Apply to NSERC through its on-line system from a Canadian academic institution: confirm your program uses this system and not the Research Portal, register and keep your PIN, create the right form, link the personal data form, verify, and submit through your institution where the program requires it.
Applies in: CA
NSERC, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, runs more than one online application system, and choosing the wrong one wastes the whole application. This guide covers only the NSERC on-line system: the system NSERC On-line System Overview describes as giving applicants from Canadian academic institutions the capability to create applications and submit them electronically to NSERC, while letting authorized institutional representatives access, browse, approve, and submit grant and scholarship applications. It does not describe Research Portal steps as on-line system steps, and it does not cover the Convergence Portal. If your program uses either of those, this guide tells you how to recognize that fact and stop here.
No fee, direct login address, or registration field list is stated in this guide, because no official page states one. Start from the login and registration links on the Online services page, follow the instructions page for your own program, and confirm the current deadline on the program description page before you build anything.
Open your program description first, then the instructions page linked from it. Research Portal - Instructions draws the boundary in its opening lines: programs still using NSERC's Online Services are pointed to the PDF Forms and Instructions page, while programs using the Research Portal and the Canadian Common CV (CCV) use the lists on the Research Portal page. Those Research Portal lists name the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship — Master's program for students, and Discovery Grants, Research Tools and Instruments, and the Subatomic Physics grant programs for professors. A Discovery Grant or Research Tools and Instruments application therefore belongs in the Research Portal, not in the on-line system, even though both systems share the same helpdesk email.
The on-line system side of the boundary is documented the same way. On-line System - PDF Forms and Instructions lists instructions for professors covering Form 100, Form 100A, Form 101 for Alliance grants, Alliance International, Alliance Quantum, Discovery Frontiers calls, Idea to Innovation, the NSERC-CNSC Small Modular Reactors initiative, Form 102 for CREATE, and Form 103 for the College and Community Innovation programs; for students and postdoctoral researchers it lists Form 201 and Form 202; and it adds partner organization, external reviewer, and institution forms. The three routes worked through in this guide — Alliance Form 101, Form 201, and Form 202 — are all named on that page, and each of their instructions pages says to submit through NSERC's online system. Treat that naming as the test. Where a program page or a call for proposals names a different system, or where the form list for your call does not appear on the PDF Forms and Instructions page, do not force the application into the on-line system: follow the system the program names, and ask your institution's research office if the two pages seem to disagree.
One further distinction belongs in this first check. Online services lists four systems on one page: the On-line System, the Financial Data Submission and Reconciliation system for institution officials transmitting annual financial data, the Research Portal, and the Convergence Portal for programs administered by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat. Only the first is this guide's subject. The financial data system and the Convergence Portal serve different users and different programs, and their login links sit beside the on-line system links on that page, so read the heading above the link you click.
Start from Online services, which carries the On-line System Login link and, for first-time users, the Register link, alongside the frequently asked questions and the PDF forms and instructions. No direct login address is given in this guide, because no official NSERC page states one; use the link on the Online services page rather than a bookmark or an address found on another institution's site. After logging in, the system brings you to the eConsole page, which is the working home described in both the Form 201 and Form 202 instructions. From the eConsole page you reach Forms management, your Portfolio, and Account management, including Maintain user profile.
Registration creates the account that every later step uses. Electronic Approval lists registering to create an account as the first responsibility of applicants and co-applicants, ahead of linking a Form 100 and giving other participants access. The account is personal: the Form 201 instructions and the Form 202 instructions both describe entering your PIN through Maintain user profile on the eConsole page, and both say that if you have not previously applied, you leave the PIN field blank and the system assigns a PIN automatically. If you have applied before and cannot remember your PIN, both pages say to contact the online services helpdesk rather than creating a fresh account. Supervisors working on a Form 202 may hold a PIN from the on-line system or a common personal identifier (CPI) from the research portal; the Form 202 page says to enter whichever you hold through Maintain user profile, and to contact the helpdesk if you remember neither. Your PIN is not your application ID: the Form 201 page states plainly that every application created and submitted is assigned a unique application ID, while the PIN remains the same, so keep the two numbers separate in your records and quote the PIN in correspondence with NSERC.
Two profile tasks must be finished before submission, and both can block it. The Form 202 and Form 201 instructions both require completing the self-identification questionnaire before submitting, and both say that if you did not complete it when you created your account, you return to the eConsole page and select Maintain user profile under Account management. The Form 202 page adds that self-identification data collected in the questionnaire will be neither accessible to nor shared with institution staff, proposed supervisors, or review committee members. Separately, keep your email address current in the profile: the Form 202 page says award letters are sent directly to applicants by email, and that an address change after submission must be reported by email to the USRA address on that page, while the Form 201 page says address changes after submission go by email to NSERC scholarships staff. Check both items — questionnaire complete, email current — on the day you create the form, not on the day you submit it.
Forms in the on-line system are numbered, and the number decides the whole workflow. Create the form your program's instructions name, from the eConsole page, and do not substitute a form from another program because the titles look similar.
For a partnership grant, the form is Form 101, the Application for a grant. The Alliance Form 101 instructions apply to Alliance Advantage and Alliance Society grants, and point to separate instructions for Alliance International, special calls, and joint research calls, so confirm which Alliance stream your call belongs to before creating the form. The application includes the Form 101 proposal itself, a risk assessment form where the partnership involves a private-sector partner organization, a sensitive-technology attestation where the research aims to advance a sensitive technology research area, a personal data form with CCV attachment (Form 100A) for the applicant and each co-applicant, and a partner organization section completed by each partner organization. Alliance Advantage and Alliance Society applications can be submitted at any time, according to the same instructions page; special calls and joint calls carry their own deadlines, so an at-any-time reading that comes from the Advantage and Society page must not be carried over to a special call.
For doctoral scholarships and postdoctoral awards, the form is Form 201. The Form 201 instructions state that Form 201 must be submitted electronically, that it is used for the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship — Doctoral program and the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program, and that the NSERC online system opens in July, within five business days of the launch of the funding opportunity. Read the program description for the specific award before completing the form: eligibility, quotas, and the correct submission channel all live there, and the instructions page warns that failing to submit through the correct channel means the application will not be considered. For the doctoral program, the Application profile section asks you to choose your current status, and that choice determines whether the application goes through a Canadian institution or directly to NSERC; for the postdoctoral award, applications must be submitted directly to NSERC.
For undergraduate research awards, the form is Form 202, in two parts. The Form 202 instructions state that Form 202 must be submitted electronically using NSERC's online system, that the applicant completes Part I and the proposed research supervisor completes Part II, and that applications not adhering to the instructions and guidelines may be rejected. A student who has previously applied for a USRA cannot create a new Form 202: the page says to update Part I of the application previously submitted to the institution, upload new transcripts, and inform the liaison officer of any changes. That reuse rule is easy to miss if you have applied before, so check your Portfolio for an existing Form 202 before creating anything new.
Other forms on the PDF Forms and Instructions page follow the same pattern — create, complete, verify, submit through the institution — but their instructions and module lists are not covered here. Form 102 for CREATE, Form 103 for the College and Community Innovation programs, Form 140 referee reports, and the institution Forms 300, 301, and 303 are named on that page; open the instructions linked beside the form number for your program and work from that page, not from the Alliance or scholarship steps in sections 4 to 6, which describe their own forms only.
Most grant applications in the on-line system need a personal data form as well as the main application form, and the two forms are linked inside the system rather than filed separately. The distinction between Form 100 and Form 100A matters. Form 100 is the Personal Data Form. Form 100A is the Personal Data Form with CCV Attachment. The Alliance Form 101 instructions require the applicant to complete Form 100A and ask any co-applicants to complete one as well. The CCV itself is completed on the Canadian Common CV site, not inside the on-line system: the CCV instructions state that all Alliance applicants and co-applicants must complete the NSERC version of the CCV, that the NSERC CCV is selected as funding source NSERC with CV type NSERC_Researcher, and that for the NSERC online system the completed CCV is downloaded as a PDF from the History tab and attached to Form 100A, with the warning that without those steps only a draft copy will be included. Do the CCV first, submit it on the CCV site so a confirmation number is issued, download the completed PDF, and only then attach it to Form 100A. A Form 100 must reach Completed status before it can be linked to an applicant's primary form, according to the status definitions on the On-line System FAQ, so verify the personal data form on its own before trying to link it.
Student and postdoctoral forms carry their personal profile inside the main form rather than as a separate Form 100. On Form 201, the Person profile section holds the PIN, addresses, academic background, and awards, and the Form 201 instructions cap the awards list at ten, starting with the most recent, with full monetary values rather than annual stipends. On Form 202 Part I, the Personal profile section holds the same kind of material, with the awards list capped at four in the Form 202 instructions. Keep the two caps apart: the ten-award wording belongs to Form 201 and the four-award wording belongs to Form 202, and neither should be applied to the other form.
Consent is part of completing the personal data, not an afterthought. The CCV instructions ask applicants to obtain consent from individuals they have supervised before providing personal data about them to NSERC, and to tell those individuals which data will be provided. The Alliance instructions likewise say to consult the Form 100A instructions for information on obtaining consent to name individuals in the proposal, and the personal information section of the Alliance page says you must ensure that others listed in the application have agreed to be included. Get that agreement before you name someone, and keep a note of when you asked.
Work module by module, in the order the form presents them, and use the instructions inside each module: every instructions page in this guide says the on-line application carries its own instructions and tips on each page. The walkthrough below follows the Alliance Form 101 modules because that page sets them out most fully; the student forms differ in content and are covered where they diverge.
Start with the Application profile. Give the proposal a title in plain language the public can understand, spell out scientific symbols and acronyms, and do not include a company or trade name, since the title will be made public if the proposal is funded. Select the primary research subject code and, optionally, a secondary code, and the primary area of application code, consulting the NSERC code tables, and provide a maximum of ten keywords. Then complete the certifications and requirements section, answering the questions on research involving humans, stem cells, animals, and hazardous substances honestly, because a Yes answer carries a certification duty to your institution's administration, and complete the partnership and conflict of interest section, including the risk assessment form where a private-sector partner organization is involved and the sensitive-technology attestation where the research aims to advance a listed sensitive technology research area.
Write the proposal to the page limits for your request size. The Alliance instructions set suggested section lengths and maximum totals of 7 pages for requests up to $75,000 per year, 11 pages for $75,001 to $300,000 per year, and 27 pages for larger Advantage requests up to $1,000,000 per year and Society requests up to $500,000 per year, with 20 percent more space for French content, and three added pages for the public impact value proposition on Alliance Society applications. Pages over the maximum, and documents NSERC did not request, will be removed and not considered, and NSERC may return or reject an application over the maximum. Use the proposal template, or include its section headings and bullet text if you do not, and respect the presentation standards in section 6. Write the plain-language summary of the proposal as a separate module: it describes the nature of the work, why and to whom it matters, and the anticipated benefits for Canada and Canadians, and it will be made public if the proposal is funded.
Build the budget as proposed expenditures plus a separate budget justification document, broken down by salaries and benefits, equipment or facility, materials and supplies, travel, dissemination and knowledge mobilization, and technology transfer activities. Do not include faculty salaries in project costs. Where the budget includes collaborations or activities outside the natural sciences and engineering, those costs can represent up to 30 percent of project costs and must be specifically identified in the budget justification. Where total expected equipment cost, including operation and maintenance, exceeds $400,000 over the project's duration, the Alliance instructions say to apply for an alternate source of funding, such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation John R. Evans Leaders Fund, and note a joint NSERC-CFI application and review procedure. Check that threshold before finalizing an equipment-heavy budget, and contact NSERC or CFI if the project crosses it.
For Form 201, the written core is shorter and the limits are different. The outline of proposed research is capped at two pages, the bibliography at five pages for the doctoral program and one page for the postdoctoral award, and the contributions and statements attachment at two pages for the doctoral program and four pages for the postdoctoral award, all in the Form 201 instructions. Choose up to ten keywords and the research subject code that best fits the proposed research, since the code determines the review committee, and specify a maximum of three proposed locations of tenure. Do not refer reviewers to URLs or other publications for supplemental information in the outline: the instructions say such information will not be reviewed. For Form 202, the supervisor's Part II carries the project profile, with the research project title limited to 100 characters, the outline of the proposed research project, the student's role, and the expected quality of training and mentorship, while the student's Part I carries the academic background, awards, and transcripts attachment.
Attachments are where formatting errors most often cost an application, because the standards are mechanical and the system enforces some of them at upload. NSERC Online presentation and attachment standards set the rules for the on-line system: prepare attachments in a word processing program; spell out acronyms and abbreviations at first use; use letter-size pages; single spacing with no more than six lines per inch; 12-point Times New Roman for all text, with the font and size rules not applying inside tables and figures provided the font stays clearly legible; black text only; margins of at least three-quarters of an inch; your name at the top right corner of every page; sequential page numbers on multi-page attachments; and a certified translation for any supporting document in a language other than English or French. Figures and tables count toward page limits. Convert every attachment to PDF before uploading. The PDF filename must be 15 characters or fewer, with no special characters or accents, and the PDF must carry no security settings such as encryption or password protection. If a file is protected, reprint it through PDF software to a new PDF, as the standards page describes, and upload the reprinted file. To attach, enter a short description, browse to the file, select Attach, and then select Proofread to verify the file meets the standards and contains the correct content.
Transcripts deserve separate care on the student forms, because they are mandatory and the rules are specific. On Form 202, transcripts must be uploaded and saved as a single PDF file, including one copy of the legend from the back of each transcript, and must be up to date, meaning they show the term before the application was prepared — the instructions give the example of a February institutional deadline requiring marks from the previous September to December term. Confirm with your institution whether unofficial transcripts will be accepted for its internal review; for the agencies' review, applications with unofficial transcripts will not be rejected, according to the same page. On Form 201, transcripts are likewise mandatory, must be up-to-date official transcripts dated or issued in the fall session of the year of application if currently registered, or after the last term completed if not, and must cover all undergraduate and graduate studies for the doctoral program and doctoral studies only for the postdoctoral award. Paper transcripts must be scanned in black and white where possible and saved as a single PDF, with one copy of the legend per transcript, and a certified English or French translation is required for transcripts in another language. If a transcript is too large or the wrong page size, the Form 201 page gives the fix: reprint the PDF at letter size, 8.5 by 11 inches, and re-upload. Check the uploaded transcript for completeness and legibility before submitting, since the page says updates will not be accepted after submission.
Reference letters on Form 201 are requested through the system, not uploaded by the applicant. Each application must be accompanied by two reference letters, from people able to assess the applicant's research and other abilities. Enter each reference's name and email address on the Reference letters page, choose a completion date well before the application deadline from the pop-up calendar, save, and the system emails each reference an invitation; references then have access to the in-progress or completed application. You can check the status on the Reference letters page, resend a reminder, delete a letter, or unlock a completed letter so the reference can change it — unlocking does not let you view the letter. A letter counts only once the reference has verified it and submitted it, changing the Portfolio status to Document Completed, and the application remains incomplete until both letters are submitted. Follow up early: the instructions say NSERC will not approve an extension, and responsibility for on-time submission sits with the applicant.
Other people's forms are the longest lead-time item in a grant application, because each person must complete, verify, and link their own form before the main form can reach Completed status. On Form 101, indicate co-applicants on the Co-applicants page by entering the email address and family name exactly as they appear in the co-applicant's Form 100A; saving sends an automated invitation email, and the participation status shows as Not linked until the co-applicant links Form 100A, when it changes to Linked. Advise co-applicants at other institutions that their institution's authorized officer must agree to their participation, since NSERC confirms that agreement directly with the authorized officer. A Form 101 reaches Completed status only when all identified co-applicants and participating organizations have linked their forms, according to the FAQ status definitions, so chase unlinked invitations before your own deadline, not after it. Collaborators are listed separately: they contribute intellectually and bring their own resources but do not have access to grant funds, and you may attach a biographical sketch or CV for a collaborator, capped at two pages, or 2.4 pages for French content, with all sketches saved as a single PDF.
Partner organizations complete their own section through an invitation. On the Partner organizations' contributions page, provide the contributions for each organization — cash paid to the institution for direct research costs, in-kind contributions, and amounts for overhead — select the organization's category, and use the Lock/Invite button to email a link to the organization's representative, who completes the required sections, verifies the form, submits it, and accepts the partner terms and conditions. Monitor the status in the Contributions section as it moves from Invitation sent to Invitation accepted to Completed by partner. If changes are needed after the partner submits, release the form with the Edit, Save, and Lock/Invite buttons. Provide the detailed justification for in-kind contributions as a single PDF covering all partner organizations, with staff names, roles, hours, and hourly rates for salary contributions, and the calculation method for donated equipment or software.
On Form 202, the link between the two parts is a reference number, not an invitation email. The student completes Part I, selects Verify on the Portfolio page, and the system generates a reference number for Part I, which the student gives to the proposed supervisor. The supervisor enters the student's family name and that reference number on Part II, which links the two parts into a complete application, and then submits the combined form to the liaison officer. Give the supervisor the reference number as soon as verification is complete, and tell the liaison officer if you update Part I of a previously submitted application, since the instructions require that notification. On Form 201, the equivalent dependency is the two reference letters described in section 6: the application cannot be submitted until both are verified and submitted, so invite referees as soon as the application exists, with a completion date well before the deadline.
Verification is a distinct step, and the Submit button depends on it. On Form 201, the Submit button will not appear until you select Verify on your Portfolio page; once the application is completed and verified successfully, the Submit button appears and you can submit. On Form 202, the same sequence applies at each stage: complete all modules, go to the Portfolio page, select Verify, and only then does the reference number issue for Part I or the status change to Completed for Part II. On Form 101, verification is what moves the form to Completed, and only a Completed form can be submitted to the institution authorities. Run Verify early enough to fix what it flags. The FAQ status definitions make the consequence of skipping it concrete: an In Progress form is being prepared and is not considered complete.
Submission in the on-line system usually means submitting to your institution first, not to NSERC. NSERC On-line System Overview describes authorized institutional representatives — Research Grants Officers, Master Scholarships Liaison Officers, and Master Liaison Officers — as able to access, browse, approve, and submit applications to the Council, and to assign the same privileges to other officers and browsing privileges to assistants. Electronic Approval adds that institutions must designate a representative authorized to electronically approve and submit documents, notify NSERC of changes in authorized representatives through the helpdesk, and obtain written approval from other institutions involved before submission. Before submitting, read and agree to the terms and conditions of applying in the pop-up window: on Form 101, the Alliance instructions say applicants and co-applicants must do so before submitting or linking a personal data form, and that the institutional authority's signature certifies the institution's roles and responsibilities, the applicants' eligibility, and prior written approval from other institutions. No original signatures are required on applications submitted electronically through the on-line system; electronic submission represents approval and replaces the traditional wet signature, as the Alliance, Form 201, and Form 202 instructions each state. Keep a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for your records, as the Form 201 and Form 202 pages direct.
After submission, follow the status and the institution's timetable, not your own. A Submitted Form 101 is view-only: you cannot update it while it sits with the institution, and if the institution returns it, the Returned status means it is back with you for revision. An Approved form has been approved by the institution for evaluation by NSERC, and Received means NSERC has transferred it internally. For Form 202, the supervisor submits to the liaison officer, and updates after submission go through that officer. For Form 201 submitted directly to NSERC, expect the email acknowledgement described in the FAQ answer in this guide; for Form 201 submitted through an institution, watch the Portfolio status instead. Deadlines differ by channel and by program, so confirm the operative one in writing: the Form 201 instructions give the direct-to-NSERC deadline as before 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on October 17, moving to the following business day if that date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, and require institution-route applicants to meet the deadline set by the institution, which runs departmental and institutional deadlines of its own ahead of NSERC's. Treat the October 17 wording as the statement on that instructions page, confirm the current year's date on the program description page for the competition you are entering, and never assume an institutional deadline matches the NSERC deadline.
Once an application is with NSERC, the on-line system keeps your data only for defined periods. NSERC Electronic Application Process states that electronic forms containing personal data for scholarships and fellowships programs will be erased from the NSERC database after 18 months of inactivity, that the data used to complete Form 100 and its appendices will be stored until eight years have lapsed with no updates and then erased, and that data in Form 101 will be erased after 18 months of inactivity. Reviewer data follows the same 18-month pattern, with personal biographical data for reviewers who are also applicants held to the eight-year rule. The practical point is to keep your own copies: download or print the submitted forms, keep every attachment as submitted, keep the terms and conditions you agreed to, and keep the reference or application numbers, because the system copy will not remain available indefinitely and a future application will need the PIN and the earlier record, not a reconstruction from memory.
If something goes wrong, use the help routes in the order the instructions pages give them. First, check the On-line System FAQ and the instructions inside the application itself. Then contact the online services helpdesk at webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca, including your email address and telephone number, or by phone using the number on your program's instructions page — 1-613-995-4273 on the On-line System Overview and Alliance pages, 1-855-275-2861 on the Form 201 and Form 202 pages, with both wordings preserved in the FAQ answer in this guide. For program questions, use the program contact on the instructions page instead: the Alliance page points to the Alliance team, the Form 202 page points to the institution's liaison officer for internal selection and deadlines and to NSERC's USRA email for general program information, and the Form 201 page points to NSERC scholarships staff. Contact the right desk first, well before the deadline, since the Form 201 page advises communicating with NSERC staff well in advance on eligibility questions and warns that no extension will be approved for late reference letters.
Read the program description and then the instructions page for that exact program, and follow whichever system those pages name, because NSERC runs both systems in parallel and the split is by program, not by applicant. [Research Portal - Instructions](https://nserc-crsng.canada.ca/en/funding/forms-and-online-application-tools/online-services/research-portal-instructions) states the split in its opening lines: for programs still using NSERC's Online Services, refer to the PDF Forms and Instructions, and for programs that use the Research Portal and Canadian Common CV (CCV), use the lists on that page. The Research Portal lists on that page cover, for professors, Discovery Grants, Research Tools and Instruments, and the Subatomic Physics grant programs, and for students, the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship — Master's program. By contrast, [On-line System - PDF Forms and Instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/OnlineServices-ServicesEnLigne/instructions/misc/am_e.asp) lists, among others, Alliance grants, Idea to Innovation, Discovery Frontiers calls, CREATE, the College and Community Innovation programs, Form 201 for doctoral scholarships and postdoctoral awards, and Form 202 for Undergraduate Student Research Awards. If your instructions page says Research Portal, do not follow this guide's eConsole, Portfolio, and Forms management steps, which describe the on-line system only. A third system also exists and is not covered here: [Online services](https://nserc-crsng.canada.ca/en/funding/online-application-systems-and-tools/online-services) describes the Convergence Portal for funding programs administered by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat. The explicit check is therefore this: open your program's instructions page, find the named system, and if it does not name the on-line system, close this guide and follow the instructions for the system it does name.
Your PIN is the personal identification number NSERC assigns to applicants in the on-line system, and it stays the same across applications while every application gets its own application ID. The [Form 201 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/OnlineServices-ServicesEnLigne/instructions/201/pgs-pdf-faq_eng.asp) state that all NSERC applicants have received or will receive a PIN, that you should refer to your PIN each time you apply and in future correspondence, and that if you have not previously applied to NSERC you leave the field blank and a PIN will automatically be assigned by the online system. If you applied before and cannot remember your PIN, the same page says to contact the online services helpdesk, and once you have the PIN, to log on, go to the eConsole page, select Maintain user profile under Account management, and enter it so it appears on the Person profile page. The [Form 202 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/onlineservices-servicesenligne/instructions/202/USRA-BRPC_eng.asp?wbdisable=true) give the same blank-field rule for students and supervisors, and add the cross-system point: supervisors who have previously applied to NSERC have received an NSERC PIN from the online system or a common personal identifier (CPI) from the research portal, and if either is forgotten, contact the helpdesk, then enter the PIN or CPI through Maintain user profile. Do not invent a PIN, do not reuse someone else's, and do not re-register to get a second one if you have forgotten yours: the helpdesk route is the one the instructions give. Keep the PIN with your application records, because the Form 201 page says to always include it when you apply and in future correspondence with NSERC.
Both numbers appear on official NSERC pages, and this guide preserves both rather than picking one, because no page reconciles them. [NSERC On-line System Overview](https://nserc-crsng.canada.ca/en/nserc-line-system-overview) gives the Online Services Helpdesk as 1-613-995-4273 and webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (EST), for help in using the NSERC On-line System. The [Alliance Form 101 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/OnlineServices-ServicesEnLigne/instructions/101/alliance_eng.asp) and the [Electronic Approval](https://nserc-crsng.canada.ca/en/electronic-approval) page give the same 613 number and email. The [Form 202 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/onlineservices-servicesenligne/instructions/202/USRA-BRPC_eng.asp?wbdisable=true) and the [Form 201 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/OnlineServices-ServicesEnLigne/instructions/201/pgs-pdf-faq_eng.asp) instead give 1-855-275-2861 with the same webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca email, and tell you to include your email address and telephone number in your message. The practical approach is to use the number printed on the instructions page for your own program first, since that is the number NSERC attached to the route you are actually using, and to use the other number if the first goes unanswered. Do not rely on extended peak-period hours: a Help page snippet mentions extended hours for September 13 to December 17, 2021, which is stale and is not carried here as current practice. Confirm current hours on the page you are reading before calling near a deadline.
Not necessarily, and the answer depends on the submission channel your program uses, so read the status rather than assuming receipt. For Form 101, the [On-line System - Frequently Asked Questions](https://nserc-crsng.canada.ca/en/frequently-asked-questions-0) define the statuses in sequence: Completed means the form was verified and is complete, and only a Completed form can be submitted to post-secondary institution authorities; Submitted means the form has been submitted to those authorities, is view-only, and cannot be updated; Returned means the authorities returned it to the applicant for revision; Approved means the authorities reviewed it and approved it for evaluation by NSERC; and Received means NSERC has transferred the application to its internal network. For Form 201, the [Form 201 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/OnlineServices-ServicesEnLigne/instructions/201/pgs-pdf-faq_eng.asp) draw a sharper line: if you submit directly to NSERC, NSERC will acknowledge receipt by email, while if your application goes through a Canadian institution, the status will be reflected on the Portfolio page of your online application, with no email acknowledgement promised. For Form 202, the supervisor submits the linked Parts I and II to the liaison officer at the institution, and the [Form 202 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/onlineservices-servicesenligne/instructions/202/USRA-BRPC_eng.asp?wbdisable=true) say to contact the liaison officer if anything needs updating after that submission. In every case, check the Portfolio status after submitting, keep the acknowledgement email where one is promised, and contact your institution's research office or liaison officer before assuming an application sitting at Submitted has reached NSERC.
For Form 201, no, with one narrow exception stated on the instructions page. The [Form 201 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/OnlineServices-ServicesEnLigne/instructions/201/pgs-pdf-faq_eng.asp) state that with the exception of personal contact information, you cannot make any changes or updates to your application once it has been submitted, either before or after the application deadline, and that contact information is updated by email to NSERC scholarships staff. The same page adds that updates to your application package will not be accepted after submission, and that publication updates will not be accepted either. For Form 101, the route back is through your institution: a form with Submitted status is view-only and cannot be updated, but a form the institution returns carries Returned status, which means the authorities have viewed it and returned it to the primary applicant for revision, according to the [On-line System - Frequently Asked Questions](https://nserc-crsng.canada.ca/en/frequently-asked-questions-0). For Form 202, the [Form 202 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/onlineservices-servicesenligne/instructions/202/USRA-BRPC_eng.asp?wbdisable=true) say that once verification is complete and the status changes to Completed, you should not make changes, and that after submission you contact your liaison officer to update anything. The discipline that follows from all three wordings is the same: preview the final version before you submit, treat Verify as your last editing checkpoint, and build in time for the institution to return the form, because a correction after submission depends on someone else sending it back.
Follow the [NSERC Online presentation and attachment standards](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/onlineservices-servicesenligne/pdfatt2_eng.asp) exactly, because the program instructions warn that incomplete applications and applications that do not meet presentation standards may be rejected or put at a disadvantage, and that pages over a stated maximum will be removed. Attachments must be prepared in a word processing program on letter-size pages, 8.5 by 11 inches or 216 mm by 279 mm, single-spaced with no more than six lines of text per inch, in 12-point Times New Roman, black text only, with margins of at least three-quarters of an inch or 1.87 cm, your name at the top right of every page, pages numbered sequentially in multi-page attachments, acronyms spelled out at first use, and a certified translation for any supporting document in a language other than English or French. Every attachment must be converted to PDF before upload, the PDF filename must be 15 characters or fewer with no special characters or accents, and the PDF must not have security settings such as encryption or password protection: the standards page says to reprint the file through PDF software to remove protection, and the [Form 201 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/OnlineServices-ServicesEnLigne/instructions/201/pgs-pdf-faq_eng.asp) add that password-protected documents cannot be read and therefore cannot be attached, and that filenames should be fewer than 15 characters with no special characters other than the underscore. When attaching, enter a short description, browse to the file, select Attach, and then use Proofread to verify the file meets the standards and contains the correct content. Page limits are program-specific and are stated in the program instructions: for example, the [Alliance Form 101 instructions](https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/OnlineServices-ServicesEnLigne/instructions/101/alliance_eng.asp) cap the proposal at 7, 11, or 27 pages depending on the annual request, and the Form 201 instructions cap the research outline at two pages. Respect the limit for your own program, because excess pages are removed and not considered.
No application fee, direct login or registration address, registration field list, or browser requirement is stated in this guide, because no official page states one. Figures left out: the Undergraduate Student Research Award value, which appears on no official NSERC page; any program eligibility test, award value, or duration beyond the form and deadline wordings on the instructions pages, since program description pages are not covered here; the Form 201 October 17 date as a current-year deadline, carried only as the wording on the instructions page with a recheck instruction; extended helpdesk hours, where the only dated wording is for 2021; and the on-line system FAQ's browser and operating system table, whose listed systems are visibly outdated and were not relied on. No separate Government of Canada service directory listing for the on-line system is cited; the Online services page is the NSERC directory used here. Recheck the program description and instructions pages for your competition on the day you apply, and confirm the named system, the deadline for your channel, and the helpdesk number printed on your program's instructions page before submitting, since those are the points where the official pages differ or move between competitions.