Dear colleague,

I have written something for Liaison that contains a little advice for NSERC Discovery Grant applicants. Because the next issue of Liaison will be published after the Discovery Grant deadline, I have been asked to circulate these small pieces of advice in case they might be useful to some applicants, so here they are.

I strongly suggest looking at the merit indicators [1]; they really are used by the eg, and for every case at that. I also suggest reading the instructions [2] and following them when preparing the application. The most common of the easily avoidable issues I have seen centre around different aspects not being fully explained in the application. Here are some examples: 

• The roles in co-supervisions should be clear. 
• The order of authors on publications needs to be explained. 
• The relationship to other research support should be clarified. 
• The quality of the contributions to HQP training should be outlined and the outcomes clarified; the HQP criterion is much more than a numbers game.

[1] http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/_doc/Professors-Professeurs/DG_Merit_Indicators_eng.pdf

[2] http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ResearchPortal-PortailDeRecherche/Instructions-Instructions/DG-SD_eng.asp 

Note: If link [2] doesn't open, copy and paste it into your browser or click on "instructions" in the above text