Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

Eligibility

note: details about the Royal Society of Canada's annual deadlines are being shared in advance of confirmed timelines and processes for information only. All details will be finalized after RSC launches the 2026 calls (anticipated September) 

Candidates
They are either Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents of Canada for at least three years at the time of their nomination. Nominations are processed by the Royal Society of Canada and a short list of nominees is placed before the existing fellowship for election.

The criterion for nomination shall be excellence, which is understood to encompass the goals of diversity and inclusivity to which the RSC is committed, and to which the membership of RSC is expected to exemplify in terms of discipline, gender, ethno-racial diversity, aboriginality, and official languages.
The RSC embraces equity and diversity, methodological and epistemological openness, and the full range of disciplinary excellence. It welcomes nominations from all intellectual endeavours across linguistic, gender, racial, regional, and institutional boundaries. The RSC also judges these nominations without bias.
 

Nominators
The primary nominator must be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada or the head of a University (see below for details on institutional nominations from the University of Calgary)

Summary

The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) is the recognized pre-eminent body of independent scholars, researchers and creative people in Canada whose Fellows comprise a collegium that can provide intellectual leadership for the betterment of Canada and the world. Election to Fellowship in the Society is the highest academic accolade in Canada that is available to scientists and scholars. The Fellowship comprises four categories: Honorary Fellows. Regularly Elected Fellows, Specially Elected Fellows and Foreign Fellows. Membership in the RSC indicates a continuing commitment to recognize, advise and promote research excellence both domestically and internationally.

RSC Anticipated Deadline: December 15th, 2026, at 5:00 pm EST.

2025 Nomination Guide

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.

RSC will present a workshop detailing the nomination process for both Fellowship in the RSC and Membership in the RSC College of New Scholars. Faculty and staff who are interested in nominating a colleague for these prestigious honours are strongly encouraged to attend.

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

The SUPPORT: Research Awards Committee will review nominations for Fellowship in the RSC, amongst other prestigious awards. SUPPORT will also review the CV of a potential candidate for Fellowship in the RSC and advise on their suitability for nomination at this time.

If you wish for the SUPPORT: Research Awards committee to review and provide feedback on a nomination package, please include the following materials at a minimum:

• Detailed appraisal (maximum 1200 words)
• Candidate's CV (in any format, maximum 50 pages)
• Optional: Brief biographies (250 words) of each referee
• Optional: Citation (maximum 70 words)

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

2026 SUPPORT Nomination Review Deadline: October 19, 2026 at NOON

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

• Each submission must include a SUPPORT Review Form.
• Each faculty must submit a short statement describing how equity, diversity and inclusion were considered in the internal Faculty selection process.