Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders Program

Instructions for submitting an application using the Convergence Portal

On this page

• Convergence roles and invitations
• How to complete an application
• Contact information

Nominating institutions and Emerging Leaders / nominees are expected to follow all presentation instructions specified below. The Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS) will undertake an administrative review of all materials to ensure submissions meet the program’s eligibility requirements and application guidelines. Failure to meet these requirements and guidelines may result in the application being declined.

Institutions may choose either official language (English or French) to submit documents. An additional 20% of space has been allocated to page limits for documents submitted in French.

Use these instructions in conjunction with the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs of Canada and Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders competition funding opportunity description.

Convergence roles and invitations

The senior official (SO) and delegates (assigned by the principal research administrator) as well as the Emerging Leader / nominee may take part in preparing the application in the Convergence Portal.

• Senior official: The designated representative with the institutional authority to create and sign off on applications (e.g., the provost or vice-president, Research, depending on the institution). The SO has both read and write privileges in the Convergence Portal. Nominating institutions must take all necessary measures to ensure the SO is available to complete the submission applications by the due date and time. The SO must ensure institutional compliance with the provisions and regulations established by TIPS for this program. The “CERC SO” role in Convergence is shared between the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs of Canada, Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders and Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) programs.
• Delegate(s): The designated employee(s) at the nominating institution with a role in the application process. The nominating institution can name as many delegates as needed. Delegates have both read and write privileges in the Convergence Portal. The “CERC delegate” role in Convergence is shared between the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs of Canada, Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders and CERC programs.
• Emerging Leader: For the purposes of these instructions, the person nominated as a Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader. Once the person is invited by the nominating institution, they will have, with some restrictions, read and write privileges in the Convergence Portal (see below).

Summary of privileges by role

The following table describes the read and write privileges in the Convergence Portal.

Section	Senior official	Delegate	Nominee
Nominee education	Read only	Read only	Yes
Nominee affiliation and employment	Read only	Read only	Yes
Nominee finalize	No	No	Yes
Application details	Yes	Yes	Read only
Invite a Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader	Yes	Yes	No
Emerging Leader	Yes	Yes	Read only
Socioeconomic objectives	Yes	Yes	Read only
Strategic priority areas	Yes	Yes	Read only
Fields of research	Yes	Yes	Read only
Keywords	Yes	Yes	Read only
Summary of proposed program	Yes	Yes	Read only
Certifications, licences and permits	Yes	Yes	Read only
Sensitive technology research areas	Yes	Yes	Read only
Partners	Yes	Yes	Read only
Proposed budget	Yes	Yes	Read only
Supporting documents National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships Risk Assessment Form Module STRAC attestation attachment Environmental impact assessment Confirmation of partner commitments Impact+ recruitment process Quality of the institutional support Potential for knowledge translation and mobilization	Yes	Yes	Read only
Finalize and submit	Yes	Read only	Read only

How to complete an application

Overview

Nominating institutions and Emerging Leaders must complete the application using the Convergence Portal. All individuals taking part in preparing the application must have a Convergence Portal account.

Follow the instructions provided in the Convergence Portal to complete the application. The information required is outlined below. The nominating institution is responsible for finalizing and submitting the application once it is complete.

The Convergence Portal is only supported on the latest versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox. Using an unsupported browser or a mobile device is strongly discouraged.

Getting started

SOs can create applications in the Research Administrator dashboard. The number of applications that can be created by SOs is determined by the nominating institution’s number of Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs of Canada awards in which a request for an Emerging Leaders award was also submitted.

The Research Administrator dashboard can only be viewed by the SO and delegates, not by nominees.

Once the SO has created an application in the Research Administrator dashboard, it can be accessed in the Institutional Applications tab. Once a nominee has been invited to an application, they can access the application in their Applications tab.

The nominating institution must submit a separate application for each nomination. If the nominee can no longer participate, the application needs to be withdrawn. To withdraw an application, contact TIPS.

Before the nominee can complete the “Nominee education”, “Nominee affiliation and employment” and related “Finalize (nominee)” steps (see below), the institution must have invited them to the application (see Invite a Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader).

Once the nominee has accepted the invitation sent by the SO, and their enrolment is complete in the Convergence Portal, they will be able to complete the “Nominee education” and “Nominee affiliation and employment” modules, and will have “read only” access to the other application modules.

The SO and the delegate(s), on the other hand, will be able to view and edit all modules of the full application, with the exception of “Nominee education” and “Nominee affiliation and employment”, which will remain accessible exclusively to the nominee.

Nominee education

Under “My Information,” the nominee must add their academic experience in postsecondary programs. Add up to a maximum of 10 academic experiences, including at least one academic experience.

Nominee affiliation and employment

Under “My Information,” the nominee must add their employment experience that is a postsecondary, research, professional or industrial position held by the nominee. Add a maximum of 10 employment experiences, including at least one employment experience.

Finalize (nominee)

Once the nominee has entered their education and their affiliation and employment, click “Finalize Information” in this section to submit the information to the nominating institution.

Application details

To complete this module, you must provide the following information:

• Proposed Emerging Leader title: The title should include the full program name, i.e. “Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader in …”. It should be descriptive and not include symbols or abbreviations. For example, use “and” instead of “&”. The title should also be short and in language plain enough for a lay audience and members of the media to understand and use.
• Language of the application: Indicate which official language (English or French) will be used for the application.
• Appointment date: Enter the date on which the Emerging Leader took up their position at the host institution. Emerging Leaders are required to take up their appointment no later than 12 months after the associated Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair of Canada was accepted.
• Alignment with federal research funding agency: Based on the mandates of the three federal research funding agencies and the research area(s) of the Emerging Leader, select the agency with which this application primarily aligns. This selection is used by TIPS for financial and reporting purposes and should not be viewed as directing interdisciplinary research programs to shift their focus or align primarily to a particular agency’s mandate. Upon its administrative review, TIPS reserves the right to realign the application under the mandate of another agency.
• Indigenous research: Indicate whether the application involves Indigenous research as defined by SSHRC.
• Early career researcher: Confirm that the proposed individual is an early career researcher (ECR). See “Who is considered an early career researcher (ECR) for the Emerging Leader award?" in Frequently asked questions.
• Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs of Canada Award ID: Enter the associated ID (IMPC-2026-XXXXX).

Confirmation of international recruitment: As of the date the associated Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair of Canada was accepted, was the proposed individual based internationally (i.e., both working and residing outside Canada)?

As stated in the FAQ, institutions must attest that the Emerging Leader was recruited from outside Canada and met the program's definition of an ECR. The date used to assess these requirements depends on when the recruitment process began:

If the Emerging Leader recruitment began on or after the acceptance of the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair of Canada, the institution must attest that these conditions were met on the date the Chair was accepted. If the Emerging Leader recruitment began before the Chair was accepted, the institution must attest that these conditions were met on the date the Emerging Leader job posting was published.

Invite a Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader

For the Emerging Leader to access and complete the application, the nominating institution must invite the nominee. The Convergence Portal platform will then send an email to the nominee, who can accept or decline the invitation.

Upon accepting the invitation, the nominee must log into the Convergence Portal (or create an account) to complete their enrolment and update their profile. During enrolment, the nominee will be asked to indicate whether they are a Canadian citizen; this information is collected for statistical purposes only and is not used to determine eligibility for the program.

Emerging Leader

Once the Emerging Leader has accepted the invitation (see above) and completed their enrolment, as well as the “Nominee education”, “Nominee affiliation and employment” and related “Finalize (nominee)” steps, the information added can be viewed here.

Socioeconomic objectives

Select one or more socioeconomic objectives, one of which you must indicate as primary.

The Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) was jointly developed by the three federal research funding agencies, along with the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Statistics Canada. The Convergence Portal contains Socioeconomic Objective (SEO) - CRDC 2020 Version 1.0. To ask questions or provide feedback, email R&D-Classification@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca.

Strategic priority areas

The Emerging Leader must be aligned with the same strategic priority area as the associated Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair of Canada. Alignment in discipline, research field or federal research funding agency is not required.

Fields of research

Select at least one field of research from the CRDC codes that relates to the proposed research, one of which you must indicate as primary.

Keywords

List between five and 10 keywords to describe the proposed research program.

Summary of the proposed program

Provide a summary (maximum 2,500 characters) of the Emerging Leader’s research program in language the public can understand. Using simple terms, describe:

• the nature of the proposed research program;
• the proposed research program’s objectives;
• the research approach; and
• how the research program could be shared and applied in practices, products and/or services, and how tangible economic or societal benefits for Canada and Canadians will be generated.

This summary will be made available to the public and used for promotional and communications purposes.

Certifications, licenses and permits

All research activities must comply with the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research, including, but not limited to, section 2.4 Agency Requirements for Certain Types of Research (e.g., research involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada, research involving human pluripotent stem cells, and integration of gender and sex into health research).

If the answer is “Yes” to the final question in this module, “Will any phase of the proposed research take place outdoors?” the nominating institution and nominee will be required to answer four additional questions. If the answer is “Yes” to at least one of those four questions, they must complete the Impact Assessment Form (Appendix A) and upload it under the Supporting documents.

Sensitive technology research areas

In accordance with the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC), the institution must indicate whether research and related activities proposed will aim to advance any of the areas in the Sensitive Technology Research Areas list.

If the institution answers “Yes”, the Emerging Leader must complete an attestation form certifying they are not currently affiliated with, nor in receipt of funding or in-kind support from, a named research organization.

The nominating institution will need to collect this form and upload it in the Supporting documents.

Partners

A partner refers to an institution or organization, based in Canada or internationally, that has contributed or committed cash and/or in-kind contributions to support the Emerging Leader. Partners include academic institutions (including universities, colleges, polytechnics and institutes), research organizations (including research hospitals), private or public sector organizations, and not-for-profit organizations. Government and not-for-profit organizations whose primary mission is to fund research and development should not be included as partners, unless they will play an active role in the Emerging Leader’s research activities.

In this module, list the Emerging Leader’s proposed partners. For each partner, indicate the country in which the partner is located, the type of institution or organization, and the type and amounts of contributions (cash and/or in-kind). A proposed partner must have committed to making a cash and/or in-kind contribution to the Emerging Leader. Commitments do not imply that either a formal agreement or memorandum of understanding needs to be in place before the application’s submission.

Each proposed partner must fill out a confirmation of partner commitments template validating its financial commitment to the Emerging Leader. The nominating institution must then upload the completed template in the application’s Supporting documents. In cases of partnerships with Canadian Indigenous communities (First Nations, Inuit or Métis), equivalent forms of commitment to the Emerging Leader can be demonstrated in place of monetary commitment (see Confirmation of partner commitments).

Proposed budget

In this module, complete the “Expected Use of the Emerging Leaders Funding for the Duration of the Grant” table and indicate what percentage of the total award will be used on different categories.

Note: Up to 25% of the direct costs of research can be used for the indirect costs of research. Direct costs of research exclude the salary and benefits of the researcher, the teaching replacement costs of the researcher, and all eligible recruitment and relocation costs.

Supporting documents

Supporting documents (A through G) must be uploaded in the Convergence Portal as PDFs, meeting the following requirements:

• 12-point Arial font in black type
• different fonts and sizes applied only in tables, figures and legends (however, the text must be clear and readable when the page is displayed at its normal size of 100%)
• no condensed fonts
• a minimum of single line spacing (not narrow spacing)
• normal/standard character spacing (not condensed)
• a minimum margin of 0.79” (2 cm) around all pages
• all pages sized to 8 1/2“x 11" (216 mm x 279 mm)
• all page limits respected
• any acronyms and abbreviations explained

A. National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships Risk Assessment Form Module (if applicable)

Use this section to provide your completed National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships’ Risk Assessment Form if your application involves one or more partner organizations from the private sector. For the purposes of implementing the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships by the federal research granting agencies, private sector partner organizations subject to the risk assessment form include for-profit organizations (excluding Canadian Crown corporations), as well as organizations that assist, support, connect and/or represent the common interests of a group of for-profit organizations, such as industry associations and formal or informal consortiums. Producer groups are excluded from this definition and are not subject to the risk assessment form.

For resources to help you in completing the risk assessment form, see the array of Guidelines and Tools to Implement Research Security and Research Security Training Courses available on the Safeguarding Your Research portal.

Before you attach your completed risk assessment form to your application, you must convert it from a fillable to a read-only PDF. To do so, one option is to select “Print” in the form, select PDF format as your printer, then save the file.

B. STRAC attestation attachment (if applicable)

In accordance with the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC), all researchers involved in activities funded by a grant that aims to advance a Sensitive Technology Research Area (STRA) must review the List of Named Research Organizations available at the time of the funding opportunity’s publication and attest that they are not affiliated with, or receiving funding or in-kind support from, any listed named research organization.

If the institution answers “Yes” in the Sensitive technology research areas module, the nominating institution must collect an attestation form (PDF document, 167 Kb) from the nominee and upload it in the Supporting documents. Completed attestation forms may be shared with Government of Canada departments and agencies, for the purposes of national security assessment and to validate compliance with the policy.

Should the application be successful, the nominee and their research team(s) will also be required to comply with the policy for the duration of the grant that aims to advance one or more STRAs.

Additional attestations may be required after the formation of the Emerging Leader’s team following the notice of the award.

Nominating institutions and nominees are encouraged to review the tri-agency guidance on the STRAC policy to ensure they understand the responsibilities of researchers and responsibilities of institutions. This includes the responsibility to inform TIPS and host institutions of any changes in the nature of the research, or changes to the set of researchers with named roles in the research, that may require submission of attestation forms.

Nominating institutions and nominees are encouraged to exercise appropriate levels of due diligence when managing their research and establishing and/or recruiting new prospective members of the Emerging Leader’s team. The Government of Canada provides resources to do so on the Safeguarding Your Research portal.

C. Environmental Impact Assessment (if applicable)

If the answer is “Yes” to at least one of the four questions in the Certifications, licenses and permits module, complete the Impact Assessment Form (Appendix A) (PDF document, 3.6 Mb) and upload it in the Supporting documents.

D. Confirmation of partner commitments

Each partner listed in the Partners module must confirm its cash and/or in-kind commitments to the Emerging Leader using the Confirmation of partner commitments template. The SO or delegate must gather a statement from each partner and compile them into a single PDF. The SO or delegate then uploads this PDF in the Convergence Portal.

Confirmation of partner commitments will be used for validating cash and/or in-kind commitments and confirming information for the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships. TIPS program staff will conduct an administrative review of these statements.

As a reminder, see the definition of partner above.

In cases of partnerships with Canadian Indigenous communities (First Nations, Inuit or Métis), partners are not required to monetize their contribution and are welcome to demonstrate their commitments to the Emerging Leader in terms of social, cultural and linguistic capital. See the SSHRC Guidelines for the merit review of Indigenous research for more details. In these cases, a statement confirming partner commitments must still be included from the partner. However, in place of the template above, this statement can be a free-form description of the partner’s contributions to the Emerging Leader. The SO or delegate must compile it into the PDF along with all other statements confirming partner commitments.

E. Emerging Leader recruitment process

Describe the quality of the outreach and selection processes used by the institution to recruit the nominee, in terms of the institution’s demonstrated commitment to open, transparent, fair and equitable processes, and to identifying and addressing systemic barriers (e.g., strategy used to identify a diverse pool of applicants, advertising venues, accessibility measures used). For more information, see the recruitment requirements. It should be written and structured with headings that clearly address the following:

Diversity of the nominee pool:

• Describe the efforts that were made to identify a diverse pool of potential nominees (e.g., tapping into focus groups / associations and organizations).
• Provide data on the diversity of the nominee pool identified through this candidate search. Provide the data for each of the underrepresented, equity-seeking, rights-seeking populations (racialized individuals, Indigenous Peoples, women, persons with disabilities, individuals from the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities) as actual numbers and as a percentage of the total pool (e.g., women 50% [n: 15/30]). Do not provide any identifying data for specific individuals.
• Describe the challenges faced by the institution in identifying a diverse pool of potential nominees, if applicable.

Safeguards in the evaluation process:

• Describe how fairness, transparency and accountability were upheld throughout the process.
• Describe how the institution’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion was considered and upheld in the process.
• Describe the composition of the search committee in terms of its diversity.
• Describe the training provided to search-committee members on unconscious bias.
• Describe the assessment and selection process, including who participated in the process and at what stages, and what their specific roles were.
• Describe what mechanisms were used within the evaluation process to ensure applicants with life circumstances or who required adaptive measures were not unfairly disadvantaged.

F. Quality of the institutional support

Institutions must demonstrate what measures will be put in place to support the nominee / Emerging Leader’s research program (including, but not limited to, mentoring).

G. Potential for knowledge translation and mobilization

Institutions must outline credible and achievable plans that describe how research results could be mobilized and translated into practice, policy, products or services for the benefit of Canadians. Knowledge mobilization and translation, and commercialization plans should identify intended users and beneficiaries of the research, describe preliminary engagement mechanisms, and reaffirm and elaborate on potential partnerships across sectors, including with Indigenous communities, where appropriate.

Where commercialization is relevant, institutions should outline a high-level pathway from research to application, indicating how intellectual property may be identified and protected in line with institutional policy, what mechanisms for commercialization are anticipated, and what types of benefits to Canada are anticipated. Institutions should also describe how the Emerging Leader will prepare highly qualified personnel to develop the skills necessary to advance knowledge mobilization and translation, and, where appropriate, commercialization objectives.

Finalize and submit

After all application sections have been completed successfully, the SO must read and accept the Terms and Conditions to finalize and submit the application to the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders program. After the SO accepts the Terms and Conditions, the application status will change to “Received by Agency”.

Contact information

If you have questions:

• about the application process, contact impactplus@chairs-chaires.gc.ca
• about the Convergence Portal, contact websupport@convergence.gc.ca
• about requests for accessibility and adaptive measures, email impactplus@chairs-chaires.gc.ca or communicate with the nominating institution’s accessibility contact included in their job posting.