Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Awards

The Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) help organizations hire an undergraduate-level researcher for 12-16 weeks to undertake a project of importance to the firm. Most participating organizations are private sector for-profit companies, but some non-profit, and government-owned organizations may also be eligible. Please consult the  eligibility guidelines.

Summary

Use of funds	Salary for student researcher
Who manages funds?	The company pays the funds and issues the T4 or T4A directly to the student. NSERC pays its contribution directly to the host organization at the end of the work period.
Duration of award	12 to 16 consecutive weeks of student employment on a full-time basis
Approximate application success rate	Approximately 90%
Typical grant range	NSERC provides a maximum of $4,500 for a 16-week work term
Type of partners required	Canadian-based organizations
Minimum company cash contribution	Contribute A minimum of 25 percent to the award value. The company is responsible for the resources to pay the student's salary in full for the duration of the work term and will be reimbursed by NSERC.
Who submits the application	The designated company representative submits the application electronically to NSERC using  NSERC 's on-line system
Intellectual property ownership	Host company retains all titles and rights to the results of the student's work. The company's patent policies apply to any patentable inventions.
Application deadline	A contact person from the hosting company or organization must apply at least four weeks before the scheduled start date of the student's work term, using NSERC's on-line system. See the  USRA application instructions  for more information
Evaluation method	NSERC internal evaluation
Status of the award holder	Employee of the company for the duration of the award
Reporting	At the end of the work term, the company must submit a one-page report to NSERC. Payment is issued upon approval of the report.

Either the organization or the student may initiate the application process. Companies can select candidates based on interviews or other sources of information.

Students must be supervised by full-time employees of the company. They may hold USRAs during co-op placements.

For more information, please refer to the  Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Awards description.