News & Events

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) is honouring Canada’s most recent science Nobel laureates by launching prizes in their names that will highlight Canadian research excellence. The prizes are the NSERC Donna Strickland Prize for Societal Impact of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research and the Arthur B. McDonald Fellowships.

Valued at $250,000, the NSERC Donna Strickland Prize for Societal Impact of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research will be awarded annually to an individual or team whose outstanding research has led to exceptional benefits for Canadian society, the environment and/or the economy. Any NSERC-funded researcher, regardless of their career stage, can be nominated for this award for research conducted in Canada.

The Arthur B. McDonald Fellowships recognize early-stage academic researchers in the natural sciences and engineering and support them to enhance their research capacity so that they can become global leaders in their field. Worth $250,000 over two years, these awards were previously known as the EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowships and more than 220 have been offered since the prize was introduced in 1965.

“This is a tremendous honour from NSERC,” Dr. McDonald. told the Queen’s University Gazette, “I am particularly pleased because these fellowships will support early-stage academic researchers at a critical point in their careers. I know that there will be wonderful results in future from these creative young Fellows who will be given time and resources to pursue an innovative new idea.”

Unlike NSERC’s other prizes, which recognize previous research accomplishments, the McDonald prize supports on-going and future research and therefore comes with an additional grant of up to $180,000 to the winner’s university to fund a replacement for the winner’s teaching and administrative responsibilities.

Read the full NSERC announcement here.