Canada Research Chairs

Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program.

The program, established in 2000, is an integral part of a Government of Canada plan to drive Canadian research and development excellence, to create world-class centres of research and to enhance Canada's competitiveness in the global knowledge-based economy. Through the CRC program, $300 million is spent annually to attract and retain outstanding scholars and scientists.

The program hopes to help chairholders achieve research excellence in natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences, improve Canadas’ depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen the country’s international competitiveness, and train the next generation of the highly skilled through student supervision, teaching, and the coordination of other researchers’ work.

There are two types of Canada Research Chair:

The money received for each chair can be used to add to the chair's salary, to help pay for the chair's existing salary, or to fund research; the proportion allocated to each category varies by university.

The number of CRCs allocated to a university is proportional to the amount of research grant funding that university has received in the three years prior to the year of the allocation. Grant funding must originate from the three federal granting agencies (NSERC, CIHR, and SSHRC).

Of the total 2000 Chairs, 1880 are regular allocations, distributed as follows:

The program sets aside a special allocation of 120 Chairs for universities that have received one per cent or less of the total funding paid out by the three federal granting agencies over the preceding three years.

Roughly 66% of Chairs are allocated to member institutions of the U15, a group of the top research-intensive universities in Canada.

The Canada Research Chairs Program maintains an online database of profiles of each chairholder, which include detailed descriptions of each of their research projects.

On March 27, 2008, the Government of Canada's Ministry of Industry, as well as the presidents of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research presented each chairholder with a Canada Research Chair insignia at a national celebration of the program held at the Université du Québec en Outaouais in Gatineau, Quebec. The lapel pin, made of sterling silver, symbolizes the pursuit of knowledge and research excellence and is available exclusively to chairholders. As of November 2007, there are 1,851 Canada Research Chairs. Seventy Canadian universities are participating in the program.

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