GEFSES is an NSERC CREATE Program designed to train teams of highly qualified personnel with Genome Editing skills for Food Security & Environmental Sustainability by integrating research, policy & professional development.

The Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program supports the training of teams of highly qualified students and postdoctoral fellows from Canada and abroad through the development of innovative training programs that:

• encourage collaborative and integrative approaches, and address significant scientific challenges associated with Canada’s research priorities;
• facilitate the transition of new researchers from trainees to productive employees in the Canadian workforce.

These innovative programs must foster the acquisition and development of important professional skills among students and postdoctoral fellows that complement their qualifications and technical skills, and improve their job-readiness for careers in industry, government, non-governmental organizations, and/or academia.

In addition, these programs should encourage the following as appropriate:

• student mobility, nationally or internationally, between individual universities and between universities and other sectors;
• interdisciplinary research within the natural sciences and engineering (NSE), or at the interface between the NSE and health, or the social sciences and humanities. However, the main focus of the training must still lie within the NSE;
• increased collaboration between industry and academia;
• for the industrial stream, an additional objective is to support improved job-readiness within the industrial sector by exposing participants to the specific challenges of this sector and training people with the skills identified by industry.