Canada Research Chairs — 10th-Year Evaluation

By creating 2,000 research chairs within universities across Canada through the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Government of Canada invests $300 million per year to attract and retain some of the world's most accomplished and promising minds. The Chairs program, created in 2000, is currently undergoing its 10th-year evaluation. The consulting group Science-Metrix has been contracted to conduct the evaluation on behalf of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). This is a routine program evaluation that is required by the federal government every five years. Given that this is the 10th anniversary of the Chairs program, the main evaluation objectives are to identify the successes of the program to date, to learn from our collective experiences, and to specify areas for improvement in order to ensure the program’s future success.

Data collection phase – Status Update

The data collection phase of the evaluation process, which took place between March and July 2010, has now been completed. We would like to thank all program stakeholders who participated in the various data collection activities. We appreciate the time that was taken to provide valuable insights into the evaluation of the Chairs program.

Timelines and key deliverables

The final evaluation report and the management response are expected to be released publicly in early 2011. 

Data collection phase	March to July 2010
First draft evaluation report (presentation to the program's steering committee)	October 2010
Final evaluation report and management response (released publicly)	March 2011*

* subject to change

If you have any questions about this evaluation, please contact Shannon Clark Larkin, evaluation manager, Corporate Performance and Evaluation, SSHRC: 613-944-6232; shannon.clark-larkin@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca.