Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering

Eligibility

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

To be eligible, the nominee must be a scientist or engineer employed at a Canadian university, a Canadian federal or provincial government lab, or a private firm active in Canada. Their research must be primarily based in the natural sciences or engineering. Most of the nominee’s significant contributions to research, training and mentoring included in the nomination must have been made from work done while their main place of employment was in Canada.

Summary

The Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering recognizes an individual whose body of work, conducted in Canada in the natural sciences or engineering, has demonstrated persistent excellence and influence. The award celebrates Canada’s most outstanding scientists and engineers and raises public awareness about the major contributions that top researchers make to science, technology and improving the lives of Canadians.

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, 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)
   • 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. 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)

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 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 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.