Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research

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.

Candidates can be at any stage in their career.

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, but the majority of the nominated team members must be employed at a Canadian university or at a public or a private organization in Canada. Members of the team may be from academia, government or industry, and may be research associates, postdoctoral researchers or students. If awarded a prize, the team spokesperson will receive the funds on behalf of the team. This spokesperson must be eligible to hold NSERC grant funds.

The contributions described in the nomination must be primarily in natural sciences 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).

Summary

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

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, organizational affiliations and email addresses of six researchers 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 ).
   • NSERC strongly recommends that nominators suggest a cross-section of reviewers with expertise in the nominees’ area of research, such as:
     • Canadian or international researchers from established to early-career stages
     • individuals from underrepresented groups, including women
     • researchers in academic and non-academic settings
   • Nominees must not contact suggested external 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 Interruptions in research, training and mentoring section 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  filled out and signed by each nominee (do not use the encrypted digital signature function).
7. A terms and conditions form for nominators  filled out and 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: Noon, October 19, 2026

See SUPPORT Review Requirements here.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

No institutional approvals are required for this award nomination. 

The RSO Pre-Application deadline listed as noon, October 19, 2026 is for an optional review by the SUPPORT: Research Awards Committee.

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 team’s five most important joint contributions (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 19, 2026 by 12pm.

All feedback from the SUPPORT: Research Awards committee will be compiled and shared with the nominee and faculty by November 6, 2026. 

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

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