Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal

Eligibility

Candidates may be nominated by any individual or group; however, the nominators must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Posthumous nominations or self-nominations will not be accepted. Current NSERC council members are not eligible for nomination.

As of the deadline, the nominee must be a scientist or engineer employed at a Canadian university, Canadian federal or provincial government lab or private firm active in Canada whose research is primarily based in the fields of the natural sciences and/or engineering. NSERC reserves the right to rule on the eligibility of nominees.

NSERC strongly encourages nominators and university officials to consider equity, diversity and inclusion in their nomination processes.

An individual may win the NSERC Herzberg Medal only once. An individual may be nominated for the NSERC Herzberg Medal and other NSERC prizes (Brockhouse, Polanyi, McDonald, Synergy or Strickland) in the same year, but can only win one prize in a given year.

Summary

The Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, NSERC's highest honour, recognizes research contributions characterized by both excellence and influence‚ two qualities that defined Dr. Herzberg's illustrious career. 

It is awarded annually to an individual who has demonstrated sustained excellence and influence in research for a body of work conducted in Canada that has substantially advanced the fields of natural sciences or engineering. The winner of the medal is also awarded a grant of up to $1 million to use for personal university-based research or to direct in some related way, such as the establishment of scholarships of research chairs at Canadian universities. 

The grant is distributed over a five-year period. 

If the winner already has an NSERC Discovery Grant, that grant is increased up to a maximum of $200,000 for each of the five years. If the grant is currently greater than $150,000, it is topped-up by $50,000. 

A winner who is not an NSERC Discovery Grant recipient may direct the full $200,000 to university research endeavours, such as scholarships.

NSERC Final Deadline: November 28, 2025 at 8PM EDT

Nomination process

Because nominations are reviewed by a multidisciplinary committee, the nomination material should be written for non-specialists.

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. Structure your letter using the following points as headings to clearly describe
   • the nominee's most significant contributions to research, training and mentoring in terms of quality and impact (refer to selection criterion above)
   • the role of the nominee in bringing about the contributions
2. The nominee's up-to-date personal data form (Form 100) or Canadian Common CV or an up-to-date CV in another format. This must include detailed information about the relevant achievements and contributions to research and training over the nominee’s entire career
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
   • Provide a short paragraph for each person describing their background and why they would be a suitable reviewer
4. 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
5. A terms and conditions form for nominees signed by the nominee (do not use the encrypted digital signature function)
6. A terms and conditions form for nominators signed by each nominator (do not use the encrypted digital signature function)

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

Institutional Nominations (Optional)

Candidates may be nominated by any individual or group (Canadian citizens or permanent residents). Candidates may also be nominated by the President of the University of Calgary.

Candidates seeking an institutional nomination must submit a request for consideration by the Vice-President (Research) and President that includes:

• a 1-page abstract of the proposed nomination, demonstrating how the candidate meets the criteria for the Herzberg Medal,
• OR, in the case of re-nominations, a copy of the previous nomination; and the candidate's CV (NSERC Common CV or Form 100).

The Faculty's lead for awards (e.g., chair of awards committee) or Associate Dean (Research) must submit both documents to the Research Services Office (researchawards@ucalgary.ca) by September 6, 2024.

SUPPORT: Research Awards Committee

The SUPPORT: Research Awards committee is available to review and provide feedback to strengthen nominations for this award. This committee is comprised of distinguished University of Calgary faculty who have won major national awards and sat on national award selection committees.

Your Faculty or Associate Dean (Research) must submit the request for review to researchawards@ucalgary.ca.

1. Draft letter from the nominator (see item 1, above)
2. The nominee's up-to-date CV (see item 2, above)

If additional components of the nomination package are available by the SUPPORT deadline, the committee would be pleased to review all available materials.

SUPPORT Nomination Review Deadline (optional): October 14, 2024 at NOON