Budget 2023 highlighted Canada’s prime position to be a global supplier of choice for critical minerals that are central to major global industries such as clean technology, auto manufacturing, health care, aerospace and the digital economy.

To increase the supply of responsibly sourced critical minerals and support the development of domestic and global value chains for the green and digital economy, Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy was released in December 2022 with the intent of continuing to provide foundational support to Canada’s mining sector to take advantage of existing and emerging opportunities.

Among the 31 minerals that Canada considers critical, Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy identified six minerals which were initially prioritized for their distinct potential to spur Canadian economic growth and their necessity as inputs for priority supply chains. These six minerals are lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements (Canada’s Critical Mineral Strategy - Annex B). Furthermore, nine other priority minerals, namely vanadium, gallium, titanium, scandium, magnesium, tellurium, zinc, niobium and germanium, also present significant prospects for the future. This funding opportunity targets research projects that will support the growth of Canadian expertise at every point along the value chain of those fifteen prioritized critical minerals – from exploration to recycling.

Alliance Missions grants are intended to provide support for research activities that will

• advance Canadian knowledge, models, processes, tools and technologies to optimize efficiency, minimize environmental impacts, and/or support data-driven decisions along domestic critical mineral value chains, from exploration to recycling (e.g., geological and economic modelling of critical mineral deposits, flowsheets, life-cycle analyses, etc.); and/or
• develop efficient options to advance a domestic circular economy with less reliance on primary mineral resources through mine reclamation and/or critical mineral recycling or reprocessing (e.g., mining and industrial waste, end-of-life products, etc.); and/or
• support the development of best practices in technology, innovation and collaborative ventures (e.g., best practices to advance vertical integration across the sector, etc.).

Growing Canadian expertise at every point along the critical mineral value chain – from exploration to mining to manufacturing to recycling – will contribute to growing the Canadian economy, fighting climate change at home and around the world, and improving the resiliency of Canada’s supply chain and that of its allies to future disruptions.

Partnerships are strongly encouraged across academia, government, private-sector organizations and not-for-profit organizations to develop new tools, methods and models, and to facilitate the uptake of new knowledge to support sustainable and responsible development of Canada’s critical minerals sector. The participation of at least one partner organization that is recognized for cost-sharing is required.

NSERC is committed to supporting research that respectfully involves and engages with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples, and their wisdom, cultures, experiences or traditional Indigenous knowledge, as expressed in their dynamic forms, past and present, regardless of their locale. For more guidance, refer to the College and Community Innovation program’s guide for research involving Indigenous Peoples and communities.

Grant support ranges from $100,000 to $500,000 per year, for a duration of three years. NSERC will provide support for 100% of the eligible costs of research. Although partner organizations do not need to provide cash contributions to participate, they must actively play a role in the project and support it through in-kind contributions. A broad range of in-kind contributions could be made toward a project; refer to the Partner organizations web page for additional information.

Developing and implementing policies or directly applying your research results may depend on scientific understanding beyond the natural sciences and engineering (NSE). Alliance Missions grants support collaborations with academic researchers in fields other than the NSE. Research costs for these collaborations can represent up to 30% of project costs.

If you are a Canadian university researcher who is eligible to receive NSERC funds, you can apply on your own or as a team with co-applicants who are also eligible academic researchers. Given the limited funding, applicants will be allowed to participate in only one Alliance Missions grant application for this call, either as the principal investigator or a co-applicant. However, you may concurrently apply to Alliance grants Option 1 and/or Alliance grants Option 2 to support other research activities not included in your Alliance Missions application.

NSERC encourages the participation of early career researchers (ECRs) as applicants or co-applicants on Alliance Missions grant applications. Accordingly, a proportion of awards equal to the proportion of applications submitted that are led by early career researchers will be reserved for these researchers. For more information on how NSERC categorizes an applicant as an ECR, refer to the Discovery Grants—applicant categories.

In the case where your application involves one or more partner organizations from the private sector (including industrial associations and producer groups), as well as when they participate alongside other partner organizations from the public and/or not-for-profit sectors, you must complete the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships’ Risk Assessment Form and include it as an integral part of your application.

At all times, Canadian researchers are encouraged to exercise appropriate levels of due diligence to safeguard their research. Resources to do so are provided by the Government of Canada on the Safeguarding Your Research portal.

Your partner organizations can be private, public or not-for-profit. You may involve whichever partner organizations you need to achieve your research goals and successfully mobilize your research results to achieve the desired impact. At least one of these partners must have a demonstrated ability to exploit such research results, while other partners may be chosen for their ability to generate or mobilize knowledge. Each partner organization must actively play a role in the project and support it through in-kind contributions. Such involvement must be achieved by doing at least one of the following:

• Play an active role in the project’s research activities
• Utilize the project’s research results to help achieve its desired outcomes
• Play an active role in translating or mobilizing knowledge to ensure that the research results have an impact

Various in-kind contributions could be made toward the project, such as the time of the partner organization’s scientific, engineering or technical staff to provide direction and participate in the project; provision of equipment, materials or services; and provision of access to data or special equipment.

Active participation in the project and in-kind contributions are not required from funding organizations (e.g., other provincial or federal funding agencies) providing financial support to the project alongside NSERC (see Funding your research project).

You must have at least one partner organization whose cash contributions would be recognized for cost-sharing, had there been any required.

Consult the Alliance Advantage: Role of partner organizations web page for complete guidelines regarding partner organizations, including requirements for partner organizations whose cash contributions can be recognized for cost-sharing purposes with NSERC.

You can apply to support any R&D project that will:

• advance Canadian knowledge, models, processes, tools and technologies to optimize efficiency, minimize environmental impacts, and/or support data-driven decisions along domestic critical mineral value chains, from exploration to recycling (e.g., geological and economic modelling of critical mineral deposits, flowsheets, life-cycle analyses, etc.); and/or
• develop efficient options to advance a domestic circular economy with less reliance on primary mineral resources through mine reclamation and/or critical mineral recycling or reprocessing (e.g., mining and industrial waste, end-of-life products, etc.); and/or
• support the development of best practices in technology, innovation and collaborative ventures (e.g., best practices to advance vertical integration across the sector, etc.).

Your project must focus on at least one of the fifteen prioritized critical minerals identified in the Overview.

Please note that you cannot use an Alliance Missions grant to support secret or contract research.

Researchers proposing research in collaboration with community groups (such as Indigenous or Northern community groups) are encouraged to consult the resources available in the College and Community Innovation program’s guide, CCI guide for research involving Indigenous Peoples and communities. Accordingly, applications could include budget items associated with activities that support such collaborations (see Funding page).

Developing and implementing policies or directly applying your research results may depend on socio-economic or other requirements, as well as scientific understanding beyond the natural sciences and engineering (NSE). You are encouraged to collaborate with academic researchers in fields other than the NSE. Such researchers may be co-applicants for Alliance Missions grants if they meet NSERC’s eligibility criteria for faculty. Research costs for these collaborations can represent up to 30% of the total project costs and must be specifically identified in the project budget justification.

To increase the impact of Canadian NSE research in the global research community, you may incorporate international collaborations into your project proposal. You may interact with foreign colleagues in a variety of ways to enhance collaboration and increase your project’s impact. Refer to the Tri-agency guide on financial administration regarding the eligibility of expenses you may incur in support of such collaborations.

You can request $100,000 to $500,000 per year from NSERC for three years. Cash contributions from partner organizations are not required. Even though NSERC will cover 100% of the project’s eligible costs, your project must involve at least one partner organization whose cash contributions would be recognized, had there been any required.

You and your co-applicants may receive funds from other sources to cover direct costs of your project. These sources of funds could include cash contributions provided by the university or by other funding agencies. Such funds would add to and complement those requested from NSERC. You must include all of the project’s direct costs funded by sources other than NSERC in the budget table. All costs must be explained in the proposal and are considered in the merit assessment of your proposal.

In-kind contributions are important for the success of the project. All partner organizations participating in the project must play an active role in it and make in-kind contributions through such involvement (see Partner organizations). In-kind contributions are considered in the merit assessment of your proposal (see Review of your application).

Alliance Missions grant funds from NSERC cover the direct costs of the research. The funds from NSERC are paid to eligible universities and cannot be used to buy equipment, products or services from any partner organization, or to cover any part of the travel and travel-related subsistence expenditures for partner organization personnel, with the exception of community groups collaborating on the project.

You can include only NSERC-eligible direct costs of research in your project budget, such as

• salary support for undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral fellows to perform research and related training
• salary support for technicians and research professional personnel
• materials and supplies
• activities that support collaborations and knowledge mobilization related to the project, including the costs associated with building relationships with communities
• activities to develop and grow the research collaborations with the partner organizations, relevant communities, and/or end users

Refer to the guidelines on the use of grant funds in the Tri-agency guide on financial administration.

You can also include the costs of equipment, provided that the equipment is

• essential to achieving the objectives of the research project
• incremental to the equipment already available at the university or at the partner organization’s location

If your total expected equipment cost (including operation and maintenance) exceeds $400,000 over your project’s duration, then you should apply for an alternate source of funding such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI’s) John R. Evans Leaders Fund. NSERC and CFI have developed a joint application and review procedure for these cases. Contact NSERC or CFI for more details.

For projects involving multiple partner organizations and/or universities, you may include project management costs, up to 10% of the total direct research costs (see Guidelines for research partnerships programs project management expenses).

Applicants must begin by submitting a letter of intent (LOI) before the LOI deadline. All eligible applicants will then complete a full application to be submitted before the full application deadline.

The principal applicant must submit an LOI to NSERC using the NSERC’s online system before 8:00 p.m. (ET) on September 7, 2023. The NSERC eligibility criteria for faculty apply.

Provide a summary of the main objectives and research challenges of the proposed research as it relates to critical minerals. In your summary, briefly explain how your proposed research responds to the research topic for this call and provide a brief description of the planned involvement of the partner organization(s). This plain language summary will be available to the public if your proposal is funded.

Applicants may participate in only one Alliance Missions grant application for this call, either as the principal investigator or a co-applicant.

The eligibility of the applicant and co-applicants will be reviewed internally by NSERC. If you are unsure about the eligibility of an individual, please contact NSERC at alliance-missions@nserc-crsng.gc.ca prior to submitting your LOI.

No changes in the academic research team composition are permitted after an LOI is reviewed and approved by NSERC.

1. Log in to NSERC’s online system and choose Create a new form 101.
2. Select Research partnerships programs, then Alliance grants.
3. For the Proposal type field, select Letter of intent.
4. For the Type of call field, select Missions – Critical minerals research from the drop-down menu.
5. Follow the instructions to invite co-applicants you wish to participate on your application, if applicable.
6. Provide a summary of the proposal as described above and following the instructions provided through NSERC online.
7. Suggest the names of five independent experts competent to assess the technical aspects of the planned research.
8. Submit your completed LOI and supporting documents, including the personal data form with CCV attachment for the applicant and all co-applicants, through NSERC’s online system.

A full application form will be made available to you in the online system within two weeks after the LOI deadline. Teams will be notified that they cannot submit a full application if their LOI is not complete and/or does not adhere to program requirements and objectives.

Applications from eligible applicants will be accepted at any time until November 9, 2023, before 8:00 p.m. (ET).

1. Log in to NSERC’s online system.
2. Select the appropriate form 101 from your portfolio (Form 101 – Missions – Critical minerals research created at the LOI stage).
3. Following the instructions for completing an Alliance grant application, fill out the proposal template (maximum 10 pages regardless of $ amount requested) and complete the other sections of your application.
4. Delete the Public impact value proposition section from the proposal template—it does not apply to Alliance Missions grants, even though NSERC provides support for 100% of the eligible costs of research.
5. In the case where your application involves one or more partner organizations from the private sector (including industrial associations or producer groups), including when these organizations participate alongside other organizations from the public and/or not-for-profit sectors, also complete the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships’ risk assessment form.
6. Submit your completed application and supporting documents, including the personal data form with CCV attachment for the applicant and all co-applicants, through NSERC’s online system.
7. Your partner organization’s contact person will be invited through the online system to provide information about the organization following the partner organization instructions.

By submitting your application, you and your co-applicants (when applicable) agree to the terms and conditions of applying for applicants. By participating in your application, your partner organizations agree to the terms and conditions of applying for partner organizations. You also agree that any information contained in your letter of intent or full proposal may be shared with Natural Resources Canada for purposes consistent with the program objectives.

NSERC is acting on the evidence that achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to advance knowledge and understanding, and to respond to local, national and global challenges. This principle informs the commitments described in the Tri-agency statement on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and is aligned with the objectives of the Tri-agency EDI action plan.

Excellent research considers EDI both in the research environment (forming a research team, student training) and in the research process. For Alliance grants, EDI considerations are currently evaluated in the training, mentorship and professional development opportunities for students and trainees. The aim is to remove barriers to the recruitment and promote full participation of individuals from underrepresented groups, including women, Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis), persons with disabilities, members of visible minority/racialized groups and members of 2SLGBTQI+ communities. Applicants are encouraged to increase the inclusion and advancement of underrepresented groups as one way to enhance the excellence in research and training. For additional guidance, applicants should refer to Alliance grants: Equity, diversity and inclusion in your training plan and the NSERC guide on integrating equity, diversity and inclusion considerations in research.

You must submit the LOI and the full application by the deadline dates. NSERC will screen all LOIs and full applications to ensure they are complete and adhere to program requirements and objectives. If your LOI or full application does not meet all program requirements, it will be rejected.

A multidisciplinary selection committee from academic and non-academic organizations (such as private-sector, public-sector or not-for-profit organizations) will review the applications. The members may be informed in their assessment by reports from external reviewers. NSERC reserves the right to select the most appropriate review process.

The merit of your application is evaluated using the following four equally weighted criteria. The proposal must address all the listed points (criteria and sub-criteria) to be considered for funding. For this initiative, alignment with the objectives and/or research topics will be assessed as part of the relevance and outcomes criteria.

• Significance of the intended outcomes and of the economic, social and/or environmental benefits for Canada
• Originality of the research to address the topic and the potential for generating new scientific knowledge
• Extent to which the strategy to apply the research results is likely to achieve the intended outcomes
• Alignment with the objectives and/or research topics of the initiative

• Appropriateness of the partnership to achieve the intended outcomes; leveraging of different types of partner organizations and the integration of their unique perspectives and knowledge in the project, as appropriate
• Clarity of each partner organization’s role in the collaboration with respect to defining the challenge, co-designing and implementing the research, and using the results to achieve the desired outcomes
• Appropriateness of the level of in-kind contributions from each partner organization

• Clarity of the objectives and deliverables; appropriateness of the scope and size of planned activities to achieve the expected outcomes; justification for the planned expenditures
• Appropriateness of the identified indicators and methods for monitoring progress during the project and for assessing outcomes after the project
• Appropriateness of academic researchers’ expertise, and that found within the partner organizations, both for carrying out the planned research activities and in mentoring trainees

• Opportunities for enriched training experiences for research trainees (undergraduates, graduates, postdoctoral fellows) to develop relevant research skills as well as professional skills such as leadership, communication, collaboration and entrepreneurship
• Consideration of equity, diversity and inclusion in the training plan (for guidance, consult the Equity, diversity and inclusion in your training plan document)

Since cash contributions from partner organizations are not required, they are not taken into account when assessing the appropriateness of the level of contributions from each partner organization. Only in-kind contributions are taken into consideration.

NSERC uses established merit indicators to rate each evaluation sub-criterion/criterion.

In the case where your proposal involves one or more partner organizations from the private sector (including industrial associations and producer groups), as well as when they participate alongside other partner organizations from the public and/or not-for-profit sectors, NSERC reviews the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships’ risk assessment form that you provide with your application (including the risk mitigation plan, when applicable). When additional expertise is required, NSERC seeks advice from Canada’s national security departments and agencies, and/or from academic experts.

NSERC’s funding decision takes into consideration the merit evaluation as well as the assessment of potential risks for Canada’s national security, when applicable. NSERC may prioritize the funding of interdisciplinary projects.

NSERC uses the merit indicator ratings assigned to applications to select proposals for funding on a competitive basis. Decisions stemming from the national security risk assessment are based on the risks identified and the mitigation measures proposed.

Decisions will be communicated by the end of March 2024.

If your Alliance Missions grant application is approved for funding, you will receive an award letter, and you must adhere to the terms and conditions of award.

Your award letter will indicate the start date of your project. NSERC will normally transfer your grant funds to your university within 30 days of that start date.

NSERC recommends that you and your university follow best practices by signing a research agreement that defines the intellectual property rights and obligations of all the partner organizations involved in your research project. The agreement must be aligned with NSERC’s policy on intellectual property, which promotes the use and/or exploitation of knowledge and open access to results of research funded by NSERC.

Note:

• NSERC claims no rights of ownership to any intellectual property generated through projects funded by Alliance Missions grants
• NSERC’s policy on intellectual property stipulates that each of your students must maintain their right to defend their thesis without delays or impediments
• All participants, including any trainees, should consult this policy to ensure that they are aware of their rights and obligations

You must acknowledge NSERC support in any communications or presentations about the research supported by your Alliance Missions grant.

You must report regularly on how you use the funds from your grant, the activities you carry out during your funded project and the outcomes of this project. You will be informed of reporting requirements upon receiving your award letter.

Subsequent instalments of your grant depend on your adherence to all conditions specified in the terms and conditions of award.

You must notify NSERC

• if any of your partner organizations no longer actively play a role in the project and support it through in-kind contributions, as committed to in the application
• if any of your partner organizations leave the project—in this respect, during the entire project, you must have at least one partner organization whose cash contributions would be recognized for cost-sharing, had there been any required

If you and your partner organizations fail to provide requested feedback, your subsequent applications may be denied.

NSERC automatically provides an extension period of one year for using the grant funds. This extension period allows you to complete your research activities planned for within the specified term of your grant.

Consult the Alliance resources and the Alliance frequently asked questions web pages for additional guidance and information that may help you prepare your application.

Email: alliance-missions@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
Toll free: 1-855-275-2861