NSERC CREATE Program

Overview

The Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program supports the training of highly qualified students and postdoctoral fellows from Canada and abroad through the development of innovative training programs that:

  • Encourage collaborative and integrative approaches and address significant scientific challenges associated with Canada’s research priorities; and
  • Facilitate the transition of new researchers from trainees to productive employees in the Canadian workforce.

A yearly quota has been established for each university, and only researchers selected at their university can submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) to NSERC. For this cycle, 深夜福利站's quota is limited to three LOI submissions. 深夜福利站 has implemented an internal review process to select applications that will be submitted to NSERC. Anyone wanting to be considered for internal quota must submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to irp@uwo.ca.

深夜福利站 Application Proces

                 
  • February 21, 2025: Deadline for Expression of Interest
  • March 17, 2025: Deadline for submission of 深夜福利站 Internal LOIs
  • Late March: Review Panel meets to adjudicate submitted LOIs
  • April 4, 2025: Review panel decisions and feedback communicated to applicants
  • April 17, 2025: Draft of institutional letter of support submitted to 深夜福利站 Research for institutional approval and signature
  • April 24, 2025: ROLA and final LOI submitted to 深夜福利站 Research
  • May 1, 2025: Final submission of LOIs in the NSERC online system 
  • August 18 2025: Draft application submitted to 深夜福利站 Research for review, including a draft of institutional letter of support and letters of support from collaborating non-academic organizations, if applicable
  • September 15, 2025: ROLA and final application submitted to 深夜福利站 Research
  • September 22, 2025: Submission of application to NSERC portal by 2 p.m. for forwarding to NSERC (by 深夜福利站 Research)

*Please check with your faculty research offices for additional timelines and options for content review*

An Internal LOI package must be submitted by 5 p.m. on March 17, 2025 to be considered for 深夜福利站's quota. An internal LOI package will include:

The LOI should adhere to  

Program Objectives

Successful applicants will consist of a group of accomplished researchers who will work collaboratively to offer a defined research training program to a group of trainees. The research training experience should focus on providing an enriched training experience for graduate (master’s and doctoral) students. Undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows can be supported and integrated into the training program, but must be justified.

The CREATE program promotes and furthers the development of new researchers within the natural sciences and engineering (NSE) disciplines, or at the interdisciplinary frontier between NSE and areas covered under the umbrella of SSHRC or CIHR if, by combining the strengths of the various disciplines, a greater impact is achieved for the trainees. Where appropriate, proposed initiatives could also encourage interaction with the users of research and future employers of the trainees, or contribute to providing additional opportunities for students to participate in exchanges at the national or international level.

CREATE Requirements (Instituted 2025-26 cycle)

  • Increased focus on mentoring within the CREATE proposal
    1. Outline of the training program must describe how the proposed approach, including the role of mentoring, will better prepare trainees for future careers (Maximum 2 pages)
    2. Excellence of the proposed team of researchers must provide information on the team’s past contributions to the training and mentoring of HQP
  • Excellence of proposed team of researchers section – (maximum 1 page at LOI)
  • Applicants must provide eight external reviewer suggestions at LOI (minimum two from Canada and one from abroad)

Documents and Resources

  • 深夜福利站 Letter of Intent [.docx]
  • NSERC-CREATE webinars:
    • English session:  February 6, 2025, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (ET)
    • French session:   February 7, 2025, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (ET)
    • Join from the following Microsoft Teams meeting link: for and
  • NSERC CREATE webinar slides (February 6, 2025)
  • NSERC CREATE webinar recording (Video available on request, contact Sahana Mazumder)

Contact

For more information, or questions relating to the CREATE program, please contact Suramya Mihindukulasuriya, Institutional Research Programs Officer