Sponsor

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

For More Information

For additional information, please visit the SSHRC IG website for:

  • Program guidelines
  • Application forms
  • Evaluation criteria
  • Grant regulations & policies

WEBINARS

SSHRC has also organized two webinars for applicants and research administrators to provide information concerning the upcoming 2024 competition via WebEx.

Advance registration is not required. Detailed information for the SSHRC led webinars is below:

Date

Time (ET)

Topic

Language

Links to meeting

August 22nd, 2024

10:00 -11:30 AM

L’occasion de financement
des Subventions Savoir

French

WebEx link

August 22nd, 2024

1:00 -2:30 PM

Insight Grants Funding Opportunity

English

WebEx link

Description

Insight Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Insight Research program.

Insight Grants support research excellence in the social sciences and humanities. Funding is available to both emerging scholars and established scholars for research initiatives of two to five years.

Stable support for long-term research initiatives is central to advancing knowledge. It enables scholars to address complex issues about individuals and societies, and to further our collective understanding.

Insight Grants support research proposed by scholars and judged worthy of funding by their peers and/or other experts. Insight Grant research initiatives can be undertaken by an individual researcher or a team of researchers working in collaboration.

Applicants choose from one of two streams, depending on the amount of funding required. Both streams will be adjudicated by the same committees and will receive the same rigorous level of merit review. The deadlines and application process are identical for both; however, the targeted success rate for Stream A is higher than for Stream B.

SSHRC welcomes applications involving Indigenous research as well as those involving research-creation.

Eligibility

Applications can be submitted by an individual researcher or a team of researchers (consisting of one applicant and one or more co-applicants and/or collaborators).

Applicants (except postdoctoral fellows and PhD students) must be affiliated with a Canadian post-secondary institution that holds institutional eligibility at the time of application and before funding can be released. 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 status.

Applicants who have received a SSHRC grant of any type but have failed to submit an achievement 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 fellows are eligible to be applicants for this grant. However, for SSHRC to release grant funds, successful applicants must formally establish an affiliation with a Canadian post-secondary institution that meets the requirements for institutional eligibility within five months of the grant start date (i.e., by September 2025 for the current competition) 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, a PhD candidate is eligible to apply if they:

  • will have met all requirements for the PhD before the grant is awarded, including all course work and successful defence of their dissertation; and
  • establish a formal affiliation with an eligible Canadian post-secondary institution within five months of the grant start date and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period.

Federal scientists who are affiliated with a Canadian post-secondary institution must demonstrate that their proposed research or research-related activity is not related to either the mandate of their employer or the normal duties for which they receive payment from that employer.

If the proposal falls within the mandate of the federal government and the research or research-related activity is performed in government facilities, funding can only be allocated for student salaries, stipends and travel costs.

Co-applicants: Individuals listed as co-applicants must meet the same eligibility criteria as those described under the Applicants section.

Collaborators: Any individual who makes a significant contribution to the project is eligible to be a collaborator. Collaborators do not need to be affiliated with an eligible Canadian post-secondary institution.

Subject matter eligibility: Most SSHRC funding is awarded through open competitions. Proposals can involve any disciplines, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas eligible for SSHRC funding. See subject matter eligibility for more information. Projects whose primary objective is curriculum development, program evaluation, preparation of teaching materials, organization of a conference or workshop, digitization of a collection, or creation of a database are not eligible for funding under this funding opportunity. An application will be declared ineligible if it is determined 30% or more of the requested budget has been allocated to ineligible expenses.

Funding Availability

Insight Grants are valued at up to $400,000 over two to five years. A minimum request of $7,000 is required in at least one of the years. A maximum of $100,000 is available in a single year.

Applicants can choose from one of two streams when applying for an Insight Grant, depending on the amount of funding required:

  • Stream A for requests between $7,000 and $100,000
  • Stream B for requests between $100,001 and $400,000.

Indirect Costs

0%

Project Duration

2 to 5 years

Special Notes

Grant holders must also comply with the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (see the Open Access overview for more information) and the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy), which, as of April 1, 2021, has replaced SSHRC’s Research Data Archiving policy for all active grants.

On January 16, 2024, the Government of Canada published its Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC), which applies to this funding opportunity. Grant applications that involve conducting research and related activities that aim to advance a sensitive technology research area will not be funded if any of the researchers involved in activities supported by the grant are affiliated with or in receipt of funding or in-kind support from a university, research institute or laboratory connected to military, national defence or state security entities that could pose a risk to Canada's national security. Read the tri-agency guidance on the STRAC policy to understand how this may impact your application.

Deadlines

If College-level review is required, your College will communicate its earlier internal deadlines.

TypeDateNotes
Internal Deadline

Applicant to submit a copy of the complete application along with an OR5 form to RSO at research.services@uoguelph.ca.

Postdoctoral fellows who are employed by U of Guelph must also submit a copy of their application and an OR5 form signed by their supervisor to RSO at research.services@uoguelph.ca.

Applicants must also hit ‘Submit’ on the SSHRC portal on or before the internal deadline for their application to be considered 'on time.'

External Deadline

Applications will be submitted electronically by RSO by the online SSHRC application portal.

Eligible postdoctoral researchers may submit their applications directly to SSHRC in the portal by the listed deadline.

How to Apply

Applicants must complete the application form in accordance with application instructions. 

Information For Co-applicants

If you need to meet a deadline set by the lead institution for this opportunity, please ensure that you provide RSO at least five days to review the full application or your proposed component of the project before the lead institution's deadline. Please be in touch with the Office of Research (contact information below) 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, OR5 Form).

For Questions, please contact

Email: insightgrants@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca
Toll-free: 1-855-275-2861

Office of Research

Ariah Easley, Awards & Agreements Officer
Research Services Office
aeasley@uoguelph.ca

Alert Classifications
Category:
Funding Opportunities and Sponsor News

Disciplines:
Humanities
Social Sciences