Canada Research Chair (CRC)

A Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a Tier 1 or Tier 2 professorship funded through the Government of Canada’s Tri-Agency Canada Research Chairs Program, which is jointly administered by the three federal granting agencies — the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The program funds the chair position at an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution, not an individual research grant or award in the usual sense: institutions nominate candidates against a fixed allocation of chairs assigned to them, and only an institution — never an individual researcher — can submit a nomination.

Not to be confused with: on casrai.org and elsewhere in research administration, “CRC” is also commonly used as shorthand for Clinical Research Coordinator, a clinical-trial site-operations role with no connection to this program. This page covers the Canada Research Chairs professorship program only. Where ambiguity is possible, spell out “Canada Research Chair” rather than relying on the bare acronym.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs

The program funds two tiers of chair, distinguished by career stage, term length, and annual funding:

• Tier 1 Chairs are for established researchers acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their field. Nominees must be full professors, or associate professors expected to be promoted to full professor within one or two years of nomination. A Tier 1 Chair is tenable for seven years and renewable once; the institution receives $200,000 annually for the term of the chair.
• Tier 2 Chairs are for exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to become world leaders in their field within five to ten years. Nominees must be, at minimum, assistant or associate professors (or hold the qualifications to be appointed at that level) within a set number of years of having started their independent research career. A Tier 2 Chair is tenable for five years and renewable once; the institution receives $100,000 annually, plus an additional $20,000 annual research stipend during a chair’s first five-year term. The program explicitly does not treat Tier 2 as a feeder track into Tier 1 — the two tiers fund different career stages, not sequential steps on one ladder.

Chair funding is paid to the institution, which administers it toward the chairholder’s salary and research program; it is not a personal award paid directly to the researcher the way some fellowships are.

How the program is administered

The Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP) was established by the Government of Canada in 2000 as a permanent, tri-agency initiative. It is administered day-to-day by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat, which is housed within SSHRC on behalf of all three agencies. As of the program’s own public reporting, it invests up to $311 million annually and its chairholder database lists roughly 2,000 active Canada Research Chairs at any given time, spanning engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, and the humanities and social sciences. Chairs are not distributed evenly by open competition among all researchers; each eligible institution receives its own allocation of chairs, sized to the volume of federal research funding its researchers have secured from CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC, and the institution then decides which of its researchers to nominate against that allocation, guided by its own strategic research plan.

Participating institutions are also expected to make concerted efforts to meet equity, diversity, and inclusion targets tied to their chair allocations, and to provide a supportive, inclusive workplace for chairholders — a requirement the program ties directly to an institution’s continued chair funding, not a separate voluntary commitment.

How nomination works

Because the Canada Research Chairs Program is institution-nominated rather than individually applied-for, a researcher interested in holding a chair cannot submit a nomination directly to the program. In practice, this means:

• A researcher expresses interest to, or is recruited by, an eligible Canadian degree-granting institution — often through a chair-specific faculty job posting or an internal call for nominations.
• The institution selects a nominee whose research program complements its strategic research plan and fits within its available Tier 1 or Tier 2 chair allocation.
• The institution prepares and submits the nomination package, historically through the Convergence portal, describing the nominee’s research program and qualifications against the program’s criteria.
• External peer reviewers — subject-matter experts in the nominee’s field — assess the nomination, typically alongside a broader adjudication process, evaluating both the quality of the nominee and research program and the strength of institutional support and strategic fit.
• If a nomination is not recommended for funding, the institution may resubmit the same candidate up to two further times (three attempts in total), chair-allocation permitting.

Because eligibility, allocation, and internal selection all run through the institution, the practical starting point for a researcher interested in a Canada Research Chair is their institution’s research office, not the chairs-chaires.gc.ca website directly.

Canada Research Chair vs. Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC)

The similarly named Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) program is a separate, smaller, and substantially larger-funded initiative — also a Tri-Agency program administered through the same Secretariat at SSHRC — aimed at attracting a small number of world-renowned Canadian and international researchers to Canadian institutions. CERC awards are funded at either $4 million or $8 million over an eight-year term, an order of magnitude beyond either CRC tier, and are awarded through periodic, discipline-themed competitions rather than the CRC program’s continuous institutional-allocation model. A Canada Research Chair and a Canada Excellence Research Chair are not the same designation, and an institution’s CRC allocation is separate from its eligibility to compete for a CERC.

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply for a Canada Research Chair myself?

No. Individuals cannot apply to the Canada Research Chairs Program directly. Only an eligible Canadian institution can nominate a candidate, and only against its own chair allocation. Researchers interested in a chair should contact the research office of a Canadian institution or watch for chair-specific faculty postings.

How much funding does a Canada Research Chair provide?

A Tier 1 Chair provides the institution $200,000 annually for seven years (renewable once). A Tier 2 Chair provides $100,000 annually for five years (renewable once), plus a $20,000 annual research stipend during the chair’s first term. Funding is paid to the institution, which administers it toward the chairholder’s salary and research program.

What is the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs?

Tier 1 is for established researchers already recognized as world leaders in their field (full professor level, seven-year term, $200,000/year). Tier 2 is for exceptional emerging researchers with the potential to become world leaders (assistant/associate professor level, five-year term, $100,000/year plus a first-term research stipend). Tier 2 is not designed as a stepping stone into Tier 1 — the two fund different career stages.

Who administers the Canada Research Chairs Program?

It is a joint, tri-agency initiative of CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC, administered day-to-day by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat housed within SSHRC.

Is a Canada Research Chair the same as a Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC)?

No. CERC is a separate, larger-funded program ($4 million or $8 million over eight years) aimed at a small number of world-renowned researchers through periodic competitions, distinct from the CRC program’s Tier 1/Tier 2 institutional-allocation model, though both are Tri-Agency programs administered through the same Secretariat.

Does “CRC” always mean Canada Research Chair?

No. In research administration, “CRC” is also widely used for Clinical Research Coordinator, an unrelated clinical-trial site role. Context determines which is meant; this page covers only the Canada Research Chairs professorship program.

References

• Government of Canada, Canada Research Chairs Program, “Program Details” (chairs-chaires.gc.ca)
• Government of Canada, Canada Research Chairs Program, “Nominate a Chair” (chairs-chaires.gc.ca)
• Government of Canada, Canada Research Chairs Program homepage and chairholder database (chairs-chaires.gc.ca)
• Government of Canada, Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program, “Program Details” (cerc.gc.ca)