CERC to encourage diversity among chair holders

The federal government is changing the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) to encourage more gender diversity and will hold at least three of the 11 new chairs for priority areas in its forthcoming competition. Only one of the 27 CERCs awarded to date is held by a woman, prompting new rules that require institutions to develop detailed equity plans and recruitment strategies to promote women and other underrepresented groups. A minimum of two chairs will be awarded in fields related to clean and sustainable technologies and at least one for business sector innovation. Three more will be "marked for open areas of inquiry that will benefit Canadians". CERCs provide successful universities with $10 million over seven years to support world top-flight researchers and their teams to establish ambitious research programs. The government recently revealed that CERCs play a major role in the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) program. Of the 18 CFREF initiatives announced to date, 13 feature CERCs