Office of Research, Trent University Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada An Overview of Standard Research Grants Prepared by the Office of Research Trent University

Office of Research, Trent University 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 was $230M for all programs In the % of successful applications was 43%

Office of Research, Trent University 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

Office of Research, Trent University 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

Office of Research, Trent University 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

Office of Research, Trent University 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

Office of Research, Trent University 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

Office of Research, Trent University Value and Duration SRG’s 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 was $82K

Office of Research, Trent University Eligibility: Most SRG’s are submitted by one Applicant/principal investigator Adjuncts are eligible to apply for SRG’s If unclear about your status or that of your co- applicants, please contact the ORGS for clarification

Office of Research, Trent University SSHRC SRG’s Deadlines: Internal deadline is October 7 th, 2005 External deadline is October 15 th, 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

Office of Research, Trent University Adjudication Committees STG’s 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

Office of Research, Trent University 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

Office of Research, Trent University 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

Office of Research, Trent University Assessment (con’t) 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)

Office of Research, Trent University 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)

Office of Research, Trent University 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

Office of Research, Trent University 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 7 th PI’s are responsible for departmental signatures; the Office of Research will secure institutional signatures

Office of Research, Trent University Need help? Should you require assistance preparing your grant application, please don’t hesitate to contact: Cathy Smith ext Or James Parker ext