NSERC 2014-2015 anybody???

[snowshoes]

It's that time of the year again.  The PGS deadline for my university has inexplicitly been pushed forward this year to the end of September.

 

I've got a couple more papers under my belt, a finely polished proposal, honed my Contributions/Statements form, and talked to my referees about customizing their letters more to the NSERC recommendations.  I read my application daily and am obsessed about my last chance at an NSERC. 

 

Prepare for the best, expect the worst!  Who else is applying for an NSERC, PGS or other?

[sbaldwin]

It's my last year too (PGS-D)! 

 

I had two publications come out this year, and my graduate marks are pretty good so I think that my application is definitely the strongest this year. However, I'm still pretty pessimistic because I had multiple publications previous years and that didn't get me anywhere. Last year I was told that a major weaknesses of my application was that I didn't have many previous scholarships, which I think is stupid.

Does anyone know if the funding for PGS/CGS are similar to last year? I have noticed that the number of positions that are being funded are steadily declining (albeit at a small rate). Should we expect an even tougher competition this year?

[maddaddam]

Hi, I am currently working on my CGS-M application for NSERC. It requires that you complete a Canadian common CV. I'm having trouble trying to figure out where to put my volunteer research experiences since under the "volunteer activities section" it specifically says "Services contributed, unpaid, on behalf of one’s locality, social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests, but not directly related to the person's research activities"

 

If I can't put my volunteer research experiences there, what section do I put it under? There's no other section for volunteer experiences and I can't put it under academic work, since it's volunteer work not paid work... any help appreciated thanks

[Gira]

This is my first and last time for PGS-D. 

I have couple of paper and I'm continuing my MSc work; submitted the application to my university yesterday. 

 

There is a small increase in the # of awards this year:http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/_doc/Students-Etudiants/CompStat2013-StatConcours2013_eng.pdf (see table 3 in page 5)

Hope it will continue....

[snowshoes]

I checked my status today and it was changed to, "Approved", which I am guessing means that my application will be forwarded to NSERC again.   The waiting begins!

 

Hope everyone else has good news.

[PDF2014_short]

Any PDF applicants for 2014 ?

Just got the letter today ... Have been put on the short-list ... Not approved for PDF / IRDF / Visiting fellowship ... Things are looking dark ...

[snowshoes]

Any PDF applicants for 2014 ?

Just got the letter today ... Have been put on the short-list ... Not approved for PDF / IRDF / Visiting fellowship ... Things are looking dark ...

Wow, that seems early... or do the PDF results usually come out a lot earlier those for the PGS-D?

 

Good luck on the short-list!

[reinhard]

When does NSERC CGS release their result?

[Konstantin]

Wow, that seems early... or do the PDF results usually come out a lot earlier those for the PGS-D?

 

Good luck on the short-list!

 

Tri-council Postdoctoral Fellowship results are usually announced in February, whereas doctoral awards results are released in April. SSHRC/CIHR/NSERC have Twitter accounts and they usually post and announcement when results are mailed out.

[some scientist]

Tri-council Postdoctoral Fellowship results are usually announced in February, whereas doctoral awards results are released in April. SSHRC/CIHR/NSERC have Twitter accounts and they usually post and announcement when results are mailed out.

 

Yeah, I got an NSERC PDF letter today (success).  It was so early compared to CGS results from the past that I thought it was some kind of joke.  Seriously.  Plus I am overseas, so I figured my letter would be even later.

 

I think I heard about CGS in April in the past, but that was a few years ago now.

 

So now NSERC PDF needs a reply before the end of March, but I am still waiting for Banting results.  I now feel like there is a tiny chance at Banting since my PDF was successful.  What do you think: do the tri-council folks have their act together enough that I will hear about Banting before NSERC needs a reply?  It seems like Banting info was sent in late March-early April in previous years and the Banting site promises by March 31, but I would appreciate a little more than a day or two to negotiate with my postdoc supervisor and host institute.

[Konstantin]

Yeah, I got an NSERC PDF letter today (success).  It was so early compared to CGS results from the past that I thought it was some kind of joke.  Seriously.  Plus I am overseas, so I figured my letter would be even later.

 

I think I heard about CGS in April in the past, but that was a few years ago now.

 

So now NSERC PDF needs a reply before the end of March, but I am still waiting for Banting results.  I now feel like there is a tiny chance at Banting since my PDF was successful.  What do you think: do the tri-council folks have their act together enough that I will hear about Banting before NSERC needs a reply?  It seems like Banting info was sent in late March-early April in previous years and the Banting site promises by March 31, but I would appreciate a little more than a day or two to negotiate with my postdoc supervisor and host institute.

 

Congrats on securing the fellowship! I'm actually applying for a doctoral SSHRC, so I don't really know much about PDFs.  

 

But I do know that notification dates vary year to year for CGS/PDFs, and yes it would be great if we all heard earlier from whatever tri-council agency we applied to. My university advised me that SSHRC will be releasing doctoral award results in April. Last year it was the last week of April. I don't think this date will change by much this year.

 

You can always try emailing them and explaining your situation, maybe they'll give you more than a roundabout answer that we usually get from them.

[sbaldwin]

Congratulations Some Scientist!

 

From the website It looks like you will hear from Banting on March 31st (http://banting.fellowships-bourses.gc.ca/home-accueil-eng.html). So, it's going to be tight. I don't know why there isn't more of an overlap. 

[some scientist]

Thanks guys.  It's kind of funny to post here - none of my labmates even know what NSERC is, so they don't really get it.

 

I guess I will just stall as long as I can with NSERC and send them a quick note if I need an extra couple of days for negotiation.  Surely everyone else who applied for both NSERC and Banting has the same situation, so this can't be the first time someone has had this happen.  I was mildly optimistic that since the NSERC website also says PDF results will be available at the end of March, Banting might also send letters early?

 

 

 

I was hoping someone who had experience with Banting might weigh in about when they heard back in the past?

[PDF2014_short]

Yeah, I got an NSERC PDF letter today (success).  It was so early compared to CGS results from the past that I thought it was some kind of joke.  Seriously.  Plus I am overseas, so I figured my letter would be even later.

 

I think I heard about CGS in April in the past, but that was a few years ago now.

 

So now NSERC PDF needs a reply before the end of March, but I am still waiting for Banting results.  I now feel like there is a tiny chance at Banting since my PDF was successful.  What do you think: do the tri-council folks have their act together enough that I will hear about Banting before NSERC needs a reply?  It seems like Banting info was sent in late March-early April in previous years and the Banting site promises by March 31, but I would appreciate a little more than a day or two to negotiate with my postdoc supervisor and host institute.

Congratulations ... This is great ...

Yeah, that is by 31st of March ... I would expect them to send out the letters a bit earlier than that (like NSERC says that it will notify by March 31 too). But hey, who knows what's gonna happen ... But good luck with the Banting one too ... (I didn't even apply for that) ...

[PDF2014_short]

Wow, that seems early... or do the PDF results usually come out a lot earlier those for the PGS-D?

 

Good luck on the short-list!

Thanks, and good luck in your application too ...

[Jungshin]

Wow Congratulations guys,

 

I'm still desperately waiting for my PGS results. 

[reinhard]

Wow Congratulations guys,

 

I'm still desperately waiting for my PGS results. 

And I m desperately waiting for my CGS results

[chinese_gaga]

congratulations, some scientist!!

can you share with us a bit your profile ... to know what they look for?

thank you

 

Yeah, I got an NSERC PDF letter today (success).  It was so early compared to CGS results from the past that I thought it was some kind of joke.  Seriously.  Plus I am overseas, so I figured my letter would be even later.

 

I think I heard about CGS in April in the past, but that was a few years ago now.

 

So now NSERC PDF needs a reply before the end of March, but I am still waiting for Banting results.  I now feel like there is a tiny chance at Banting since my PDF was successful.  What do you think: do the tri-council folks have their act together enough that I will hear about Banting before NSERC needs a reply?  It seems like Banting info was sent in late March-early April in previous years and the Banting site promises by March 31, but I would appreciate a little more than a day or two to negotiate with my postdoc supervisor and host institute.

[some scientist]

congratulations, some scientist!!

can you share with us a bit your profile ... to know what they look for?

thank you

I hope this helps, gaga:

 

Field: Biology

 

Profile: this is my first postdoc (started in September), and I have a PhD and an MSc from different universities in Canada, and I spent some time during my PhD as a visiting student in the EU and in the USA.

 

Proposed research: interesting, and I’m excited about it, but not a traditionally “sexy” topic.  I am at a large institute overseas with excellent resources and I work with a young, but “up and coming” supervisor.

 

Publications: 13 (8  first author) in moderate impact general journals (e.g. PNAS) or top 5 field-specific journals, but no Nature/Science papers.  Average impact factor is about 8, my h-index is 6, I have about 150 citations, but several of my papers were published last year and haven’t been cited much (yet!)

 

Communication: I’ve given a handful of presentations (>10) at international conferences/research institutes, most of them have been oral presentations, and I have won some prizes for these (travel prizes for conference funds, best conference talk/poster, etc).

 

Teaching & Mentoring: I was a TA for 3 years during my PhD and won a teaching prize.  I’ve mentored about 5 undergrads in the lab plus two MSc students, and most of them are on publications, though some of these are still in prep.

 

Service: I peer review papers for three international journals, I have organized/volunteered at conferences, I did some student government work during my PhD, and I coordinated a volunteer program.

 

Other awards: NSERC CGS-M, CGS-D3, plus smaller awards.

 

I think a lot of this has to do with how you write the application.  If I just listed these, it would be kind of boring (sorry).  But if I write my statement as if I were writing a reference letter for myself, it’s a lot more interesting to read.  I try to address each criteria directly and provide evidence for why I am excellent at it.  For example, they want to know about teaching and mentorship.  I don't just say: “Teaching is important and  I’m a good teacher.  Trust me.” I say: “I’m a good teacher.  I’ve taught for 3 years, including some course design/development.  My students nominated me for a TA award (which I won) and my most recent undergrad is first author on a paper from their project, which I designed and supervised.”

 

I think another thing that likely helped was that one of my reference letters was from an international collaborator, since this addresses the scientific and personal criteria, but also shows that I already have an international reputation.

 

I figured with my profile, I had an ok shot at an NSERC PDF, but Banting is quite unlikely.

 

 

 

 

Any PDF applicants for 2014 ?

Just got the letter today ... Have been put on the short-list ... Not approved for PDF / IRDF / Visiting fellowship ... Things are looking dark ...

 

Hey man, all those guys who get Banting (or NSF, Marie Curie, etc) will reject their NSERC PDFs, so there are a lot of short-list people who will still end up getting a PDF!

[mnbvcxz]

Any PDF applicants for 2014 ?

Just got the letter today ... Have been put on the short-list ... Not approved for PDF / IRDF / Visiting fellowship ... Things are looking dark ...

 

I got an NSERC PDF rejection letter last week.

[Jungshin]

And I m desperately waiting for my CGS results

Yes I changed my mind. I'm also desperately waiting for my CGS results. haha.

[PDF2014_short]

I hope this helps, gaga:

 

Field: Biology

 

Profile: this is my first postdoc (started in September), and I have a PhD and an MSc from different universities in Canada, and I spent some time during my PhD as a visiting student in the EU and in the USA.

 

Proposed research: interesting, and I’m excited about it, but not a traditionally “sexy” topic.  I am at a large institute overseas with excellent resources and I work with a young, but “up and coming” supervisor.

 

Publications: 13 (8  first author) in moderate impact general journals (e.g. PNAS) or top 5 field-specific journals, but no Nature/Science papers.  Average impact factor is about 8, my h-index is 6, I have about 150 citations, but several of my papers were published last year and haven’t been cited much (yet!)

 

Communication: I’ve given a handful of presentations (>10) at international conferences/research institutes, most of them have been oral presentations, and I have won some prizes for these (travel prizes for conference funds, best conference talk/poster, etc).

 

Teaching & Mentoring: I was a TA for 3 years during my PhD and won a teaching prize.  I’ve mentored about 5 undergrads in the lab plus two MSc students, and most of them are on publications, though some of these are still in prep.

 

Service: I peer review papers for three international journals, I have organized/volunteered at conferences, I did some student government work during my PhD, and I coordinated a volunteer program.

 

Other awards: NSERC CGS-M, CGS-D3, plus smaller awards.

 

I think a lot of this has to do with how you write the application.  If I just listed these, it would be kind of boring (sorry).  But if I write my statement as if I were writing a reference letter for myself, it’s a lot more interesting to read.  I try to address each criteria directly and provide evidence for why I am excellent at it.  For example, they want to know about teaching and mentorship.  I don't just say: “Teaching is important and  I’m a good teacher.  Trust me.” I say: “I’m a good teacher.  I’ve taught for 3 years, including some course design/development.  My students nominated me for a TA award (which I won) and my most recent undergrad is first author on a paper from their project, which I designed and supervised.”

 

I think another thing that likely helped was that one of my reference letters was from an international collaborator, since this addresses the scientific and personal criteria, but also shows that I already have an international reputation.

 

I figured with my profile, I had an ok shot at an NSERC PDF, but Banting is quite unlikely.

 

 

 

 

 

Hey man, all those guys who get Banting (or NSF, Marie Curie, etc) will reject their NSERC PDFs, so there are a lot of short-list people who will still end up getting a PDF!

 

Thanks man for sharing the information, I appreciate it. From your profile, I wouldn't be surprised if you get selected for the Banting too (good luck in that). I also had 14 papers, but the average impact factor is much lower, around 3.5 (in ECE/Physics) and no paper in Nature/Science/PNAS/PRL. But, I am kind of changing the topic from my PhD research (almost jumping more into Physics), and in that field, I guess candidates typically come with PRL/Nature-group papers. In any case, I am in discussion with a potential supervisor, where he might probably pay my salary. However, if I can get the NSERC, it will probably make life easier, but if not ... C'est la vie   (Hopefully, I will still be in a better position than several billion ppl on earth) ...

[aa1000]

My university forwarded the NSERC application, but the status on NSERC website shows received in stead of approved. Is this normal? According to NSERC's website, applications forwarded by universities should show approved while applications submitted directly by applicants should show received.

Is anyone whose application was forwarded by the university also has the received instead of approved status?

 

Thanks.

[PDF2014_short]

Yeah, that's normal (at least, it had happened in my case) ... In my case, even after approval by NSERC, the status was never changed to 'approved'.

[Canadian_Lynx]

Congratulations to everyone who received positive notice regarding their NSERC applications for this year.

 

I applied for a CGS-M, and have received one no from one university department about moving my application forward, but am still waiting to hear back from the other university adjudicating my application (to put forward to the next level)....

 

I've been advised (by a representative of the Uni that said no) that in order to increase my prospects of landing an NSERC, I should consider taking another FULL YEAR of FULL TIME courses... 18 credits. This could be possible through online courses (about 9 credits worth) through BCIT, and some summer classes at UBC... I could probably do them all between April and August - but would have to either go down to severe part-time with my job, or just quit it entirely....

 

I work full-time right now at a consulting agency, am 28, and this just seems... ridiculous to me?

 

Is it basic practice/knowledge that I won't be able to get into a MSc program without an NSERC? most of the profs I have been corresponding with have been inquiring whether I have applied for funding, and it seems their interest in contigent upon my winning or having an NSERC already...

 

Did anyone else encounter this?

 

For a bit of background:

 

I have a BSc in Animal Biology; had some really bad courses (about 4-5) out of all of them, and they brought my GPA down... I think I was at 80% for my last full-year of school, and the year before that something around a 76%. It sucks, because within those years I have some of the best grades (even got the top score in one of my classes)... But whatever, the past is past, and now I have to deal with this situation.

I am in Vancouver, and my schools of choice were UBC-O (Biology Dept), UNBC (NRES), and UBC-V (Forestry - also Zoology but no one suitable for me)...

 

I am pretty frustrated with this... I am set up to register as an unclassified student at UBC for this summer, to get some classes if I need them, and I was already sort of planning on taking some GIS courses to increase my skill level - from BCIT, so I guess these would contribute, but... Has anyone else ever experienced this?

 

I have one co-authorship (4th author), and am working on a section for a position paper which will get me co-authorship as well...