Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

1
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada

• An Overview of
• Standard Research Grants
• Prepared by the Office of Research
• Trent University

2
What does SSHRC Do?

• SSHRC does not conduct research itself
• The council distributes funds to Canadian
  researchers, scholars, and universities through
  highly competitive, peer adjudicated granting
  programs
• The budget for 2004-2005 was 230M for all
  programs
• In 2004-2005 the of successful applications was
  43

3
SSHRC The Broad Objective

• The purpose of the Standard Research Grants
  program is to support research and develop
  excellence in research activities in both the
  social sciences and the humanities
• At present, SSHRC supports over 30 disciplines in
  the social sciences and humanities

4
Specific Objectives

• To support highly qualified, independent programs
  of research
• To provide training opportunities for HQP
• To enhance and develop new theoretical and
  methodological approaches to research
• To encourage collaborative, multidisciplinary
  activities amongst researchers
• To support wide-spread dissemination of research
  outcomes

5
What is a program of research?

• A sustained research enterprise that includes one
  or more projects or other components and which is
  shaped by broad objectives for the advancement of
  knowledge
• A program of research can involve primarily one
  investigator focused on a single research career
  or mobilize a team of researchers for a specific
  period

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What do programs of research include?

• Research tools may be included if there are
  deemed to be a priority for advancing research
  in a specific field
• Tools include bibliographies, indices,
  catalogues of research collections
• Concordances dictionaries
• Materials which access archival
  holdings/collections

7
SSHRC does not fund

• Description of any original holdings of any
  federal agency
• Conversion of records into machine-readable
  formats
• Document conservation
• Records management or the arrangement of
  documents

8
Value and Duration

• SRGs are available for periods of 1 to 3 years
• Maximum value per year is 100K up to a total of
  250k over 3 years
• Each year must have a minimum budget of 7k (not
  including RTS)
• Average award in 03-04 was 82K

9
Eligibility

• Most SRGs are submitted by one
  Applicant/principal investigator
• Adjuncts are eligible to apply for SRGs
• If unclear about your status or that of your
  co-applicants, please contact the ORGS for
  clarification

10
SSHRC SRGs Deadlines

• Internal deadline is October 7th, 2005
• External deadline is October 15th, 2005
• Results are anticipated by late March, early
  April 2006
• The Office of Research does not receive any
  information regarding adjudication or evaluation
  during this time

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Adjudication Committees

• STGs are adjudicated by committees comprised of
  scholars from the research community
• Applications are ranked by the committees
• Two external written assessments are normally
  obtained for each application prior to
  adjudication at the committee level
• Each applicant is invited to select the committee
  to adjudicate their application

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Evaluation Criteria

• Record of research achievement
• Program of research
• Regular Scholar research achievement 60,
  program of research 40
• New Scholar the record of research achievement
  and the program of research are weighted in the
  overall score such that either 60/40 or 40/60
  will apply which ever produces the most
  favorable overall score

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Assessing Program of Research

• The degree of originality and expected
  contribution to the advancement of knowledge
• Significance of the research, understood to
  encompass scholarly or intellectual significance
  as well as social and cultural significance
• The suitability of theoretical perspectives

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Assessment (cont)

• The appropriateness and expected effectiveness of
  the research strategies or methodologies
• The suitability and expected effectiveness of
  plans to communicate research findings both
  within and beyond the academic community
• The nature and extent of research training (HQP)

15
Scoring of Applications

• A score, based on committee consensus, ranking
  from 1 10 is assigned for both the record of
  research achievement and the program of research
• A minimum score of 6/10 is required on each of
  these two components for an application to
  qualify for a grant (4A or 1 Status)

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New vs Regular Scholar

• A new scholar is someone who has not yet had the
  opportunity to establish an extensive record of
  research
• Cannot have been a PI on a SSHRC grant
  previously have completed highest degree less
  than five years before the year of the
  competition deadline OR held tenure-track
  appointments in a university for less than five
  years OR experienced delays for family reasons

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How to Apply

• Applications must be prepared using the online
  module
• Once the application is complete, 4 copies plus
  the original must be submitted to the Office of
  Research, Suite 344, Gzowski (Symons) by October
  7th
• PIs are responsible for departmental signatures
  the Office of Research will secure institutional
  signatures

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Need help?

• Should you require assistance preparing your
  grant application, please dont hesitate to
  contact
• Cathy Smith 748-1011 ext. 7496
  cjsmith_at_trentu.ca
• Or
• James Parker 748-1011 ext. 7935
• jparker_at_trentu.ca