Submit Applications for Insight Development Grants (Canada)

The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and/or ideas. Funding is provided for short-term research development projects of up to two years that are proposed by individuals or teams.

Insight Development Grants foster research in its early stages but are not intended to support large-scale initiatives. Long-term support for research is offered through SSHRC’s Insight Grants. Projects can also involve national and international research collaboration, and the exploration of new ways of producing, structuring and mobilizing knowledge within and across disciplines and sectors.

Goal

• The goal of SSHRC’s Insight Research program is to build knowledge and understanding about people, societies and the world by supporting research excellence in all subject areas eligible for SSHRC funding.

Objectives

• The objectives of the Insight Research program are to:
  • build knowledge and understanding from disciplinary, interdisciplinary and/or cross-sector perspectives through support for the best researchers;
  • support new approaches to research on complex and important topics, including those that transcend the capacity of any one scholar, institution or discipline;
  • provide a high-quality research training experience for students;
  • fund research expertise that relates to societal challenges and opportunities; and
  • mobilize research knowledge, to and from academic and non-academic audiences, with the potential to lead to intellectual, cultural, social and economic influence, benefit and impact.

Areas of Research

• Proposed projects can involve, but are not limited to, the following types of research activities:
  • case studies
  • pilot initiatives
  • critical analyses of existing research

Categories

• Funding is available for two distinct categories of scholars:
  • Emerging scholars: who will develop new research questions and/or approaches. Such projects can build on and further the applicant’s (or team’s) graduate work and/or represent a continuation of their overall research trajectory.
  • Established scholars: who will explore new research questions and/or approaches that are distinct from the applicant’s previous/ongoing research. Research projects should be clearly delimited and in the early stages of the research process. Insight Development Grant funding is not intended to support ongoing research for established scholars.

Funding Information

• Insight Development Grants are valued at $7,000 to $75,000 over one to two years. A minimum budget of $7,000 is required in at least one of the years.
• For the current competition, at least 50% of funds will be reserved for applications from emerging scholars.

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 (except postdoctoral fellows and PhD students) must be affiliated with a Canadian institution that holds institutional eligibility at the time of application and before funding can be released. Researchers who maintain an affiliation with a Canadian 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 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 postsecondary institution that meets the requirements for institutional eligibility within three 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 defense of their dissertation; and
  • establish a formal affiliation with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution within three 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.
• Eligible PhD students and postdoctoral fellows are encouraged to make inquiries with the Research Grants Office of the eligible institution(s) at which they will be seeking affiliation early in the process.
• 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.

For more information, visit Government of Canada.