Open CRC Competitions are available to current Queen’s University faculty and candidates under consideration for Queen’s faculty positions. Future competitions may stipulate additional eligibility opportunities for candidates who do not fit within the current eligibility categories.
Following the initial two competitions this year we anticipate competitions will run on a regular basis, approximately twice per year depending on the number of anticipated CRC vacancies.
Canada Research Chairs are intended to catalyze the research programs of faculty members at Canadian institutions. If the university is considering the recruitment of a faculty member who would be positioned for a CRC, we encourage the Faculty to initiate a formal recruitment process to align the eligibility of a candidate with future open competitions.
No. Only applicants who hold a faculty appointment will be eligible to apply. Note this is an additional requirement of the Queen’s CRC process (not a requirement of the CRC program) to ensure an exceptional level of applicant research excellence.
The central Standing Research and Review Committee (SRRC) with membership including the VPR, senior research administrators, the Provost Office, an EDII officer/champion, and a pool of past and present CRC faculty members across tri-council disciplines, will review candidate packages submitted by Faculty Review Committees and make the final recommendation of those to nominate. The SRRC will align expertise to research area and tri-council discipline as required to ensure applications have a broad complement of expertise for evaluation.
While there is no formal limit, we expect that Faculties will bring forward applicants who have been selected based on alignment with the Faculty’s strategic research plans and with the CRC program requirements. Applicants must meet or exceed the selection criteria of the Faculty CRC review process, meet the merit-based requirements for the identified tier and agency of the CRC program and have identified with at least one of the four federally designated groups (i.e., women and gender minorities, racialized minorities, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities).
- an Open Competition Cover Page
- a joint recommendation (one letter, 2 pages max) from the Dean and, if relevant, the Department Head, which describes:
- the quality of the existing or planned institutional environment for the proposed chair, along with the non-financial support to be provided to the chairholder to ensure their success (including a minimum 25% teaching release);
- the details of faculty and department financial commitments, including a minimum annual stipend of $20k for Tier 2 CRCs and $30k for Tier 1 CRCs; and
- the fit and importance of the proposed chair to Queen’s strategic research plan
This letter must also include a table that follows the following format, adding rows as needed:Contribution Department Faculty Total e.g., Research stipend $X annually for 5 years e.g., Master’s students $X annually for 5 years (T2) Total
- a full, updated CV in any format accepted by the Granting Agencies.
- a shortened version of the CRC supporting documents for nominations, (3 pages max) using the provided template and including:
- an executive/lay summary (100 words)
- a description of the proposed research program.
Once a nominee has been selected through the Open Competition, their external nomination must be submitted to TIPS within 3 months to align with programmatic requirements and institutional equity targets. For the May 25 2023 competition, final nomination packages, addressing all comments and suggestions, must be uploaded to the Convergence Portal by August 31 2023.
Feedback will be provided following adjudication of applicants by the SRRC. Faculties will be asked in each Open Competition to recommend applicants from their Faculty who best fit the merit-based CRC Program requirements. Applicants who meet or exceed the review criteria may be retained for future availabilities in CRCs. Applicants who did not meet the nomination threshold will be asked to revise their applications prior to resubmission to an Open Competition.
Open Competitions may be targeted to one or more of the four designated groups as needed to meet or sustain institutional equity targets. This eligibility criteria will be outlined in the special call at the time of posting. Per CRC program requirements, the Queen’s VPR CRC Public Accountability web page will include the institution’s equity targets and gaps for each of the four designated groups, taking into consideration that all numbers less than five must be withheld to protect the privacy of chairholders.
Yes. Each Open CRC Competition posting will outline the number of chairs available by tier and tri-agency in the particular competition.
The objective of the new Open CRC Competition process is to fill a large number of currently and anticipated vacant chairs, and ensure Queen’s institutional equity targets are met. The institutional strategy for selection of new CRC nominees will be reevaluated periodically based on progress toward filling vacant chairs, institutional equity targets, and institutional strategic research priorities.
No. Faculties will not assess applicants against the Queen’s CRC equity targets. Faculties (in consultation with the Human Rights and Equity Office; HREO) will be informed of the names of individuals who are eligible to be considered based on completion of the self-identification survey. CRC equity targets are mandated at the institutional level, and self-ID forms submitted by applicants will be assessed at an aggregate level across all applicants recommended to the SRRC by the HREO representative on the SRRC.
The purpose of the self-identification survey is to collect information to facilitate successfully meeting and sustaining Queen’s institutional equity targets for the CRC Program. The questions in the self-ID survey align with institutional equity targets and the self-identification questionnaire used by the Canada Research Chairs Program during the nomination process. Self-identification surveys are treated in the strictest confidence and exclusively used for the purposes of applying Queen’s CRC EDI Action Plan. The Queen’s Human Rights and Equity Office will exclusively have access to the self-ID data provided in this competition, and will confirm eligibility based on self-identification.
If you have a question about our Canada Research Chairs program that is not posted above please contact canada.research.chairs@queensu.ca