Applications open for Connection Grants – Canada

These events and activities represent opportunities to exchange knowledge and engage with participants on research issues they value. Events and outreach activities funded by a Connection Grant can often serve as a first step toward more comprehensive and longer-term projects.

Connection Grants support workshops, colloquiums, conferences, forums, summer institutes, documentaries 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.

Objectives

• Connection Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Research Partnerships program:
  • Strengthen knowledge and understanding by leveraging perspectives from across multiple disciplines and sectors;
  • Support collaboration among postsecondary institutions, and between postsecondary institutions and organizations from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, to co-create knowledge and increase use of research outputs;
  • Mobilize research knowledge, within academia and other sectors, that can lead to intellectual, cultural, social and economic outputs and outcomes;
  • Increase the accessibility and use of research knowledge within and beyond the postsecondary sector;
  • Support a high-quality training experience for students and/or postdoctoral researchers.

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.
• A minimum request of $7,000 is required.
• 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.
• All activities must take place within 12 months of the start date indicated on the Notice of Award.

Ineligible Costs

• Clinical education for health care professionals
• Psychomotor research and kinesiology
• Clinical research (e.g., treatment, prevention or diagnosis of a condition, disorder or disease; testing or evaluating the impact of interventions, medication or medical aids)
• Therapy (e.g., counselling, interventions, psychotherapy, rehabilitation, speech and occupational therapy, validation/testing of diagnostic tools)
• Epidemiology

Eligible Activities

• Adaptation (including translation, for example, into French, English or Indigenous languages) of texts or presentations for the purpose of broader knowledge mobilization to different audiences;
• Development of policy briefs, knowledge syntheses and scoping reviews;
• Development of articles for print or online publication in newspapers or weekly or monthly magazines—whether specialized or general interest;
• Virtual networking;
• Media events (such as television/radio presentations);
• Speaker series;
• Public debates;
• Documentaries;
• Artistic exhibits, performances or festivals;
• Development/use of interactive technologies, audiovisual products or software;
• Development/use of educational aids, instruments or equipment.

Ineligible Activities

• Annual general meetings or any other activity directly related to an association’s business meetings;
• Book launches or similar report dissemination;
• Receptions for association members; and
• Any activities normally paid for by the association’s operating fees.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications to SSHRC as the primary source of research or research training support must meet the following two criteria:
  • The proposed research or related activities must be primarily in the social sciences and humanities.
  • The intended outcome of the research must primarily be to add to their understanding and knowledge of individuals, groups and societies.
• Projects whose primary objective is to conduct research activities (e.g., literature reviews, field work, data collection, interviews) or to develop stand-alone volumes, curriculum development, or preparation of teaching materials are not eligible for funding under this funding opportunity.

For more information, visit Government of Canada.