CERC Program

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1. Program Overview
2. CERC 2026 Competition
3. Previous Competition Archive

Program Overview

The Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) program is funded by the three federal research funding agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The program offers eligible Canadian, degree-granting institutions an opportunity to establish highly funded research chairs in the Government of Canada’s ST&I priorities for the CERC and CFREF programs. 

The objectives of the program are to:

• strengthen Canada’s ability to attract the world’s top researchers, in order to be at the leading edge of breakthroughs in ST&I priority areas expected to generate social and economic benefits for Canadians; 
• help Canada build a critical mass of expertise in ST&I priority areas identified by the Government of Canada; 
• create a competitive environment to help Canadian institutions, in their pursuit of excellence in their research, attract a cadre of world-leading researchers; and 
• contribute to branding Canada as a location of choice for world-leading research, science and technology development, alongside other federal programs with similar objectives.

CERC competition is a quota-based program where eligible Canadian Institutions are assigned a maximum dollar value per year for which they may apply. CERC awards are tenable for 8 years and non-renewable. There are two sizes of awards:

1. $1 million per year
2. $500,000 per year

Eligibility of Nominees

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

The program imposes no restrictions on nominees with regard to nationality or country of residence and there are established procedures to allow non-Canadian chairholders and their teams to work in Canada. However, they may not be nominated by the institution at which they currently hold their appointment.

If an institution nominates a researcher who is currently at a Canadian institution, the nominating institution must demonstrate the net benefit to the country in moving the researcher from one Canadian institution to another.

Additional Considerations:

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

The federal research funding agencies emphasize equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) as essential for excellence in research and innovation. EDI is embedded in the CERC program's objectives, requiring institutions and chairholders to demonstrate and implement the highest EDI standards. Institutions and chairholders must actively remove systemic barriers to ensure underrepresented, equity-seeking, rights-seeking populations, including racialized individuals, African, Caribbean and Black individuals, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, women and individuals from 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, can fully contribute to the research program as students, trainees, staff and faculty. Supporting early career researchers is also a tri-agency priority. Sound EDI principles must be applied to the research design, methods, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of research findings to ensure that the results are impactful and relevant to the diversity of the Canadian population. EDI considerations must also be embedded into the recruitment process.

Indigenous Research

If applicable, nominations should include Indigenous research components that are co-created and by and with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples—as investigators, students, trainees, partners and collaborators.

If applicable, research program should demonstrate valuing Indigenous ways of knowing and expanding research knowledge that is significant for Indigenous Peoples and communities and contribute to decolonization.

Knowledge Mobilization and Translation

It is expected that research should involve partnerships across sectors (academic, public, private, not-for-profit and philanthropic), to increase research results uptake for the benefit of all Canadians.

Sustainability

Host institutions will be expected to leverage additional resources to sustain the research advantage created by the Chair after the award ends. It is expected that additional contributions (cash and/or in-kind) will be secured by institutions and chairholders.

Research Security

All necessary steps must be taken to address risks in research and innovation, including theft, interference, or unauthorized transfer of knowledge. The Government of Canada’s Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern will apply to this funding opportunity. will apply to this funding opportunity.

For full details on these additional areas of consideration, please see the program website: https://www.cerc.gc.ca/program-programme/competitions-concours/2026/index-eng.aspx#3

Nomination Process

The CERC program consists of a two staged nomination process:

1. Internal selection: Interested applicants submit an application to SFU’s CERC advertisement to be considered in SFU’s internal CERC nomination process.
2. Institutional nomination: The successful applicant(s) will prepare the required documents, including a proposed research program, to be nominated by SFU to the 2026 CERC competition.

SFU’s Office of the VPRI (OVPRI) will provide substantial support in the preparation and development of the nomination to the program including project management, budget planning, proposal development and editing. If successful, CERC awardees will also receive substantial support for their research programs and for administration of the grant.

CERC 2026 Competition

In the 2026 competition, SFU is eligible to apply for up to $1 million dollars per year: 1 $1M/year nomination, or 2 $500K/year nominations.

It is anticipated that results of the 2026 competition will be released in January 2027, therefore the earliest appointment start date at SFU is expected to be fall of 2027 (negotiable).

SFU’S INTERNAL SELECTION PROCESS

SFU’s 2026 internal selection process will involve two parallel processes:

1. Nomination for the CERC award led by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (OVPRI).
2. Appointment to an academic appointment per the process set out in the SFU Faculty Association collective agreement.

A 6-staged nomination process will be used by OVPRI to identify candidates suitable for a CERC award:

1. Identify CERC research themes: OVPRI will invite expressions of interests (EOIs) from the Faculties through their Associate Deans of Research to identify research themes of interest for a CERC.
2. Thematic committee evaluation: After themes are confirmed, thematic committees will evaluate applications received to their theme. A longlist will be determined after this stage, with 1-2 individuals advancing from each thematic committee.
3. Dean review: The longlist will be distributed to the Deans for consultation.
4. EDI evaluation: Staff members with expertise in EDI in research initiatives will review and comment on longlisted applications with an EDI lens.
5. Shortlist determined by Nomination Committee: The nomination committee, composed of VPRI, AVPR, VPPEI, Provost and VPAAE, will review comments and scores from stages 2, 3 and 4 with an added institutional focus to determine the final shortlist.  
6. CERC nominee(s) identified

After the shortlist for the CERC nominee(s) has been determined (Stage 5), the faculty appointment process will begin (a non-advertised search in an appropriate academic unit, with appointment conditional on the successful award of the CERC). Candidates who are successful through the internal selection process will be appointed to an appropriate academic department/school/faculty at SFU.

Timeline Overview

Job Advertisement

The 2026 CERC job advertisement is in development.

Previous Competition Archive