NSERC Discovery Horizons
New for the 2025 competition: Individuals participating in a Discovery Horizons grant as an applicant or co-applicant cannot hold both a Discovery Grant and a Discovery Horizons grant. Individuals submitting a Discovery Grant NOI for the current competition may participate in a Discovery Horizons LOI as an applicant or co-applicant. However, they must choose which program they wish to pursue before proceeding to the full application stage, as a full application may be only submitted to one program.
Discovery Horizons grants support investigator-initiated individual and team projects that broadly integrate or transcend disciplines to advance knowledge in the natural sciences and engineering. A tri-agency interdisciplinary peer review committee will review full applications submitted to this NSERC program.
In this funding opportunity, the term “interdisciplinary” should be understood to fully encompass all research that connects, crosses or falls between the three agencies’ traditional disciplines, including transdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, convergence research and other approaches at the interface.
Discovery Horizon grants are expected to be valued from $50,000 –$100,000 per year for up to 5 years and will be proportional to the size of the research team. NSERC hopes to award approximately 10–20 grants for this grant year.
Eligibility
Both individuals and teams may apply to the Discovery Horizons program. The applicant and any co-applicants must all be eligible to hold NSERC funding. One person must be designated to administer the grant. This person is the “applicant” and is responsible for completing and submitting the full application on behalf of the team. NSERC’s eligibility criteria for faculty can provide more information on the role of applicants and co-applicants. Applicants and co-applicants to the Discovery Horizons program are categorized as either early career researchers or established researchers.
There are no requirements concerning team size or composition. However, individuals can only hold or apply for one Discovery Horizons grant as either an applicant or co-applicant. Additionally, individuals participating in a Discovery Horizons grant as an applicant or co-applicant cannot hold both a Discovery Grant and Discovery Horizons grant. The applicant may add or remove invitations to co-applicants and collaborators at both phases of the application process (LOI and full application).
An eligible proposal must meet both of the following criteria:
- Its primary objective must be to advance knowledge in the natural sciences or engineering
- It must integrate or transcend disciplines in ways that would significantly benefit from the peer review by a tri-agency interdisciplinary committee.
Timeline
LOI Deadline: June 14, 2024
Full Application Deadline: October 18, 2024
See Full Eligibility Details & Apply