The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Program is a federal initiative administered jointly through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in partnership with Industry Canada.

Context

The NCE Steering Committee invites potential applicants to submit a Notification of Intent (NOI) for the 2012 Canada-India Research Centre of Excellence (CIRCE) Competition.

The 2012 CIRCE Competition is a three-stage competition:

Notification of Intent (NOI);
Letter of intent (LOI);
Full Application (FA).

This guide reflects the Notification of Intent stage. The NOI Guide MUST be used in conjunction with the NCE Program Guide and the CIRCE Competition Guide .

All applicants intending to submit a LOI MUST submit a NOI. Only applicants who submit a NOI will be invited to the webinars and permitted to submit a Letter of Intent. The NOI stage will:

allow the NCE Secretariat to assess the proposed Centre’s alignment with the program criteria;
allow the NCE Secretariat to identify and contact participants for the webinars to be held between the NOI and LOI stages;
inform content and discussion points for the webinars;
provide background for the LOI and Full Application stages;
identify specific expertise required for adjudication.

The dates of the webinars will be announced following the processing of the NOIs. All applicants must participate in one of the webinars.

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Guidelines for completing a Notification of Intent

The NOI is composed of two different elements; (1) the NOI form (PDF form), and (2) the free-form component (three pages maximum for a total of four pages).

NOI form (PDF form)

The NOI form (fillable PDF format) is available on the NCE Web site at www.nce-rce.gc.ca/_docs/competitions/CIRCE-CERCI/NOI.pdf

All sections must be completed.

Section 1: Title of the proposed Centre

Title of the proposed Centre (in English and French) and Acronym
Host Institution

Section 2: Lead Applicant Contact Information

Name, salutation, preferred language of correspondence
Position, Institution/Department
Address, City, Province, Postal Code at the Institution
Phone number, Extension, Email Address

Section 3: Overall goal of the proposed Centre

In the available space, describe the overall goal of the Centre. The statement should reflect the tangible achievement(s) that the Centre will accomplish during its five years of funding.

Section 4: Strategic area(s) targeted by the proposed Centre

Describe the strategic area(s) of research targeted by the proposed Centre and to characterize the collaborations that will be enhanced and further developed by the proposed CIRCE. Keywords should provide a snapshot of the planned activities of the Centre.

Section 5: Participating Canadian academic institutions

The Centre will coordinate the activities of a single institution or a consortium of Canadian institutions or nodes headed by a lead institution. List all institutions that will significantly contribute to the overall goal of the proposed Centre.

Free-form Component

The following sections must be addressed in the order they are presented. Please use the section numbers as headers. The total number of pages for all sections must not exceed three pages. Additional pages will be removed.

Section 1: Summarize how the CIRCE will manage and integrate the activities between the Canadian and Indian stakeholders.

Section 2: Explain the strategic importance of the areas of research to both Canada and India. Explain how Canada and India will benefit.

Section 3: Describe existing Indian partnerships and provide evidence of established collaboration between Canadian and Indian organizations. Provide examples of existing partners from previous collaborations, and describe anticipated collaborations with Indian partner organizations and other stakeholders.

Section 4: Describe how the CIRCE will build on existing collaborations, and the incremental value that the Centre will bring to activities already in progress.

General Presentation

The free-form component must be converted to PDF format and merged with the NOI form (PDF format) in order for it to be submitted as a single electronic document.
The free-form section must be prepared according to the following:

Page size: 8½ x 11 inches
Margins: no less than ¾ of an inch on all sides.
Font: Times New Roman (no smaller than 12 pts) or Arial (no smaller than 11 pts). Condensed type is not acceptable.
Header: include the title of the Centre at the top of every page
Pages numbered consecutively

Graphs and illustrations may not be included at the NOI stage. Either single or double column presentation of text is acceptable.

Submission Procedures

The deadline for submission of the NOI for the 2012 CIRCE Competition is Monday, January 9, 2012. NOIs must be received at the offices of the NCE Secretariat by 4:30 p.m. EST.

Number of copies

One USB stick with a PDF version of the complete, merged Notification of Intent (including the NOI form and the free-form component).

Mailing Address

Networks of Centre of Excellence
CIRCE Competition
16th Floor, mailroom
350 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H5

The NCE Secretariat will confirm receipt within one week.

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Contact

For more information, please contact the NCE Program, CIRCE Competition at:

Telephone: 613-995-6010
Fax: 613-992-7356
E-mail: info@nce-rce.gc.ca