Limits on renewing Tier 1 Chairs for a third term
As of November 2017, institutions can only nominate Tier 1 Chairs for renewal once, to a maximum of two seven-year terms. In rare, exceptional circumstances, institutions may put forward third-term nominations, but are responsible to publicly demonstrate the exceptional nature of the nomination. Refer to the Renew a Chair page for more information on these changes.
Flex moves
Until December 2019, institutions can convert chairs across tiers and disciplines beyond the current limits outlined for the corridor of flexibility. This will facilitate the transition towards limiting the renewal of Tier 1 Chairs for a third term, and will help institutions meet their equity and diversity targets. The Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat will monitor the use of flex moves closely, to assess the impact of this additional flexibility on the distribution of chairs.
Distribution of regular chair allocations
Of the total 2000 chairs, the program allocates 1,880 to institutions by area of research. In the coming year, the program will gradually phase in changes to how chairs are distributed, as follows:
- 733 Chairs (39 per cent) in the natural sciences and engineering;
- 733 Chairs (39 per cent) in health; and
- 414 Chairs (22 per cent) in the social science and humanities.
Institutional Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans
Institutions are expected to take the program changes outlined above into consideration when finalizing their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans, which are due December 15, 2017. By this deadline, all institutions are also required to send a copy of the action plan by email to General inquiries.
New process for assessing new nominations
The program is implementing the New Negative Decision process in an effort to reduce the number of unfilled chairs, and to help institutions reach their equity and diversity targets more quickly. This pilot initiative will allow for shorter turnaround of decisions on all negative funding recommendations. Refer to the Peer Reviewers page for more information.
The program will implement this change for nominations submitted for the April 2017 deadline (cycle 2017-01).