Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research

Eligibility

Eligibility

Candidates may be nominated by any individual or group. Self-nominations will not be accepted. Current NSERC Council members are not eligible for nomination.

Research teams nominated for the Brockhouse Canada Prize must include at least two members who are independent researchers, one of whom must be eligible to hold NSERC grant funds. The team may be part of an international effort. However, the majority of the team members must be employed at a Canadian university or public or private organization in Canada.

NSERC recognizes that the composition of a team may change between the time of the research achievements and the time of nomination. Nominations will be accepted when such changes have occurred, provided that the core of the team remains intact.

The contributions described in the nomination must be primarily in the natural sciences and/or engineering, and of an interdisciplinary and collaborative nature (see NSERC's guidelines for the preparation and review of applications in interdisciplinary research for a definition of interdisciplinary research).

NSERC reserves the right to determine the eligibility of nominations.

A team may be nominated for the NSERC Brockhouse Canada Prize and any other NSERC Prize (Herzberg, Polanyi, McDonald, Synergy or Strickland) in the same year but can receive only one prize per year. Nominees cannot receive more than one of the following prizes for the same achievement: Brockhouse, Polanyi or Strickland.

NSERC is acting on the evidence that achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to advance knowledge and understanding, and to respond to local, national and global challenges. This principle informs the commitments described in the Tri-agency Statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. NSERC strongly encourages nominators and university officials to address barriers to equity, diversity and inclusion in their nomination processes.

Summary

Call for nominations

Nomination deadline: November 28 before 8 p.m. (ET).

 If the deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, NSERC must receive your nomination before 8:00 p.m. (ET) the next working day.

The Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering recognizes highly collaborative Canadian teams of researchers from different disciplines who have combined their expertise to produce achievements of outstanding significance in the natural sciences or engineering.

Selection criteria and evaluation

Nominations will be evaluated based on the research team’s contributions to the natural sciences or engineering, using the following selection criteria:

• significance, novelty and impact of the achievements
• quality of the contribution to the training and mentoring of highly qualified personnel (HQP) in a collaborative and interdisciplinary setting, including consideration of equity, diversity and inclusion in their training and mentoring
• excellence of the interdisciplinary team, including the complementarity of the team members’ expertise

A diverse selection committee made up of research representatives from academia, government and industry across a range of disciplines will review the nominations and recommend successful candidates to NSERC. Committee members are selected according to NSERC’s guidelines governing membership of selection committees. The committee may recommend that the prize not be awarded in a given year if there is no outstanding nomination.

NSERC recognizes that the entire research ecosystem is strengthened by equitable, diverse and inclusive access and participation. In support of its ongoing commitment to cultural and systemic change in Canadian research, NSERC has updated and improved its guidelines concerning contributions to research and training. The intended outcomes ofthe Tri-agency EDI Action Plan and recommendations from the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) inform these changes. NSERC’s revised guidelines on the assessment of contributions to research, training and mentoring diversify the principles and considerations regarding contributions and assessing their quality and impact.

The nominator should clearly describe the quality and impact of contributions within this larger context.

Nomination process

Because the prize is interdisciplinary, nominators should consult NSERC's guidelines for the preparation and review of applications in interdisciplinary research when preparing the nomination package.The nomination material should also be written for non-specialists, as the selection committee is multidisciplinary.

The nomination package must include:

1. A letter of nomination signed by one or more nominators. The letter must be no more than four pages if written in English and five pages if written in French. It must include a title describing the team’s research achievements. Structure your letter using the following points as headings:
   • Describe the team’s contributions to research, highlighting their significance, novelty and impact.
     • Contributions may include advancing knowledge, using existing knowledge to develop novel solutions to practical problems, transferring knowledge, communicating research to non-specialist audiences and engaging in public outreach activities. See NSERC’s guidelines on the assessment of contributions to research, training and mentoring for more examples.
   • Describe contributions to the training and mentoring of HQP in a collaborative, interdisciplinary setting, emphasizing the extent, impact and importance of these contributions. Also describe the co-supervision provided by team members, and explain how equity, diversity and inclusion were considered in training and mentoring of HQP.
     • Note: The achievements must have been made jointly by the members of the nominated team and not realized before joining the team, or as individual researchers separate from the team’s activities.
   • Explain the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of the team and its achievements, including the complementarity of the team members’ expertise. The interdisciplinary nature of the team must be clearly defined, particularly in cases where it may not be immediately obvious—if the interdisciplinary nature of a team is not evident, the nomination may be ruled ineligible.
2. The team's five most important joint contributions. Provide bibliographic information where relevant (maximum one page if written in English and 1.5 pages if written in French)
3. The names and email addresses of six researchers at the forefront of the nominee’s field who could be contacted by NSERC to conduct an impartial review of the nomination. Reviewers must not be in conflict of interest (see Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy of the federal research funding organizations)
   • nominators should suggest a cross-section of reviewers with expertise in the nominee’s area of research, including:
     • Canadian or international researchers from established and early-career stages
     • individuals from underrepresented groups, including women
     • researchers from a variety of academic and non-academic institutions
   • nominees must not contact suggested reviewers in advance
   • NSERC reserves the right to select all or none of the suggested reviewers
4. A brief letter from the team identifying one of the members as the spokesperson. This individual must be eligible to hold NSERC grant funds and will serve as the contact person for NSERC for matters related to the outcome of the competition (see NSERC's eligibility requirements for faculty to apply for or hold grant funds). The letter must also include the name, title, affiliation and email address of each team member
5. Identification of any eligible leaves of absence (optional, maximum one page if written in English and 1.5 pages if written in French), in line with the section on interruptions in research, training and mentoring in NSERC’s guidelines on the assessment of contributions to research, training and mentoring. For medical leave, it is not necessary to describe the illness or treatment, but rather its impact on your research activity. Please:
   • provide the duration of the interruption
   • describe its impact on research activity
6. A terms and conditions form for nominees signed by the nominee (do not use the encrypted digital signature function)
7. A terms and conditions form for nominators signed by each nominator (do not use the encrypted digital signature function)

Submitting a nomination

Nominators are responsible for preparing the required documentation, which must follow NSERC’s general presentation guidelines. Documents that do not meet the presentation standards may be rejected or at a disadvantage compared to those that meet the standards.

Nominations must be submitted electronically through NSERC’s ICSP Secure Submission Site. All parts of the nomination package must be combined into a single Portable Document Format (PDF) file. Note that hyperlinked material will not be considered as part of the review process. Only documents requested by NSERC will be made available to the selection committee.

For re-nominations, nominators are asked to submit a complete and updated nomination package. The list of suggested reviewers should also be updated to include new individuals.

Nominations must be submitted before 8:00 p.m. (ET) on the deadline date. Late nominations will not be accepted. Once submitted, nominations cannot be updated.

SUPPORT DEADLINE: October 15, 2025

See SUPPORT Review Requirements here.

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline