Funding, News and Announcements

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) are pleased to announce a new partnership to fund research communities to conduct unclassified research on cutting-edge technologies in areas of strategic importance to CSE and the Government of Canada. The Research Communities grants focus on robust, secure, and safe artificial intelligence (AI).

This is the first of four joint funding opportunities that will be offered by NSERC and CSE over the next five years, stemming from a new Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations to award Research Communities grants to Canadian university researchers. Each funding opportunity will focus on a different topic. The grants will be awarded through NSERC’s Alliance grants program.

Individual projects can request either $700,000 (small project) or $1,400,000 (large project) per year over four years from NSERC. Grant funding is provided in equal parts by NSERC and CSE. CSE is the sole partner organization; no additional partner organizations will be accepted. The awarded projects will facilitate research aimed to:

• Generate new knowledge in robust, secure, and safe AI from either a model-centric or data-centric view.
• Enhance the capacities of Canadian universities to undertake research related to robust, secure, and safe AI.
• Help produce a new generation of data scientists and engineers who are sensitive to the issues around robust, secure, and safe AI.

Please read the program description for more information. If you have any questions, please contact: alliance_cse-cst@nserc-crsng.gc.ca. 

Internal Deadline

Letter of Intent: October 3, 2023 at 4:30pm.
Application (invite only): January 3, 2023 at 4:30pm.

For questions or more information please contact your appropriate Research Grant Facilitator at ORS. For additional resources, click here for guidance on internal deadlines and submission processes.

Funder Deadline

Letter of Intent: October 18, 2023 at 9pm AST
Application (invite only): January 17, 2024 at 9pm AST