SSHRC inviting Applications for Connection Grants Program (Canada)

Deadline: 01-Nov-20

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) is inviting applications for the Connection Grants Program.

These grants support events and outreach activities geared toward short-term, targeted knowledge mobilization initiatives. These events and activities represent opportunities to exchange knowledge and to engage in research issues of value to those participating. Events and outreach activities funded by a Connection Grant may often serve as the first step toward more comprehensive and longer-term projects.

Connection Grants support workshops, colloquiums, conferences, forums, summer institutes, or other events or outreach activities that facilitate:

disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary exchanges in the social sciences and humanities;
scholarly exchanges between those working in the social sciences and humanities and those working in other research fields;
intersectoral exchanges between academic researchers in the social sciences and humanities and researchers and practitioners from the public, private and/or not-for-profit sectors; and/or
international research collaboration and scholarly exchanges with researchers, students, and non-academic partners from other countries.

Funding Information

Connection Grants supporting events are valued at $7,000 to $25,000 over one year.
Connection Grants supporting outreach activities are valued at $7,000 to $50,000 over one year. SSHRC is willing to consider amounts higher than $50,000, although such applications must satisfactorily justify the need for the higher amount, as well as provide evidence the entire award can be managed within the one-year timeframe.
Applicants must request a minimum of $7,000.

Participants and Audiences

Participants or audiences, in Canada and abroad, for both events and outreach activities, may include, among others, any of the following:

academic researchers;
non-academic researchers;
policy-makers;
professional practitioners;
representatives from organizations in the public, private or not-for-profit sectors;
representatives from community-based, local or regional non-academic organizations; and/or
students at all levels.

Eligibility Criteria

Projects whose primary objective is to conduct research activities (e.g., literature reviews, fieldwork, data collection, interviews) or to develop stand-alone volumes are not eligible for funding under this funding opportunity.
Applications may be submitted by institutions or by individual applicants and teams (consisting of one applicant or project director and one or more co-applicants and/or collaborators).
Institutional Connection Grant applications must be submitted by an eligible Canadian institution to conduct an event or outreach activity, or series thereof, in order to attain strategic objectives relevant to the institution’s mission and mandate. The project director must be affiliated with the host institution (the applicant), prepare the application on behalf of the host institution, and be responsible for the overall leadership of the project. The term “institution” from hereon in this description refers to both post-secondary institutions and not-for-profit organizations.
Individual Connection Grant applicants (except postdoctoral researchers) must be affiliated with an eligible Canadian post-secondary institution at the time of application to conduct an event or outreach activity, or series thereof, that primarily falls within the applicants’ domain of expertise and that will, ultimately, allow them to make a significant contribution to their field of research. In the case of a team approach, all team members must meet the eligibility criteria specific to their role.
Researchers who maintain an affiliation with a Canadian post-secondary institution, but whose primary affiliation is with a non-Canadian post-secondary institution, are not eligible for applicant or project director status.
Applicants or project directors who have received a SSHRC grant of any type but have failed to submit an end of grant report by the deadline specified in their Notice of Award are not eligible to apply for another SSHRC grant until they have submitted the report.
Postdoctoral researchers are eligible to be applicants if they have formally established an affiliation with an eligible institution within three months of the grant start date and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period.
Students enrolled in a program of study are not eligible to apply. However, Connection Grant proposals led by students may be submitted, provided the proposals involve both students and researchers and are submitted on behalf of the student by a faculty member at an eligible Canadian post-secondary institution. Students may be collaborators, but not co-applicants. Students who are collaborators on a project team cannot be paid a stipend or wage by the grant.
Co-applicants
- An individual (including postdoctoral researchers) is eligible to be a co-applicant if they are formally affiliated with any of the following:
  - Canadian: Eligible postsecondary institution; not-for-profit organization; philanthropic foundation; think tank; or municipal, territorial or provincial government.
  - International: Postsecondary institution.