Grants and Contributions

Engage Grants (EGP) are designed to give innovative companies that operate from a Canadian base access to the unique knowledge, expertise and capabilities available at Canadian universities and colleges. These grants are intended to foster the development of new research partnerships by supporting short-term research and development projects aimed at addressing a company-specific problem; that is, a problem related to the company’s core competencies or activities. The simplified application and decision processes enable university and college researchers to quickly undertake new research collaborations that extend academic expertise to these problems. The mutually beneficial projects are expected to result in economic benefits to the company and to Canada and build impactful longer term collaborations between the applicant and the company.

The Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF) Program provides support to a core of the most promising researchers at a pivotal time in their careers.

Connect Grants provide financial support for the Canadian research community to undertake activities that will help make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for the benefit of all Canadians. These activities must advance NSERC’s Research Partnerships and/or one or more of the goals outlined in NSERC’s 2020 Strategic Plan.

Engage Grants (EGP) are designed to give innovative companies that operate from a Canadian base access to the unique knowledge, expertise and capabilities available at Canadian universities and colleges. These grants are intended to foster the development of new research partnerships by supporting short-term research and development projects aimed at addressing a company-specific problem; that is, a problem related to the company’s core competencies or activities. The simplified application and decision processes enable university and college researchers to quickly undertake new research collaborations that extend academic expertise to these problems. The mutually beneficial projects are expected to result in economic benefits to the company and to Canada and build impactful longer term collaborations between the applicant and the company.

In order to reduce the risks of failure in rail infrastructure, a more advanced systematic health monitoring approach based on artificial intelligence methods is being researched. This Project aims to develop an AI-based tool to improve the health monitoring systems associated with rail infrastructure. This new tool will be able to provide long term and short-term prediction of the rail temperature as a key component for rail infrastructure safety, and the new tool will be based on artificial intelligence approaches that combine the observational historical data on climatic and weather conditions with computer techniques. The tool can be fed with long-term and short-term projections of climatic condition to provide insight into the rail temperature changes and its implications for rail infrastructure safety.

The Project will address key issues encountered with conventional electronic beamforming networks (BFN) used in space-based Radio-Frequency phased array antennas, popular in recent low cost, large, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation projects. It will evaluate feasibility of using photonic integrated circuits to implement an innovative BFN architecture. A higher level of integration in photonic circuits leads to smaller BFN dimensions and lower cost. It will implement also true time delay within the BFN, which eliminates frequency specific behavior of beam shaping. Large bandwidth performances will be much improved over wide scan angles for operations in LEO.

The next-generation of satellite networks are expected to have very high-speed inter-satellite links. For efficient operation, the network will have to be autonomous, intelligent, resilient, self-organizing and self-controlling as much as possible to reduce the cost and risk of human intervention in such highly complicated settings. Distributed decision making, fault recovery, resilience, and scalability are among the important features of the envisioned satellite networks. The Project will rely on artificial intelligence (AI) techniques at all levels, including: ground operations, on-board operations, as well as inter-satellite (free space optical communication (FSO)) and satellite-to-ground links (radio frequency (RF) and/or FSO) to advance issues in mobility management and routing in next-generation satellite networks.

Single and entangled photon emitters as well as single-photon detectors are critical to quantum cyber-security, communication and information processing technologies. The long-term objective of the Project is the direct measurement of the optical power emitted from an NRC nanowire quantum dot single-photon source at the primary level, with an absolute planar bolometric radiometer (PBR) sensor, giving an SI-traceable optical power measurement of photons from an on-demand single-photon source. To facilitate the optimization of the measurement system, a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) will be designed and fabricated for incorporation into the measurement apparatus. The Project supports the development of first generation quantum sources and detectors for future telecommunication standards.

A large majority of patients undergoing partial or complete upper or lower limb loss through amputation experience debilitating
phantom limb pain. Phantom limb pain immediately following amputation is a risk factor for chronicity. Current effective treatment
approaches are limited. Evidence suggests that simulations of the missing limb may be helpful in reducing pain sensations. Virtual
reality represents an innovative way to simulate the missing limb. The NRC will develop innovative technology that simulates the
missing limb. We will identify patient partners who experience phantom limb pain who will work alongside the NRC in the development
of the technology. We will perform focus groups for patient feedback to inform further development of technology. Upon completion of
the technology, we will conduct a feasibility study among those undergoing lower limb amputation to assess the utility and acceptability
of the technology in the immediate post-surgery period during hospitalization. At discharge, patients will undergo a semi-structured
interview and will be qualitatively analyzed.

This project will support victims of sexual assault and intimate partner violence by providing tailored, culturally sensitive, and trauma informed legal advice and representation. The Lethbridge Legal Guidance Society will conduct intake and initial assessments to determine the type of legal assistance required for each client. Furthermore, clients will be referred to victim services and other community agencies for other support services such as counselling.