For your Discovery grant proposal, NSERC says:

Using the headings below and in a maximum of five (5) single-sided pages [snip], describe the research to be supported. Provide details on:

  • your recent progress in research activities related to the proposal and, in addition for renewals, the progress attributable to your previous Discovery Grant;
  • the objectives of your research program – both short- and long-term;
  • literature pertinent to the proposal;
  • methods and proposed approach;
  • anticipated significance of the work; and
  • training to take place through the proposal (if none, explain why).

Images and graphics are included in the above-mentioned page limitations.

From: Form 101 Discovery Grants Program Instructions

Taking this information, I generally suggest the following headings to subdivide the required information:

  • Research objectives
  • Background
  • Recent progress
  • (restate the objectives with or without a heading)
  • Proposed Research
  • Significance of Research
  • Training

Now, this isn’t exactly the order they suggest, but I find that it lends itself to a better flow of ideas. Sometimes background and recent progress can be intertwined, but it is important to explicitly state what you have achieved recently in the proposal (hence the separate section). You can certainly use the organization and headings that you prefer (as long as they ‘conform’ to requirements).

Occasionally I am asked, “why do I have to talk about training highly qualified personnel (HQP) in my proposal? I talk about training in my CV”. The distinction here is that your CV talks about past and current training, while your proposal talks about continuing and future training. For example, “Over the five years of this research plan, I anticipate the training of 3 MScs, 2PhDs, 1 PDF and 5 undergraduate summer students. Students graduating from my lab will have extensive experience in x, y and z, which are in high demand in the most important field on the planet.” Quantify it, spell it out, explain the significance and make it easy for your reviewers to immediately understand your output.

It is also important to pay attention to the selection criteria (you have to scoll down to find them) and the evaluation indicators (scroll down to download the pdf of the indicator matrix) to ensure that you are addressing all of the reviewers questions in a concise and easy to understand way.