern Earth Systems):

– Arctic Development and Adaptation to Permafrost in Transition (ADAPT) brings together 15 laboratories to tackle broad problems defined with the input of the northern community

– Led by Warwick Vincent, Centre d’études nordiques, Université Laval

$4 million over a four-year period Theme for next call for proposals:

to be determined in fall 2012

Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR)

• New federal research initiative will improve understanding of the climate and the atmosphere

• $35 million over five years

• Large, integrated projects involving university researchers, Canadian government scientists, and partner organizations

• Research proposals for CCAR funding must cover one of the following three themes:

• Understanding Earth system processes and their representation in weather, climate and atmospheric chemistry models;

• Advancing weather, climate and environmental prediction; and/or

• Understanding recent changes in the Arctic and cold region environments

• Fifty-eight letters of intent received, 24 invited to apply

• Decisions by January

Northern Research Supplements (NRS)

Objective: Provide extra support to Discovery Grant (DG) holders conducting

research in Canada’s North, in recognition of the extra logistical costs

NSERC is consolidating existing Northern funding to strengthen the Northern Research Supplements Program

$1.5 million annual budget

92 researchers currently supported Value between $10-25K

Awards at the upper end of the range recognizing researchers whose programs have higher logistical costs and make outstanding contributions to outreach and interactions with northerners

Impact of Federal Budget 2012 on NSERC

Investment of $15M per year for our Strategy on Partnerships and Innovation

Discovery, Scholarships and Innovation programs fully protected

– “programming in support of basic research, student scholarships, and industry-related research initiatives and collaborations are preserved.

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“The granting councils will be pursuing operational efficiencies and reallocation of funding from lower-priority programs to generate savings. The Government will fully reinvest 2012–13 savings in priority areas of the granting councils, particularly in industry-academic partnerships.” (p. 73)

Budget 2012: Planned Reductions in Budget 2012: Planned Reductions in Departmental SpendingDepartmental Spending

Planned Savings—millions of dollars 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Ongoing

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

15.0 30.0 30.0 30.0

NSERC’s Budget (millions of dollars)

732803

859 895

1,013 1,053 1,078 1,089 1,0621,030

651

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

(mill

ions

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dolla

rs)

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Major Resources Program

– Program will no longer be accepting new applications at this time.

– Commitments for existing instalments will be honoured.

– Program is currently under moratorium.

Impact to Discovery Suite of Programs

Research Tools & Instruments

– Community consulted on options for limited competitions in future, given impact from budget 2012

– Next step will be to seek input from the Committee on Grants and Scholarships on the implementation of the program for the 2014 competition

– The research community is encouraged to explore other avenues for funding research tools and instruments, including NSERC’s many programs that allow for the purchase of equipment, among other expenses.

– Additionally, requests for smaller scale equipment can be incorporated into larger scale funding requests to the Canada Foundation for Innovation, where appropriate. 

Impact to Discovery Suite of Programs

Discovery Grants 2012Geosciences

Results and Statistics

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Overall Statistics (All EGs)2012 Discovery Grants Competition

NSERC continued to put a strong emphasis on giving Early-Career Researchers (ECRs) a chance to demonstrate their potential and

exceeded the minimum target success rate of 50% recommended in the International Review of the NSERC Discovery Grants Program.

In Budget 2011, NSERC was allocated additional funding "to support outstanding research in the natural sciences and engineering fields,

such as the Strategy for Partnerships and Innovation (SPI)." NSERC is devoting half of this money to enhance the Discovery Grants of ECRs

in the form of supplements to their grants.

These supplements of a value of up to $5,000 per year are included in the awarded amounts and reflected in the statistics presented in these

slides.

Discovery Grants Overall Results – 2012 Competition

Data1Success rate (%)

Average Grant

Early Career researchers (ECR) 62 $26,740Established Researchers (ER) applicants who held a grant (ER-R) 78 $33,354 applicants not holding a grant2 (ER-NHG) 36 $26,964

1. Includes Discovery and Subatomic Physics (Individual and Team) grants.

2. Includes returning established unfunded applicants and experienced researchers submitting a first applications

Statistics by University Size – 2012 Competition

University SizeCategory of Applicants Data Large Medium Small

Success Rate 66% 64% 48%Total Amount $5,604,736 $1,329,000 $1,115,000Average Grant $27,207 $25,558 $25,930Success Rate 81% 72% 63%Total Amount $39,428,412 $6,233,000 $2,969,200Average Grant $35,110 $28,077 $26,276Success Rate 42% 33% 19%Total Amount $8,113,592 $1,645,000 $1,081,052Average Grant $27,882 $24,552 $24,569

Early Career Researchers

Established Researchers - Renewals

Established Researchers - not holding a grant

DG Competition Results – Geosciences

2012 Competition

Early Career Researchers

Established Researchers

Renewals Others

Success Rate 54% 66% 33%

Average Grant $30,526 $36,240 $29,783

2011 Competition

Early Career Researchers

Established Researchers

Renewals Others

Success Rate 45% 74% 31%

Average Grant $21,071 $32,621 $23,994

Geosciences DG Results Competition 20122012

Geosciences (EG 1506)

Early Career Researchers

Established Researcher

OverallRenewals Others

# of Applications

35 157 70 234

# of Awards 19 103 23 145

$ Awarded $580K $3,732K $685K $4997K

Success Rate 54% 66% 33% 55%

Average Grant $30,526 $36,240 $29,783 $33,843

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Results and Statistics – Geosciences2012 Discovery Grants Competition

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Results and Statistics – Geosciences 2012 Discovery Grants Competition

Geosciences RTI ResultsCompetition 2012

Research Tools & Instruments(Category 1)

Early-Career Researchers*

All Other Applicants

Number of Applications 10 83

Number of Awards 1 26

Funding Rate 1.7% 25.2%

Total Budget 118,065 $1,234,001

* For the purposes of this table, this category includes only those applicants who were identified as Early-Career Researchers with their 2012 application for a Discovery Grant.

Discovery Accelerator Supplements (DAS) results

125 DAS were awarded among all EGs Geosciences EG reviewed all applications and

recommended 25 applicants for a DAS supplement List provided to Executive Committee of EG, who

conducted final analysis of DAS nominees to reduce to the given quota of 14 awards.

Nominees who best met the objectives of the program recommended to NSERC President for a DAS award

The Geosciences Evaluation Group recommended its full quota of fourteen awards