Insight Development Grants

February 2020 Competition

Description

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

Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. 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.

Proposed projects may involve, but are not limited to, the following types of research activities:

• case studies;
• pilot initiatives; and
• critical analyses of existing research.

Projects may 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.

Within the Insight Development Grant funding opportunity, funding is available for two distinct categories of scholars: emerging scholars and established scholars.

Emerging scholars: This funding supports high-quality research projects by emerging scholars to develop new research questions and/or approaches. Such projects may build on and further the applicant’s (or team’s) graduate work and/or represent a continuation of their overall research trajectory.

Established scholars: Funding for established scholars provides support to 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.

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

Related initiatives

SSHRC and its partner organizations offer initiatives that complement this funding opportunity. Insight Development Grant applicants conducting research related to Defence Research and Development Canada’s priorities may be eligible for funding through the Department of National Defence Research Initiative.

Please consult SSHRC’s Funding search tool to learn more about specific joint initiatives.

Future Challenge Areas

SSHRC invites all applicants to review Imagining Canada’s Future’s 16 future global challenges and to consider addressing one or more of these areas in their research proposal. This is not an evaluation criterion for merit review and does not offer additional or dedicated research funds for this funding opportunity.

Value and duration

Insight Development Grants are valued at up to $75,000 over one to two years. A minimum budget of $7,000 in at least one of the years is required.

For the current competition, at least 50 per cent of funds will be reserved for applications from emerging scholars.

Eligibility

Subject matter

Most SSHRC funding is awarded through open competitions. Proposals may involve any disciplines, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas eligible for SSHRC funding. Please see Subject Matter Eligibility for more information.

Projects whose primary objective is curriculum development, 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 that more than 30 per cent of the requested budget has been allocated to non-eligible expenses (see examples under Use of Grant Funds in the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide).

Please note that:

• Insight Development Grant funds cannot be used for remuneration and/or travel and subsistence costs of presenters or guest speakers, or for research costs of collaborators.
• No team members (applicant, co-applicant or collaborator) may be remunerated with grant funds. This includes postdoctoral fellows serving in any of these capacities.
• Consultation fees are eligible for expert and/or professional and technical services that contribute directly to the proposed research as long as the service is not being provided by a team member or other persons whose status would make them eligible to apply for a SSHRC grant.

Applicants

Applications may 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 researchers and PhD students) must be affiliated with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution at the time of application and before funding can be released. 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 end of grant 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 for this grant. However, in order for SSHRC to release grant funds, successful applicants must formally establish an affiliation with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution within three months of the grant start date (i.e., by September 2020 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 postsecondary institution within three months of the grant start date (i.e., by September 2020 for the current competition), and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period.

Institutions

Grant funds may only be administered by an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution. Institutions proposing to administer a grant awarded under this funding opportunity must hold or obtain institutional eligibility. Please see SSHRC’s list of eligible institutions.

Institutions may contact Corporate Strategy and Performance to begin the institutional eligibility application process, or if they have questions about institutional eligibility.

Co-applicants

An individual is eligible to be a co-applicant if they are formally affiliated with any of the following:

• Canadian: Eligible postsecondary institution
• International: Postsecondary institution.

In the case of international co-applicants, the rationale for international collaboration must be clearly outlined in the application.

Postdoctoral researchers and PhD candidates are eligible to be co-applicants under the same conditions as those described under Applicants above.

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.

Multiple applications and holding multiple awards

Individuals may apply, as an applicant, for only one Insight Development Grant at a time.

Normally, researchers may not apply as an applicant for an Insight Grant and an Insight Development Grant within the same calendar year. However, in 2017, SSHRC approved an exception to this regulation to allow researchers who applied unsuccessfully for an Insight Development Grant in February to apply for an Insight Grant in October. For the foreseeable future, SSHRC will extend this exception to the multiple applications regulations. Therefore, researchers who apply for an Insight Development Grant in February 2020 and are not successful may apply for an Insight Grant in October 2020.

A researcher who applied for an Insight Grant in October 2019 may apply for an Insight Development Grant in February 2020, provided that the objectives of the research are significantly different.

Please see SSHRC’s regulations regarding multiple applications and holding multiple awards for more information.

Monitoring

Grant holders will be expected to report on the use of grant funds, on funded activities undertaken during the grant period, and on outcomes. Successful applicants will be informed of reporting requirements upon receiving their Notice of Award.

Application process

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.

Eligible PhD students and postdoctoral researchers may submit their applications directly to SSHRC.

Applicants needing help while preparing their application should communicate with SSHRC well in advance of the application deadline.

Evaluation and adjudication

Applications are adjudicated, and available funds awarded, through a merit review process. SSHRC bases funding decisions on the recommendations of the adjudication committee and on the funds available. Committee discussions are guided by the principle of minimum essential funding.

Insight Development Grant applications are evaluated through a single-stage committee review process that does not involve external assessments.

The adjudication committees include national and international scholars from the research community and may include experts from other sectors as needed. Participants in the review process, if not in a conflict of interest with the applicant or any team members, are asked to evaluate the proposal based on the evaluation criteria below.

Committee structure

In the application form, applicants will be asked to select the committee they consider most appropriate for the review of their proposal. There are four types of committees from which to choose:

• discipline-based;
• groups of disciplines;
• multi/interdisciplinary (one humanities-focused and one social sciences-focused); and
• thematic.

SSHRC will create discipline-based committees where the volume of applications received demands. Where there is not enough demand, SSHRC will form committees based on groups of disciplines. In addition, SSHRC will also establish thematic and multi/interdisciplinary committees if warranted by the volume of applications.

SSHRC’s Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research are relevant for researchers (applicants and project directors) and students preparing SSHRC applications related to Indigenous research. SSHRC provides these guidelines to merit reviewers to help build understanding of Indigenous research and research-related activities, and to assist committee members in interpreting SSHRC’s specific evaluation criteria in the context of Indigenous research. SSHRC relies on a community of merit reviewers with experience and expertise in Indigenous research to judge the extent to which the guidelines may be applied to a particular research proposal. The guidelines may also be of use to external assessors, postsecondary institutions and partner organizations that support Indigenous research.

Applicants may contact SSHRC to discuss committee selection.

Evaluation criteria and scoring

The following criteria and scoring scheme are used to evaluate the applications:

• Challenge—The aim and importance of the endeavour (50%):
  • for established scholars: relevance of the proposal to the objectives of the funding opportunity;
  • originality, significance and expected contribution to knowledge;
  • appropriateness of the literature review;
  • appropriateness of the theoretical approach or framework;
  • appropriateness of the methods/approach;
  • quality of training and mentoring to be provided to students, emerging scholars and other highly qualified personnel, and opportunities for them to contribute; and
  • potential for the project results to have influence and impact within and/or beyond the social sciences and humanities research community.
• Feasibility—The plan to achieve excellence (20%):
  • appropriateness of the proposed timeline and probability that the objectives will be met;
  • expertise of the applicant or team in relation to the proposed research;
  • appropriateness of the requested budget, justification of proposed costs, and, where applicable, other financial and/or in-kind contributions; and
  • quality and appropriateness of knowledge mobilization plans, including for effective dissemination, exchange and engagement with stakeholders within and/or beyond the research community, where applicable.
• Capability—The expertise to succeed (30%):
  • quality, quantity and significance of past experience and published and/or creative outputs of the applicant and any co-applicants, relative to their roles in the project and to the stage of their career;
  • evidence of past knowledge mobilization activities (e.g., films, performances, commissioned reports, knowledge syntheses, experience in collaboration / other interactions with stakeholders, contributions to public debate and media), and of impacts on professional practice, social services and policies, etc.; and
  • quality and quantity of past contributions to the development of training and mentoring of students, postdoctoral researchers and other highly qualified personnel.

Scoring table

Adjudication committee members assign a score for each of the three criteria listed above, based on the following table. The scores range from 1.00 to 6.00, with 1.00 being the highest. The appropriate weighting is applied to arrive at a final score. Applications must receive a score in the ‘Moderate’ range (i.e., 5.16-4.34) or better for each of the three criteria to be recommended for funding.

The descriptors for the range of scores are as follows:

Communication of results

Research offices will be informed of their applicants’ competition results via SSHRC’s secure site. All applicants will be provided, in addition to SSHRC’s notice of decision, a summary of the adjudication committee’s evaluation of their proposal, where applicable.

Regulations, policies and related information

SSHRC reserves the right to determine the eligibility of applications, based on the information therein. SSHRC also reserves the right to interpret the regulations and policies governing its funding opportunities.

All applicants and grant holders must comply with the Regulations Governing Grant Applications and with the regulations set out in the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide.

Grant holders must also comply with the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications. See the Open Access overview for more information. SSHRC also encourages researchers to manage, in accordance with both community standards and best practices (including SSHRC’s Research Data Archiving Policy), data arising from their research.

Guidelines and related support material

All applicants for SSHRC funding should consult the following guidelines while preparing their applications:

• the Guidelines for Effective Research Training, which may also be useful to reviewers and postsecondary institutions;
• SSHRC’s Indigenous Research Statement of Principles and Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research for applications involving Indigenous research;
• SSHRC’s definition of knowledge mobilization and Guidelines for Effective Knowledge Mobilization for guidance on connecting with research users to create impact;
• SSHRC’s Resource Centre for information on preparing applications involving research-creation; and
• SSHRC’s Definitions of Terms for terms used in the grant application process.

Contact information

For more information, contact:

Email: insightdevelopment@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca
Tel.: 613-996-6976

For more information on the Insight Development Grant application forms and process, please read the Research Portal FAQs and Canadian Common CV FAQs.

Date modified:

2019-11-18