Welcome to the instructional video outlining
some advice and tips for applying to the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, or NSERC, postgraduate and postdoctoral programs.
This video was created and recorded
in August 2020 by Program Officers of the
Scholarships and Fellowships Division at NSERC,
and is available in both English and French.
The advice and tips covered in this video
are applicable to all NSERC postgraduate and
postdoctoral programs. However, any specific
references to an application form are referring
to the Form 201 application completed by Canada
Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral, or CGS D,
NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship – Doctoral, or PGS D, and Postdoctoral Fellowship, or PDF, applicants.
If you are a Canada Graduate
Scholarship – Master’s, or CGS M, applicant
you are required to use the Research Portal
to submit your application.
Let’s get things rolling with some general tips.
The tips listed on this slide may seem basic, but they provide the foundation for a high quality application.
First, it is very important to carefully read
the program description and application instructions
prior to (and while!) completing your application.
If you do not meet the eligibility criteria
detailed in the program description or do
not follow the application instructions, your
application may be rejected.
Second, we strongly encourage you to read
and refer to the Selection Committee Guide
throughout the application process. This Guide
is a key resource used by scholarships and
fellowships selection committee members during
their evaluations, and includes information
on how the selection criteria are assessed
by reviewers. While preparing your application,
you should provide evidence and examples that
fit these selection criteria, so the reviewers
can fully assess your qualities as a candidate.
Third, in addition to this series of instructional
videos, a number of other resource videos
are also available to scholarships and fellowships
applicants through NSERC’s Students and
Fellows Resource Videos webpage.
Finally, we strongly encourage you to talk
to your supervisor (current or proposed) – they
may be able to help you navigate the application
process.
Next we will talk about the most important
part of the application, the research proposal.
The research proposal is a 2-page attachment
and should describe a research project that
you plan to work on during the tenure of your award.
The key difference between the doctoral and
postdoctoral applications is that the research
proposal for a PDF application must include references within the two-page limit.
A doctoral application does not need to include references within the page limits, but can include a
separate bibliography attachment of up to
five pages to support the research proposal.
For more information, view the PGS D, CGS
D and PDF online system tutorial video in this series.
So, what makes a strong research proposal?
The next points describe common characteristics
that we have observed in successful applications.
Write the proposal yourself: The content of
your research proposal must be written by you.
It cannot be an extract from a supervisor's
grant proposal, and cannot be written by your
current or proposed supervisor. It’s okay
to ask for feedback on your proposal, in fact
this is recommended, but the research idea
and bulk of the composition must come from you.
Your proposal should be as clear and specific
as possible, and you should state your objectives,
hypothesis, basic methodology and the significance
of the proposed work.
A strong proposal:
• Introduces and provides an overview of the proposed topic;
• Provides context for the project and discusses
an approach for exploring or solving the research
challenge;
• Includes a brief description of expected
research outcomes and potential future work
and research directions, and;
• Does not repeat information that was already
included in the thesis summary section. While
you can refer to information contained within
that section, the research proposal and the
thesis summary should be distinct.
Explain the significance of your project:
Your proposal should explain how your research
will advance knowledge in your field or within the broader natural sciences and engineering community.
Context is important in grantsmanship
– it can really make the reader excited
about the work you propose to do, and helps
them understand its significance. If you are
not certain what your project will be, write a proposal about a possible project that you are interested in.
You can adjust the topic
of your research project at a later date,
provided it still falls within NSERC’s mandate.
Make your proposal clear for reviewers:
You should write in clear, plain language and
avoid jargon. Your application will be reviewed
by a selection committee whose expertise covers
a broad range of areas in your field.
It is unlikely that someone in your specific area
of research will be reviewing your application.
As such, you should write this, and all sections
of your application, so that they can be understood
by a general audience of scientists in your
field. The committee will be assessing your
written communication skills as part of their
evaluation, which includes the ability to
convey an idea to a wide range of scientists.
• You should include appropriate references
and ensure that you are properly citing work
that others have done.
• Be aware that within your research proposal
or anywhere within your application, readers
should not be directed to external links or
additional resources.
While it might seem like this would maximize space,
members are not permitted to take the content of external
resources into account during their review;
they can only evaluate the text contained
within the submitted application.
Describe Equity, Diversity and Inclusion,
or EDI, considerations in your research plan,
if applicable: A strong research proposal
takes all potential variables into account,
including sex, gender and other diversity factors.
Before you write your research proposal,
you should take some time to reflect on whether
these factors are applicable to your research.
Consider different stages of the research,
taking factors such as sample composition
and possible end-users into account. If applicable,
these factors should be incorporated into
the research design. The inclusion of EDI
considerations where applicable, should strengthen
the overall research proposal as it can lead
to research that is more rigorous, useful
and competitive.
Resources providing more information on how
to incorporate EDI considerations into your
research design are provided in the Instructions
for completing an application – Form 201.
You are strongly encouraged to review these
resources prior to writing your research proposal.
As noted in the NSERC program and EDI updates
and PGS D, CGS D and PDF online system tutorial
videos of this series, a module titled Diversity
Considerations in Research Design, was added
to the Form 201 application in fall 2020.
For more details about the module, and more
information about EDI initiatives, please
refer to those videos.
Finally, your research proposal should convey
your passion! It is clear to the reader when
a researcher is passionate and enthusiastic about their proposed work, and that passion is infectious.
Make the reviewers care about
your project as much as you do!
Next, we will cover what types of research
are eligible to receive NSERC funding.
NSERC supports research whose major challenges
lie in the natural sciences and engineering,
or NSE, other than the health sciences. Research
whose goal is to advance NSE knowledge is
eligible for NSERC support, even if it may
have potential future applications in human health.
In order to better understand subject eligibility
requirements, you are encouraged to visit
the “Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting
Agency” webpage, hosted on the www.science.gc.ca
website.
This webpage provides potential applicants
with information on what types of research
are and are not eligible for NSERC support.
If you are still uncertain whether your research
is eligible after visiting this webpage, you
may email NSERC program staff a copy of your
research proposal and we can provide you with advice.
You are also encouraged to speak with
your supervisor and/or colleagues.
As noted in the PGS D, CGS D and PDF On-Line
System tutorial video in this series, you
may include an optional one-page attachment
with your application, which is called the
Justification for Eligibility of Proposed
Research. Typically, applicants should use
between ¼ and ½ page of text in this attachment.
This attachment is not intended to reiterate
the information contained in your research
proposal, but rather to describe, to NSERC
staff, the research challenges of the project
and why it should be considered research that
is predominantly NSE.
If there is any possibility that your research
could be interpreted as having overlap with
either the funding mandates of the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research or the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada, you should complete this section.
It will be seen only by NSERC program staff,
and will help them to determine whether your
proposed research falls within NSERC’s mandate.
If your research is deemed to have significant
overlap with one of the other agencies and
you do not include this section, NSERC may
reject your application.
Next, we will explore the Contributions and
Applicant’s Statement section.
Both the doctoral and postdoctoral programs
require the attachment of a free-form Contributions
and Statements section. Postdoctoral applicants
are allowed up to 4 pages for this section,
while doctoral applicants are allowed up to 2 pages.
This section of the application has three parts:
Part 1 should list your contributions to research
and development. Here, you can list articles
that have been published, submitted, and/or
accepted to peer-reviewed journals or publications.
Publications that are in preparation but which
have not been submitted by the application
deadline should not be included. The intent
of this section is to provide reviewers with
a snapshot of your work at the time of application.
As such, NSERC will not accept updates to
your publication record after your application
has been submitted. For details on how to
present this information in accordance with NSERC standards, you should review the application instructions.
Part 2 should describe your most significant
contributions to research and development.
In this section, choose up to three of the
contributions listed in part 1, and elaborate.
You should describe your role in the research,
including experimentation, collaboration,
manuscript preparation, reasons for publishing
in certain journals, or any other aspects
that would showcase your contributions to
the selection committee members. If the published
research is part of an ongoing project, you
can also describe your continuing contributions
to this work.
Part 3 is the Applicant’s statement, where
you should describe the skills, experiences
and qualities that best demonstrate your excellence
and suitability for the award program.
This is the section of the application where you
can really highlight your unique leadership,
communication, research and academic prowess
to reviewers. You should provide details about
your science and/or engineering abilities,
as well as relevant activities and work experiences
that have supported your development as a
researcher and future scientific leader.
Examples of experiences that might be included in this
section are mentoring, conference presentations,
teaching experience, committee participation,
conference planning, science outreach activities,
volunteer work and any other experiences that
have contributed to the development and advancement
of your research career.
Do not underestimate the length of time required
to complete this section. You have a limited
amount of space to work with. In order to
include all desired information, your writing
must be clear and concise. Ultimately, you
may not have space to include all of the information
that you want to, and will have to decide
which of your contributions and experiences
most strengthen your overall application package.
If you decide to exclude information from
this section, we encourage you to reach out
to your references in advance of the deadline
date to let them know. They may then choose
to include this information in their Report
on the Applicant.
For more information on what to include in
this section, you should closely review the
application instructions and the Selection
Committee Guide, available on the NSERC website.
As was described in the PGS D, CGS D and PDF
online system tutorial video in this series,
two Reports on the Applicant must be submitted with your application through the NSERC On-Line System.
You should choose your references
very carefully.
These reports can have a significant
effect on the success of your application.
Reviewers use them as a source of supplementary
information about you and your accomplishments,
and as an independent verification of the
information that you have provided in your
application package.
These reports should be prepared by people
who are familiar with your research and work.
They normally include your current research supervisor and another academic or workplace supervisor.
If you have only had one research
supervisor, you can invite a professor who
knows you and your work well, or perhaps a
supervisor from a co-op term.
Your proposed supervisor cannot act as a reference if you have not worked with them. A family member,
or anyone who is not familiar with your research
work or field, is not an appropriate reference.
Invite your references early: Keep in mind
that they are likely to have competing deadlines
in their calendars, and that you may not be
the only student they have been asked to write
a reference for.
We encourage you to communicate
with them early in the process, and to set
a soft completion deadline one or two weeks
ahead of the actual application deadline.
You will not be able to submit your application
until both Reports on the Applicant have been
received in the On-Line system.
Provide background information: While your
references know you well, it is unlikely that they keep a comprehensive list of your accomplishments on file.
In order to make their lives easier
and to help them deliver the strongest possible
Report on the Applicant, you should provide
them with a summary of your accomplishments.
This should include details that support your
research, leadership and communication skills,
both within and beyond academia so that selection
committee members evaluating your application
are provided with specific examples of your
abilities that are related to program selection criteria.
Successful applications tend to
include letters which focus not only on the
applicant’s accomplishments in a reference’s
specific research lab, but also on their overall
research and leadership accomplishments and
potential.
Finally, send reminders: It is wise to occasionally
check in with your references to remind them
of the deadline date that you set, and to
verify that they are still willing to complete
the Report on the Applicant. If, for some
reason, they become unable to do so, you can
delete their entry from the On-Line system
and invite a new reference.
Before we conclude this video, I’ll take
a few minutes to outline some other common
application errors and mistakes that have
been noted by NSERC program staff and selection
committee members over the years.
First, not properly explaining the impact
of your research could be detrimental to your
application. Your research should be presented
within the context of your field, and the
potential impact within your field and the
overall scientific community should be described.
Next, try to avoid repetitiveness. You have
a limited amount of space to work with, so
avoid repeating the same information in multiple
sections of your application, such as in the
summary of thesis and the research proposal
sections. A well-crafted, non-repetitive application
package demonstrates strong communication skills.
Pay attention to missing or irrelevant citations.
The citations included with your research
proposal or bibliography are an indicator
of your research knowledge. The absence of
key citations from the proposed area of research,
the inclusion of irrelevant citations and
a high reliance on secondary sources in the
content of your proposal weakens the application.
Your proposed research should focus on a specific
goal, and the research proposal as a whole
should be cohesive. Selection committee members
will be looking at what you plan to do and
how you plan to accomplish your research goals;
applications that are written too generally
are not typically well-received.
Next, avoid spelling or grammatical mistakes.
We strongly recommend that you have a peer
or colleague review your application for clarity,
grammar and spelling prior to its submission.
By the time you submit your application, it
is likely that you will have reviewed this
text so frequently that you may miss small
spelling errors, such as “on” vs “no”,
which may negatively affect your evaluation.
You are competing against top-tier students
and fellows, and should make every effort
to increase your application’s competitiveness;
this includes ensuring that the submitted
application is grammatically correct.
Finally, this is not the time to be modest
about your achievements. You need to make
your application stand out. When reviewing
your Contributions and Statements section,
pretend that you are reading a close friend’s
application instead, and think about the advice
that you would give them to make their application exceptional.
Embrace and highlight your accomplishments;
don’t underplay their value. All applicants
have interesting and notable accomplishments
–the difference between a successful applicant
and an unsuccessful applicant may be the way
that the information is presented.
This concludes the video. For additional information,
we encourage you to watch all other videos
in this series that are applicable to the
program to which are applying.
If you have any questions about NSERC’s
Scholarships and Fellowships programs, you
may contact program staff by email at
schol@nserc-crsng.gc.ca.
For technical difficulties with the online
system, contact the online services helpdesk
by email at webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca.
Good luck!
