The Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program supports the training and mentoring of teams of highly qualified students and postdoctoral fellows from Canada and abroad through the development of innovative training programs.
The programs must:
- encourage collaborative and integrative approaches, and address significant scientific challenges associated with Canada’s research priorities
- facilitate the transition of new researchers from trainees to productive employees in the Canadian workforce
These innovative programs must foster the acquisition and development of important professional skills among students and postdoctoral fellows that complement their qualifications and technical skills, and improve their job readiness for careers in industry, government, non-governmental organizations and/or academia.
Application Process
The CREATE program follows a single annual application cycle, comprising three stages from January/February to September each year. Awards are valued at up to $1.65M over six years, at least 70% of which must go to trainee stipends.
Teams can apply under three streams:
- Regular stream
- International stream
- Genomics call (this year only)
Applying to CREATE is a two-stage process (Letter of Intent and Full Application) for UBC applicants. All applicants from UBC-Vancouver who are interested in applying to the regular or international stream should notify SPARC (via Vivienne Chan; vivienne.chan@ubc.ca) by April 1, 2025 to coordinate a letter of support for the LOI submission (May 1, 2025). UBC-Okanagan applicants should contact ORS (via Denise Maines; denise.maines@ubc.ca). A maximum of 4 teams from the regular stream will be invited to submit their full application to NSERC by September 22, 2025. Please see Timeline below for more details.
For this year's Genomics call, there will be an internal selection process. Detailed instructions can be found here. Please submit internal applications to SPARC (vivienne.chan@ubc.ca) by April 1, 2025 at 12 pm. Decisions from the internal selection committee will be communicated to applicants by April 14, 2025.
| Genomics stream | Regular/international stream |
| April 1: Applicants submit internal LOI to SPARC. Instructions here. | April 1: Applicants notify SPARC of intent to submit LOI. |
| April 9-11: Internal Selection Committee (ISC) adjudication. | |
April 14: Communicate ISC decision to applicants. SPARC will work with applicants to develop letters of support. | April 17: Draft letters of support to SPARC. |
May 1: NSERC LOI Deadline | |
LOIs proceed directly to full application stage. | NSERC selects 4 LOIs to proceed to full application stage (~June). |
Note: There is a limit on researchers' participation in multiple active CREATE initiatives. An individual researcher may participate in a maximum of two CREATE initiatives as either an applicant or co-applicant. Additionally, researchers may be the applicant for one CREATE initiative per year.
Note: NSERC's program description and instructions are expected to be updated around March each year.
Timeline
Note: SPARC support is detailed below for UBC-Vancouver applicants. UBC-Okanagan applicants should contact UBC-O's ORS (Research Development) via Denise Maines (denise.maines@ubc.ca) for LOI reviews and letter of support development.
January to March
April
Late April
May to September
Late September
Support and Resources
Contacts