myself

Hi Bubu, I am in the same boat as you. Rejection for PDF, pre-approved for IRDF. I have some friends who have taken their IRDF and are now working on projects DIFFERENT from their initial PDF proposal. What I mean is you don't need to convince a company to take you to do research on your PDF's proposal. Any research-related project proposed by the company is accepted by NSERC. I am currently waiting for a job application result, if I don't get it, I'll go "wild" and start contacting comopanies. Hope it helped,

I guess if re-elected, the coservative government will do more cuts in research funds to make up for corporate tax cuts for the coming years and chances of even having the same number of NSERC awards is going to be marginal. What do you think GradCafe peopel?

IRDF must be used before March 2013, and I guess you are fine if your defence is after sept. Ask others to make sure. I wouldn't postpone my defence but it is your choice obviously.

As long as a company is found, yes. I'll try hard to find one.

No! Apparently my application was strongly rejected! I was sad on Monday when I received the letter, kind of happy now, I'll go and find a permanent job, although never forget this rejection in my whole life.

I got rejected, too. I e-mailed them for more details and they replied and said they'll mail me that in June. You have to e-mail them to be sent the evaluation details. BTW, did you get pre-approved for IRDF?

to Scholar: I am not sure what you mean by "excessive community involvement". I am not sure who can be excessively involved with community while conducting intensive research. During my PhD almost everyday when I went home I was worn out and physically tired of my day work. Just to give more information, I myself was an elected president of a university community of about 100 people for a year with many activities. I mentioned this in my application.

To cathome: I have seen people with less publication who got NSERC awards. To grady: Mechanical Engineering/Solid Mechanics of Active Materials. Maybe my too much theoretical work was a minus in my application.

Hi all, Congrats to winners and wish patience and toughness for not-winners. I received a letter on Monday 21st, dated 18th, saying that I was rejected a PDF but pre-approved for an IRDF. I am hopeful to find some connections to do this IRDF somewhere as I know people who were successful finding a company. Although I am not sure if number of papers counts a lot or not but I have 10 peer-reviewed journal papers, 8 of which was from my PhD, 2 conference proceedings. I have some industrial research (not too much though), and some community involvement, university teaching, and leadership of a university sub-community. I am not a Canadian citizen. Bests,

I have a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from a Canadian University currently working as a postdoc. I love research and university atmosphere, however, it seems that with a PhD NOT from famous canadian schools, I'll have a hard time geting a faculty position in Canada. Here, the doors for faculty job applications are open to all nations, but, in my opinion, Canadian schools are not very top internationally. What I mean is it is hard to copemete with people from around the globe applying for Canadain faculty positions while you have graduated from a not-very-famous Canadain school. So what happen is PhD graduates, that I know, end up working in Canadian industries. The other thing I saw was the strength of NETWORKING. The word "networking" is a beautiful shield hiding the sad fact that if you know someone, you'll get the job, and if not, you'll have a hard time. I've seen MANY people who knew others and get hired for jobs in university and industries. As a researcher I chose to do research obviously, and not to dress up and go from this place to that place and admire people without any good reason. Having said all the above, I am willing to do another postdoc. or even two and strengthen my weaknesses to increase my chance of getting a faculty position, although meanwhile I'll keep an eye out for exciting industrial jobs.

Hi people, Have you people received anything about NSERC PDF applications this year (2011-2012)? I am getting excited as we approach the end of March.