NSERC Funding opportunities
Funding Prizes About Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Funding opportunity

NSERC Geoffrey Hinton Prizes

Overview

Open
Value and duration

$100,000 research grant paid over a period of 2 years

Up to three prizes per year

Application deadline

You must submit your supporting document and the terms and conditions form for the Geoffrey Hinton Prizes before 8 pm EST on November 5, 2026.

Who can apply
  • Researcher
  • Faculty > University
Eligible institution
  • University
Program type
Award/Prize
On this page
  • Description
  • Eligibility
  • Funding
  • Application
  • Review
  • Award
  • Regulations, policies and guidelines
Description

The NSERC Geoffrey Hinton Prizes recognize Discovery Grant applicants whose creative application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the natural sciences and engineering has generated or is poised to generate significant impact. The prizes are intended to accelerate discovery and innovation in the natural sciences and engineering by recognizing and supporting early-stage researchers who are leveraging AI in novel, innovative and impactful ways.

Each year, up to three prizes of $100,000 are awarded.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply, you must:

  • be eligible to hold NSERC grant funds
  • be applying to the Discovery Grants program in the current competition
  • have held an independent academic position for 10 years or less as of December 1 of the year in which you apply

An independent academic position is one that:

  • is a university faculty appointment (tenured or non-tenured)
  • requires you to engage in research that is not under the direction of another individual
  • authorizes you to supervise or co-supervise research conducted by students registered in an undergraduate or graduate degree program, or by postdoctoral fellows

To apply in November 2026, you need to have started your appointment on or after December 1, 2016. However, your 10-year eligibility window is adjusted if you have had an eligible delay in research. Eligible delays or leaves of absence may include maternity and parental leaves, personal illness, chronic illness or disability associated with reduced research activity, leaves taken for family-related illness or bereavement, or delays related to COVID-19. If you had an eligible delay in research, NSERC will extend your eligibility window by twice the length of your leave. For example, if you took a 7-month parental leave after starting your appointment, your eligibility window would be extended by 14 months. NSERC does not extend the eligibility window for professional leaves (for example, training, sabbatical or administrative leaves).

You are ineligible to receive a Geoffrey Hinton Prize if you have received an Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship.

Applications of AI must be within the natural sciences and engineering.

NSERC reserves the right to determine the eligibility of applicants and applications.

Funding Value and duration

$100,000 research grant paid over a period of 2 years

Up to three prizes per year

Application How to apply

You must submit your Discovery Grant and Geoffrey Hinton Prize applications separately, but the two application processes are linked.

To be considered for a Geoffrey Hinton Prize, you must first submit your full Discovery Grant application through the Research Portal (see Discovery Grant program description for instructions and application deadline).

Then, before the application deadline for the Geoffrey Hinton Prizes, submit a supporting document and a terms and conditions form through the Innovative Collaborations and Science Promotion secure submission site. (In the “Title of application” field of the terms and conditions form, please enter the title of your Discovery Grant application.)

The supporting document should be a maximum of one page if written in English and one and half pages if written in French. In the supporting document:

  • include any additional information, beyond the content of your Discovery Grant application, to support your candidacy for a Geoffrey Hinton Prize
  • include the same first name, last name and email address you used to submit your Discovery Grant application in the Research Portal

The supporting document will only be used if you reach the second phase of the review process (see Review process for more information).

Submit your supporting document and terms and conditions form through the Innovative Collaborations and Science Promotion secure submission site.

Application deadline

You must submit your supporting document and the terms and conditions form for the Geoffrey Hinton Prizes before 8 pm EST on November 5, 2026.

Review
Phase 1

As needed, based on application volume, Evaluation Group members identify top potential candidates from among eligible Geoffrey Hinton Prize applicants. Applications are assessed according to the prize selection criteria using only the content of the Discovery Grant application. Candidates identified at this stage must also be successful in the Discovery Grant competition to advance to Phase 2.

Phase 2

A prize selection committee made up of research representatives from academia, government and industry across a range of disciplines recommends the winners from among the candidates identified in Phase 1. Applications are assessed according to the prize selection criteria, using both the content of the Discovery Grant applications and the additional supporting document. Committee members are selected according to NSERC’s guidelines governing membership of selection committees. The committee may recommend that the prizes not be awarded in a given year if there are no outstanding applications.

Selection criteria

Applications are evaluated according to the following selection criteria:

  • Creativity and rigour in the application of AI
    • Extent to which the application of AI in the natural sciences and engineering is novel and innovative
    • Evidence that the application of AI was designed responsibly using a rigorous approach
  • Impact of the application of AI
    • Extent to which the application of AI has generated or is poised to generate significant impact in a natural sciences and engineering field

“Creativity in the application of AI” could include, but is not limited to, the creation of new methodological paradigms, the reconceptualization of scientific or engineering challenges and the unlocking of new approaches to previously unattainable solutions.

Evidence that the application of AI is “designed responsibly using a rigorous approach” could include, but is not limited to, reproducibility of results, accessibility of findings, appropriate data stewardship, inclusion of ethical considerations and the integration of equity, diversity and inclusion considerations in the research process, where relevant.

“Significant impact” could include, but is not limited to, a new understanding or breakthrough in the field, the acceleration of discovery, the expansion of analytic capacity and the enabling of new forms of inquiry.

NSERC is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). In alignment with DORA’s principles and NSERC’s commitment to research excellence in Canada, NSERC’s Guidelines on the assessment of contributions to research, training and mentoring outline how NSERC considers and values a wide range of research results and outcomes as part of the assessment process, with a focus on the quality and impact of research contributions.

Award

If your application is successful, you will receive a $100,000 research grant, paid in two annual instalments. Grant funds are subject to the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration.

Notification of results

NSERC informs all candidates of the results of the annual competition in July. The names of the award recipients are publicly announced in the fall.

Conditions

If you are selected for a Geoffrey Hinton Prize, you will be asked to confirm, by email, that you accept the award and are able to use the full value of the accompanying research grant.

If you receive an award, you will be required to comply with the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern and submit attestation forms to NSERC if the award will support research activities that aim to advance a listed sensitive technology research area.

At the conclusion of the term of the award, you will be asked to report on the impact that it has had on your research activities.

Regulations, policies and guidelines

To ensure the Canadian research ecosystem is as open as possible and as secure as necessary, the Government of Canada has provided clear information on research security considerations for the development, evaluation and funding of grant applications.

For more information on the granting agencies’ implementation of harmonized research security measures, as well as further guidance and resources on how to safeguard your research, please refer to the Tri-agency guidance on research security.

The STRAC Policy addresses risks related to research that advances sensitive technology research areas performed with research organizations and institutions that pose the highest risk to Canada’s national security. The STRAC Policy applies to this funding opportunity.

Applicants must identify whether their proposed research aims to advance a sensitive technology research area. If so, the submission of attestation forms will be required from researchers with named roles in the grant application (see the list of named roles specific to this funding opportunity) to certify that they are not currently affiliated with, nor are in receipt of funding or in-kind support from, a named research organization.

The Tri-agency guidance on the STRAC Policy provides more information on applicable procedures and requirements, including the responsibilities of researchers and the responsibilities of institutions.