NSERC Prizes

Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering

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Call for Nominations

Nomination deadline: November 28 before 8 p.m. (ET). If the deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, your nomination must reach NSERC before 8:00 p.m. (ET) the following working day.

The Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering will be awarded to an individual whose body of work, conducted in Canada in the natural sciences or engineering, has demonstrated persistent excellence and influence.

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.

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Eligibility

Candidates may be nominated by any individual or group. Posthumous nominations or self-nominations will not be accepted. Current NSERC Council members are not eligible for nomination.

As of the deadline, the nominee must be a scientist or engineer employed at a Canadian university, Canadian federal or provincial government lab or private firm active in Canada whose research is primarily based in the fields of the natural sciences and/or engineering. In addition, the majority of the most significant contributions to research, training and mentoring included in the nomination must stem from work conducted while the nominee was employed (primary place of employment) in Canada. NSERC reserves the right to rule on the eligibility of nominees.

NSERC strongly encourages nominators and university officials to consider equity, diversity and inclusion in their nomination processes.

An individual may receive the NSERC Herzberg Medal only once. An individual may be nominated for the NSERC Herzberg Medal and other NSERC prizes (Brockhouse, Polanyi, McDonald, Synergy or Strickland) in the same year but can only receive one prize in a given year.

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Evaluation

A diverse selection committee of academic, government and industry research representatives from a variety of disciplines will review the nominations and recommend the successful candidates to NSERC. Members are selected according to NSERC’s Guidelines governing membership of selection committees. The committee may recommend not to award the prize in a given year if there is no outstanding nomination.

NSERC recognizes that the entire research ecosystem is strengthened by equitable, diverse and inclusive access and participation. In support of its ongoing commitment to cultural and systemic change in Canadian research, NSERC has updated and improved guidelines concerning contributions to research and training. The intended outcomes of the Tri-agency EDI Action Plan and recommendations from the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) inform these changes. NSERC’s revised Guidelines on the assessment of contributions to research, training and mentoring diversify the principles and considerations regarding contributions and assessing their quality and impact.

The selection committee will consider and value a wide range of contributions to research, training and mentoring with a focus on the quality and impact of these contributions as described in the Guidelines on the assessment of contributions to research, training and mentoring. As a result, contributions are not limited to published journal articles but also include, amongst other outputs, article preprints, patents, datasets, software, protocols, well-trained researchers, societal outcomes and policy changes resulting from research. Some contributions that are often overlooked, such as public outreach activities, membership on committees, editorial boards, and/or advisory boards, support for and use of Indigenous ways of knowing, and work done by applicants to promote the inclusion and advancement of equity-deserving groups in research are also considered.

Selection criterion

• Persistent and exceptional quality and impact of contributions to research, training and/or mentoring in the natural sciences and engineering.

Quality and impact of a wide range of contributions will be assessed using indicators found in the NSERC - Guidelines on the assessment of contributions to research, training and mentoring, taking into account the context of different disciplines and the nature of the research being conducted. Examples of these indicators can include, but are not limited to, the extent to which:

• the nominee’s contributions are novel, creative and/or innovative;
• the nominee’s body of work led to novel or potentially transformative concepts and lines of inquiry;
• the nominee’s contributions have impacted other researchers, the specific field, the discipline as a whole, other disciplines or areas beyond the research ecosystem;
• the nominee’s application of existing knowledge improved current practices and/or led to the development of novel solutions to practical problem(s);
• the nominee upheld a transparent and rigorous approach to research, including the integration of equity, diversity and inclusion considerations in the research process where relevant, reproducibility of results, accessibility of findings, and appropriate data stewardship;
• the nominee engaged in transformative formal or informal mentoring of HQP, colleagues, collaborators or community members;
• the nominee established and promoted safe, equitable and inclusive research environments, practices, and norms;
• the nominee’s contributions have led to increased public understanding of, use of and/or interest in certain aspects of research in the natural sciences and engineering.

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Nomination process

Since the selection committee is multidisciplinary, the nomination material should be written for non-specialists.

The nomination package must include:

1. a letter (four pages maximum; use the following points as headings) that clearly describes
   1. the nominee's most significant contributions to research, training and mentoring in terms of quality and impact (refer to selection criterion above)
   2. the role of the nominee in bringing about the contributions
2. the nominee's up-to-date NSERC Personal data form (Form 100) or Canadian Common CV or an up-to-date CV in another format, including detailed information about the achievements and contributions to research and training; the CV should contain relevant information over the entire career of the nominee
3. the names and email addresses of six researchers at the forefront of the nominee's field, who, in the opinion of the nominators, could be approached by NSERC to conduct an impartial review of the nominee's suitability for the award, and who are not in conflict of interest (see Conflict of interest and confidentiality policy of the federal research funding organizations)
   1. NSERC strongly recommends that nominators suggest a cross-section of reviewers with expertise in the nominee’s area of research (i.e., Canadian and international researchers; members of under‑represented groups, including women; researchers at a variety of academic and non-academic institutions)
   2. Nominees must not contact suggested external reviewers in advance; please note that NSERC reserves the right to select all or none of the suggested reviewers
   3. A brief one-paragraph description of each person's background and the rationale for the person's suitability as a referee must be supplied
4. identification of any eligible leaves of absence (optional one-page) in consultation with NSERC’s Interruptions in research, training and mentoring webpage. In the case of medical leave, it is not necessary to explain the illness or the treatment but rather its impact on your research activity. Please:
   1. provide the duration of the circumstances
   2. include the impact of the interruption(s)
5. a Terms and conditions form for nominees signed by the nominee (do not use the encrypted digital signature function) - it is the nominee’s responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for their records
6. a Terms and conditions form for nominators signed by each nominator (do not use the encrypted digital signature function) - it is the nominator’s responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for their records

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Submitting a nomination

Nominators are responsible for preparing the required documentation, which must adhere to NSERC’s General presentation guidelines. Documents that do not meet the presentation standards may be rejected or at a disadvantage compared to those that meet the standards. Note that hyperlinked material will not be considered as part of the review process. Compile your documents into a single portable document format (PDF) and submit your nomination electronically via the ICSP Secure Submission Site. Only documents requested by NSERC will be made available to the selection committee.

For re-nominations, nominators are asked to submit a complete and updated nomination package. The list of suggested reviewers should also be updated to include new individuals.

Nominations must be submitted before 8:00 p.m. (ET) on the deadline date. Late nominations will not be accepted. Once submitted, nominations cannot be updated.

In January, nominees will receive a system-generated email from NSERC with instructions on how to complete a self-identification questionnaire. The program collects and uses disaggregated self-identification data from all nominees to monitor levels of diversity and its policies and processes for potential systemic barriers. Although completing the questionnaire is required before peer review, each question is optional by selecting “I prefer not to answer”, and no self-identification data are seen or used by NSERC peer reviewers.

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Conditions and reporting

The NSERC Herzberg Medal recipient will be asked to confirm, by email, acceptance of the prize and ability to use the full value of the accompanying research grant.

The recipient will be asked to report on the impact that the award has had on their research activities.

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Notification of results

NSERC will electronically inform all nominees of the results of the annual competition by the end of June and publicly announce the name of the award recipient in the fall.