Sponsor

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Program

Partnership Engage Grants (PEG)

For More Information

SSHRC Partnership Engage Grants [1]

Description

Partnership Engage Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Insight program [2] and the Connection program [3]. However, Partnership Engage Grants cannot respond exclusively to the objectives of the Connection program.

These grants provide short-term and timely support for partnered research activities that will inform decision making at a single partner organization from the public, private or not-for-profit sector. The small-scale, stakeholder-driven partnerships supported through Partnership Engage Grants are meant to respond to immediate needs and time constraints facing organizations in non-academic sectors. In addressing an organization-specific need, challenge and/or opportunity, these partnerships let non-academic organizations and postsecondary researchers access each other’s unique knowledge, expertise and capabilities on topics of mutual interest.

SSHRC welcomes applications involving Indigenous research [4], as well as those involving research-creation [5].

For tools and resources to assist in the planning and implementation of your partnership, see SSHRC’s Partnerships Tool-Kit [6].

Types of partnerships

Following are some possible formal partnership approaches. Applicants are in no way limited to these approaches and are welcome to combine some of the features described below.

• Cross-sector co-creation of knowledge and understanding: Partnerships to foster innovative research, training and the co-creation of new knowledge on critical issues of intellectual, social, economic and cultural significance.
• Partnered knowledge mobilization: Partnerships designed to synthesize, apply and mobilize new and existing social sciences and humanities research knowledge in accessible ways to build institutional capacity and to increase the national and international impact and stature of Canadian research.

Joint initiatives

SSHRC collaborates with organizations from across the not-for-profit, private and public sectors to support and promote training, research and connection activities in the social sciences and humanities. SSHRC’s joint initiatives are designed to reflect its strategic objectives and mandate, inform decision-makers, and, in certain cases, address specific needs of its partners.

Learn more about joint initiatives [7].

For a complete list of available joint initiatives, consult SSHRC’s funding search tool [8].

Future Challenge Areas

SSHRC invites all applicants to review Imagining Canada’s Future [9]’s 16 future global challenges and to consider addressing one or more of these areas in their research proposal. This is not an evaluation criterion for merit review and does not offer additional or dedicated research funds for this funding opportunity.

Eligibility

Subject matter

Most SSHRC funding is awarded through open competitions. Proposals may involve any disciplines, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas eligible for SSHRC funding. Please see Subject Matter Eligibility [10] for more information. Projects whose primary objective is curriculum development are not eligible for funding under this funding opportunity.

Applicants

Applications may be submitted by an individual researcher or a team of researchers (consisting of one applicant and one or more co-applicants [11] and/or collaborators [12]). Applicants must be affiliated with an eligible institution [13] (Canadian postsecondary) at the time of application. Researchers who maintain an affiliation with a Canadian postsecondary institution, but whose primary affiliation is with a non-Canadian postsecondary institution, are not eligible for applicant [14] status. Applicants who have received a SSHRC grant of any type but have failed to submit an achievement report [15] 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 at the time of application, and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period. Individuals from the private sector or federal government can participate only as collaborators.

Co-applicants

An individual is eligible to be a co-applicant [16] if they are formally affiliated with any of the following:

• Canadian: Postsecondary institution; not-for-profit organization; philanthropic foundation; think tank; or municipal, territorial or provincial government.
• International: Postsecondary institution.

Collaborators

Any individual who makes a significant contribution to the project is eligible to be a collaborator [12]. Collaborators do not need to be affiliated with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution. Individuals from the private sector or federal government can only participate as collaborators.

Partner organizations

Only one Canadian or international organization from the public, private or not-for-profit sector can be involved as a partner organization. Postsecondary institutions and scholarly associations are not eligible as partner organizations. Organizations collaborating with postsecondary institutions (e.g., Network) can be considered eligible as long as they are a separate entity from the postsecondary institution (i.e., a stand-alone organization in the non-profit, private or public sector). The partner organization must be at arm’s length (independent) from the academic institution and the applicant. A partner organization is not at arm’s length if the applicant:

• has an ownership position in the partner organization;
• is employed by the partner organization in any role, whether salaried or not;
• is a member of a governing board of the partner organization; or
• is related (i.e., connected by blood relationship, marriage or common-law partnership or adoption) to a person who controls, or who is a member of a governing board that controls, the partner organization.

The partner organization must be under the effective day-to-day management control of someone other than the postsecondary institution, applicant, co-applicant(s) or other participant with financial authority on the grant (in a private sector organization this precludes these individuals from holding key executive positions, such as president, CEO, chief scientific officer or vice-president R&D).

While cash and/or in-kind contributions [17] are not mandatory, partner organizations are expected to support the activities of the partnership through these contributions. 

Researchers involved in formal partnerships [18] that have more than one partner organization are encouraged to apply for Partnership Development Grants [19] or Partnership Grants [20].

Multiple applications and holding multiple awards

Individuals may apply, as an applicant, for only one Partnership Engage Grant per calendar year. Current Partnership Engage Grant holders can submit a new application for the same type of grant, but only after their grant’s end date (end date on their original Notice of Award). Grant holders can do so whether or not they intend to ask for or use an extension year in order to finish work associated with the currently held grant.

See SSHRC’s regulations regarding multiple applications and holding multiple awards [21] for more information.

Institutions

Grant funds may only be administered by an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution. Institutions proposing to administer any grant awarded under this funding opportunity must hold or obtain institutional eligibility [13].

Maximum Project Value

Partnership Engage Grants are valued at $7,000 to $25,000 for one year.

Indirect Costs

0%

Special Notes

Salary research allowance

Co-applicants [16] from eligible not-for-profit organizations can request a salary research allowance [22] to release them from duties to their organization

Guidelines and related support material

All applicants for SSHRC funding should consult the following guidelines while preparing their applications:

• SSHRC’s Definitions of Terms [23] for terms used in the grant application process;
• the Guidelines for Effective Research Training [24], which can also be useful to reviewers and postsecondary institutions;
• SSHRC’s Indigenous Research Statement of Principles [25] and Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research [26] for applications involving Indigenous research [4];
• SSHRC’s definition of knowledge mobilization [27] and its Guidelines for Effective Knowledge Mobilization [28] for guidance on connecting with research users to create impact; and
• SSHRC’s Guidelines for Support of Tools for Research and Related Activities [29], for clarification on how applicants can include up to $7,000 of funding for research and research-related tools in any SSHRC grant application.

COVID-19

Please note that research activities carried out in the context of COVID-19 need to adhere to the University of Guelph COVID-19 research principles, policies, guidelines and processes as they may be updated from time to time and communicated on the Office of Research web-page [30]

How to Apply

There are four funding cycles per year: September 15, December 15, March 15 and June 15 (8:00pm EST). Please see internal deadlines above for earlier due dates to ORS.

The results will be announced in November, February, May and August, respectively.

Applicants must complete the application form online in accordance with the accompanying instructions [32]. Applications must be submitted electronically by an authorized research grants officer, or equivalent, from the applicant’s institution. 

Information For Co-applicants

If you need to meet a deadline set by the lead institution for this opportunity, please ensure that you provide the Office of Research Services with at least five days in advance of the lead institution’s deadline to review the application, or your proposed component of the project. Please email the Office of Research Services at research.services@uoguelph.ca [31] ahead of the deadline if it looks like it will be difficult for you to submit all the required documentation on time (i.e. budget, proposal, OR-5 Form).