Sponsor

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada

Description

The Synergy Awards for Innovation honours outstanding research and development partnerships between a university (or college) and industry/NGOs/public sector, in the natural sciences and engineering. Winners of the awards show effective use of human, technical and financial resources, leading to tangible commercial benefits with their industrial collaborators. Universities must demonstrate a sustained partnership.

Eligibility

The nominated partnership must be in the natural sciences and/or engineering and be between a Canadian university professor, or group of professors.

You must be nominated for this award. The nominator must be:

• A senior executive from the University of Guelph (ie. VPR); or
• A senior executive from one of the industrial partner organizations.

An individual, team of individuals or a college may be nominated for the NSERC Synergy Awards for Innovation and other major NSERC prizes in the same year, but can receive only one such prize in a given year. There is no limit to the number of nominations for the Synergy Awards for Innovation that a university or college can put forward in a given competition. 

Prize

University: $200,000 NSERC Research Grant

Industrial Partners: $50,000 voucher towards a cash portion of their required contribution in a new research partnerships grant

Special Notes

Nominated partnerships are expected to promote approaches that increase the inclusion and advancement of women and other under-represented groups in the natural sciences and engineering. See the Guide for Applicants [1] in considering equity, diversity and inclusion.

Nominees: All nominees must read and agree to the Terms and Conditions Form for Nominees [2].

Nominators: Before a nominator submits documents to NSERC, they must read and agree to the Terms and Conditions Form for Nominators [3]. 

Please note that research activities carried out in the context of COVID-19 need to adhere to the University of Guelph COVID-19 research principles, policies, guidelines and processes as they may be updated from time to time and communicated on the Office of Research web-page [4].

How to Apply

The Vice-President (Research) encourages nominations for this prestigious award, and will serve as nominator for those nominees recommended by the Honours and Awards Advisory Committee. If you wish to nominate a colleague or to be considered for VPR nomination:

1. We recommend discussing your interest in this award with your College Research Manager and Associate Dean (Research).
2. Complete the Expression of Interest document [5]. 
3. Send the completed Expression of Interest document and a CV to research.honours@uoguelph.ca [6] and copy your College Research Manager by the internal deadline.

Career interruptions due to parental leave, family care, extended illness, or community responsibilities will not negatively impact the committee’s assessment of a candidate’s research productivity. These will be taken into consideration when EOIs are assessed.

If your nomination will be submitted by a nominator other than the VPR, please submit the nomination directly to the sponsor by the external deadline. Please also submit a copy of the full nomination and OR-5 to research.services@uoguelph.ca [7].

For More Information

For more information, please contact research.honours@uoguelph.ca [6] or visit the NSERC -Synergy Award website [8].