Nominate a Chair

The Canada Research Chairs program offers eligible Canadian degree-granting institutions the opportunity to nominate outstanding researchers for senior professorships in areas that will further the institution's overall research priorities and enable them to maximize their contributions as centres of research and research training.

Each university nominates a researcher or researchers to fill its allocation.

Each nominee submits essential personal application information.

If an initial nomination is not recommended for funding, the university can nominate the same nominee two more times, for a maximum of three nominations, should its chair allocation permit.

Schedule of nomination deadlines, decisions and announcements
Value and duration
Eligibility of nominees
Selection criteria for nominations
Peer-review process
Requests for infrastructure support from CFI
Recruitment and nomination process

Schedule of nomination deadlines, decisions and announcements

Nomination deadline*	Final deadline to submit letters of reference**	Anticipated decision date	Anticipated public announcement of Chairs awarded
April 26, 2010	May 10, 2010	October 2010	March 2011
October 18, 2010	November 1, 2010	April 2011	June 2011
April 26, 2011	May 10, 2011	October 2011	February 2012
October 31, 2011	November 14, 2011	April 2012	June 2012
April 30, 2012	May 14, 2012	October 2012	February 2013
October 29, 2012	November 12, 2012	April 2013	June 2013

All nominations must be submitted electronically by the deadline date. Nominations received after the deadline date will be withdrawn from the cycle. The paper copy of the nominations must be postmarked by midnight of the nomination deadline date.

Foreign nominations

* The Secretariat has an open submission process for the nomination of foreign researchers. Foreign nominations are accepted at any time during the year.

A foreign nominee (either foreign nationals or Canadian citizens) is defined as an individual who is an active researcher outside of Canada at the time of the nomination and at the time of approval.

The Chairs program imposes no restrictions on nominees with regard to nationality or country of residence. Procedures to allow non-Canadian chairholders to work in Canada have been established by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Other procedures have been established by the government of Québec (in French only) for foreign researchers taking up a chair in this province.

Letters of Reference

**All nominations must include three letters of reference. Institutions are provided an additional two weeks after the submission deadline date to help facilitate this requirement. Institutions should consult the extranet and monitor the receipt of letters to ensure that all three letters are received for each of their nominations before the deadline date. Note that a nomination that is missing letters of reference after the extended deadline date will be withdrawn from the cycle. Please consult the guidelines for letters of reference for further information.

Value and duration

There are two types of Chairs:

Tier 1 Chairs, tenable for seven years and renewable, are for outstanding researchers acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their fields. For each Tier 1 Chair, the university receives $200,000 annually for seven years.

Tier 2 Chairs, tenable for five years and renewable once, are for exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead in their field. For each Tier 2 Chair, the university receives $100,000 annually for five years. Note: If a researcher resigns from a Tier 2 Chair position at one university and accepts a Tier 2 Chair at another university, he or she cannot be nominated for a third term, regardless of the number of years in the initial term.

Chairs are awarded to individual researchers who take up the chair on a full-time basis.

Eligibility of nominees

Tier 1 Chairs

Nominees for Tier 1 positions must be full professors or associate professors who are expected to be promoted to the full professor level within one or two years of the nomination. Alternatively, if they come from outside the academic sector, nominees must possess the necessary qualifications to be appointed at these levels.

Tier 2 Chairs

Nominees for Tier 2 positions must be emerging scholars. They should be assistant or associate professors, or possess the necessary qualifications to be appointed at these levels.

Tier 2 Justification

Universities must justify nominating to a Tier 2 Chair a professor or a researcher who is more than ten years from their highest degree at the time of nomination. In these cases, a formal justification must be submitted to the Chairs Secretariat by the university to explain why (e.g., clinical training, years in industry, breaks in career) the nominee is more than ten years from his/her highest degree.

As of January 2010, a pre-screening process for Tier 2 justifications is being implemented as a one-year pilot. Universities may submit a Tier 2 justification package—including a one-page Tier 2 justification and the nominee’s Chairs CV—at any time throughout the year to the Program Officer responsible for their university. There is no deadline for these submissions.

All Tier 2 justifications will be peer reviewed by a sub-committee of Interdisciplinary Adjudication Committee (IAC) members. The sub-committee will decide whether the justification is acceptable. A turn-around time of approximately four to five weeks from the receipt of the justification package to notification of the decision to the university is expected. It is important to note that only the justification will be examined as part of this process. If the justification is accepted, the university will need to submit a full nomination package to one of the program’s regular intake cycle deadlines. The nomination will then be peer reviewed using the program’s full evaluation criteria.

Note that universities may continue to submit Tier 2 justifications with the full nomination package to the program’s two intake cycle deadlines. These will be peer reviewed by IAC using the existing process. The decisions on these justifications will not be expedited.

Universities must adhere to the following presentation guidelines for the one-page justification:

• The nominee’s name should appear at the top of the page.
• A 12-point font or larger and a maximum of six lines per inch should be used.
• Paper must be 8 1/2" x 11" (22x 28 cm) and margins must be at least ¾" (2 cm) around.
• The university may submit a cover letter to the Secretariat along with the justification package, but this letter will not be included in the information forwarded to the IAC sub-committee for consideration.
• The CV of the nominee must be presented using the Chairs Secretariat CV form.

Selection criteria for nominations

The program is founded upon an uncompromising commitment to excellence in research and research training. Reviewers assess all nominations against the following two criteria:

1. Quality of the nominee and quality of the proposed program of research

Tier 1 nominees should:

• be outstanding and innovative researchers whose accomplishments have made a major impact in their fields;
• be recognized internationally as leaders in their fields;
• have superior records of attracting and supervising graduate students and postdoctoral fellows (taking into account practices in the relevant field or discipline) and, as chairholders, be expected to attract excellent trainees, students and future researchers;
• be proposing an original, innovative research program of the highest quality.

Tier 2 nominees should:

• be excellent emerging researchers who have demonstrated particular research creativity;
• have demonstrated the potential to achieve international recognition in their fields in the next five to ten years;
• be proposing an original, innovative research program of high quality;
• as a chairholder, have the potential to attract excellent trainees, students and future researchers.


2. Quality of the institutional environment, institutional commitment and fit of the proposed Chair with the university's strategic research plan

When deciding whether to recommend support of a nomination, reviewers assess the institutional environment, the institutional commitment, and the fit of the proposed chair with the university's strategic research plan. In addition, reviewers are asked to give a global assessment of support based on these factors.

1. Institutional environment

In the nomination form, the university describes the existing or planned institutional environment in which it will establish the proposed Chair. Reviewers consider this carefully, including opportunities for collaboration with other researchers working in the same or related areas at the nominating institution, in the same region, within Canada and abroad.

2. Institutional commitment

The university must demonstrate that it and, as applicable, any affiliated institutions, hospitals, institutes, etc., will provide chairholders with the support they need, such as protected time for research (for example, release from teaching or administrative duty), additional funds, office space, administrative support, and hiring of other faculty members.

3. Fit of the proposed Chair with the strategic research plan

The university is required to demonstrate the importance of the Chair to the strategic development of research at the institution and, as applicable, at its affiliated hospitals, research institutes, etc. Reviewers assess the fit of the proposed Chair with the university's strategic research plan and gauge how the proposed Chair will contribute to the attainment of the university's objectives.

Peer-review process

The program follows a peer-review process governed by the College of Reviewers and the Interdisciplinary Adjudication Committee.

All nominations, whether they are for a new Chair, the renewal of a current Chair or the advancement of a Tier 2 chairholder to a Tier 1 Chair at the same university, are assessed by the College of Reviewers.

College of Reviewers

The College of Reviewers is made up of experts (including current chairholders) from a wide range of fields of research. In selecting members, the prime considerations are excellence in research, wide experience and sound judgment.

Members of the College of Reviewers assess nominations and accompanying CFI infrastructure requests. Based on these assessments, the Secretariat makes recommendations to the Steering Committee and to CFI.

For each Chair nomination and CFI infrastructure request, the Secretariat selects three reviewers from the College of Reviewers. If the reviewers concur and their assessment is favourable, the Secretariat makes a recommendation to support the Chair. If any of the three assessments is not favourable, or if the nomination includes a justification for a Tier 2 Chair, the nomination goes to the Interdisciplinary Adjudication Committee, which then recommends whether to support the nomination or not.

In the case of nominations for researchers from abroad (foreign nationals or Canadian citizens) where peer review is unanimously favourable, the executive director of the Chairs program has the delegated authority to approve the recommendations.

Interdisciplinary Adjudication Committee

The Interdisciplinary Adjudication Committee (IAC) is made up of 15 experts from the College of Reviewers. A superior record of research achievement, extensive experience, sound judgment and proven ability to recognize excellence are the prime considerations in the selection of IAC members. As well, the membership of IAC balances, as far as possible, language (English/French), gender, region, economic sector, academic discipline, and type of institution.

IAC reviews cases where any assessment was not favourable and nominations that include a justification for a Tier 2 Chair. IAC also plays a major role in ensuring the consistency of standards across the program.

Foreign nominations

In the case of foreign nominations where the assessment from the College of Reviewers is unanimously favourable, the executive director of the Chairs program has the delegated authority to approve the recommendations.

IAC will review all foreign nominations that do not receive a favourable assessment from the College of Reviewers, or that include a Tier 2 justification. Evaluations of foreign nominations will take place at the same time as other nominations referred to IAC within a given cycle.

Requests for infrastructure suppport from CFI

Universities may include a request for infrastructure support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) with their Chair nomination. CFI is an independent corporation established by the government of Canada to strengthen national research capability through investments in research infrastructure in Canadian universities, colleges, hospitals and eligible not-for-profit organizations.

Through its Leaders Opportunity Fund, CFI will contribute 40 per cent of the total cost of the infrastructure project and the institution and its partners are responsible for securing the remaining funding. Small universities (those that receive less than one per cent of total granting agency funding) may request up to 100 per cent of the eligible costs of the Canada Research Chair infrastructure project if the total cost of the project does not exceed $75,000. As well, universities may also request funding from CFI for infrastructure that will be shared by two or more Chairs.

CFI's board of directors is responsible for the review of requests for infrastructure support for successful Chair nominations, including foreign nominations. Following the review process, CFI will communicate the decisions directly to the universities.

To apply for CFI infrastructure funding, use the Canada Research Chair nomination form.

Recruitment and nomination process

This process applies to the nomination of new Chairs, as well as to the advancement of a Tier 2 chairholder to a Tier 1 Chair at the same university.

All Canada Research Chair recruitment and nomination processes at universities must be transparent, open and equitable. In particular, these processes should be consistent with the principles and safeguards embodied in the universities' existing tenure-track hiring practices (collective agreement or equivalent), and should contain features such as:

• open advertising with a statement of commitment to equity in the nomination and appointment process
• encouragement for persons in designated groups to apply
• active recruitment measures for members of underrepresented groups
• involvement in the Chair recruitment, nomination and appointment process by university equity officers, or equivalent.

1	University submits strategic research plan and summary	Instructions
2	Nominee completes curriculum vitae form and forwards PIN to university	Preview form (27.4 KB) Nominee login for form and instructions
3	Nominee or university completes nomination form and CFI request	Preview forms (243 KB) Guidelines-Letters of Reference University login for form and instructions Nominee login for form and instructions
4	University submits all forms (curriculum vitae, nomination form, CFI request)	University login Also submit one copy of all forms, postmarked by midnight of the deadline date, to the Secretariat.
5	University submits chairholder profile	Instructions

More information

General inquiries:
Canada Research Chairs Secretariat
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1610
Ottawa, ON K1P 6G4
Tel: 613-943-3087
Fax: 613-943-3282
Email: information@chairs-chaires.gc.ca

Inquiries about policy and equity:
David Marchand
Acting Manager Policy/Planning/Performance
Tel: 613-995-3236
Email: david.marchand@chairs-chaires.gc.ca