Eligible faculty members may apply for the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) program. Through these awards, you can receive a wage subsidy of $6,000 to hire an eligible student to work on research and development in your lab. Professors gain valuable help in furthering their research while supporting students in their learning.
The LFS quota for the NSERC USRA has been announced by the UBC Centre for Student Involvement and Careers (CIS&C). The Faculty of Land and Food Systems has 4 NSERC USRA 2022-23 awards. These awards can be held in the summer (May – August 2022), fall (September – December 2022) or winter (January – April 2023) terms.
The LFS internal deadline for the NSERC USRA is Friday March 11, 2022; the LFS evaluation criteria and process are available on the LFS Research Support website.
Similar to last year, UBC will continue to have non-NSERC grant holders receive approval from their Associate Dean or appropriate designate as part of the application process.
Continuation of accommodations due to COVID-19:
- Remote supervision of projects will be permitted. Supervisors must hold regular meetings with USRA holders via phone or video calls.
- Work terms do not need to be 16 weeks long, and can be less than 12 weeks.
- Full value ($6,000) of the award will be honored once application is approved by NSERC.
- For the student’s salary, Faculty Supervisor are no longer required to top-up 25% of the award value. However, NSERC requires that the supervisor pays a minimum salary of $6,000 regardless of the length of the award term and BC’s minimum wage requirements must be met. The minimum wage in BC is currently $15.20 per hour.
- For faculty members who intend to apply to the NSERC USRA, please ensure that COVID-19 safety measures and considerations as well as contingency plans are included when submitting their application. Questions we would encourage faculty to consider: Will the USRA be feasible given the COVID-19 safety plans as per Faculty/School/department? Can the USRA be done safely?
Additional information about the program can be found on the Faculty and Staff webpage. Student eligibility information is available on Student Services website.
Please contact LFS Undergraduate Student Research Awards lfs.nserc-usra@ubc.ca if you have any questions.