NSERC
Funding Prizes About Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
2024–25 Departmental plan at a glance

A departmental plan describes a department’s priorities, plans and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.

  • Vision, mission, raison d’être and operating context
  • Minister’s mandate letter
 

Read the full departmental plan

Key priorities
  • Support research excellence that strengthens Canada.
  • Expand, diversify and nurture Canada’s talent pool.
  • Translate discovery into impact.
  • Mobilize knowledge on a global scale.
  • Empower our organization and our people.
Refocusing Government Spending

In Budget 2023, the government committed to reducing spending by $14.1 billion over the next five years, starting in 2023–24, and by $4.1 billion annually after that.

As part of meeting this commitment, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) is planning the following spending reductions.

  • 2024–25: $1,472,000
  • 2025–26: $1,472,000
  • 2026–27 and after: $1,472,000

NSERC will achieve these reductions by doing the following:

  • $932,000 ongoing, starting in 2024–25, in professional services operating reductions.
  • $540,000 ongoing, starting in 2024–25, in travel operating reductions.

The figures in this departmental plan reflect these reductions.

Highlights

A Departmental Results Framework consists of an organization’s core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.

 

Departmental results:

  • Canada’s natural sciences and engineering research is internationally competitive.
  • Canada has a pool of diverse and highly skilled people in the natural sciences and engineering fields.
  • Canada’s natural sciences and engineering research knowledge is used.

Planned spending: $1,383,834,006

Planned human resources: 503

As the leading funder of natural sciences and engineering research in Canada, NSERC is committed to strengthening the national research foundation by supporting both fundamental and applied research. NSERC promotes research excellence by fostering a culture of interdisciplinarity, aligning with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), and fostering global collaboration, openness and research security. In 2024–25, NSERC will further support Canadian researchers at every stage of their career by fostering a scientific culture and supporting high-quality research training while expanding eligibility, accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion. The agency will also promote science literacy and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers among young Canadians. NSERC’s collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders will continue to enhance research impact, with a strong emphasis on the importance of Open Science principles in the dissemination of research findings.

More information about Funding natural sciences and engineering research and training can be found in the full departmental plan.

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