Apply for Partnership Engage Grants (Canada)

The Partnership Engage Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Research Partnerships program. 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 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. It also welcomes applications involving Indigenous research, as well as those involving research-creation.

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.

Funding Information

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

Eligibility Criteria

• 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 must be affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution that holds institutional eligibility 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 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 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:
  • Before applying, postdoctoral researchers must confirm with their institution’s research grants officer that the institution can administer the funding if awarded.
• Students are not eligible for applicant or co-applicant status on a Partnership Engage Grant.
• Federal scientists who are affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary 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.
• Co-applicants:
  • Individuals are eligible to be co-applicants 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.
  • Postdoctoral researchers who are affiliated with a postsecondary institution are eligible to be co-applicants.
• 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 postsecondary institution.
  • Individuals from the private sector or federal government can participate only as collaborators.
• Subject matter:
  • Most SSHRC funding is awarded through open competitions. Proposals can involve any disciplines, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas eligible for SSHRC funding.
  • Projects whose primary objective is curriculum development, preparation of teaching materials, program evaluation, organization of a conference or workshop, digitization of a collection, or creation of a database are not eligible for funding under this funding opportunity.

Application Requirements 

• Applicants must complete the application form in accordance with accompanying instructions. Applications must be submitted electronically by an authorized research grants officer, or equivalent, from the applicant’s institution.
• Applicants needing help while preparing their application should communicate with SSHRC well in advance of the application deadline.

For more information, visit Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.