For the 2026/2027 CREATE competition, there are no limits to how many Letters of Intent (LOIs) universities can submit for the regular and international stream. Universities may also submit one (1) to the Quantum Call (this year only); please see key internal deadlines and internal selection process (Quantum Call only) below.
Regular and International Stream LOIs
No internal selection process. All interested applicants are invited to prepare and submit a LOI. NSERC will adjudicate LOIs from UBC and select the top 5 to move forward to a full application.
| April 1, 2026 | Notify SPARC (via Vivienne Chan; vivienne.chan@ubc.ca) of intent to submit LOI. Optional: Submit draft LOI for internal peer review. High-level feedback from a panel of faculty members will be returned to applicants by April 13. |
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| April 17, 2026 | Submit draft letters of support for review and signatures. Download a template letter from our Resources page. A signed version of the letter will be returned to applicants before the LOI deadline of May 1, 2026. |
Quantum Call LOIs
| April 1, 2026 | Submit internal LOI to SPARC. Instructions here. Internal adjudication will take place from April 8-10. Decisions and feedback from the committee will be communicated to applicants by April 13. |
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| April 17, 2026 | Submit draft letters of support for review and signatures. Download a template letter from our Resources page. A signed version of the letter will be returned to applicants before the LOI deadline of May 1, 2026. |
For All Applicants
Please review NSERC's CREATE Program Description and LOI instructions (updated March 2026). Interested applicants are encouraged to review SPARC’s internal resources for the CREATE program, the Sample Grant Library (both CWL-protected), and reach out to SPARC for questions and 1-on-1 consultations.
UBC-Okanagan Applicants: Please contact the Research Development Team at UBC-O ORS (via Melanie Fenton; melanie.fenton@ubc.ca) to coordinate an institutional letter of support.
NSERC will hold an information session on February 9 and 10: see here.