SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowships
Instructions for referees—Letter of Appraisal form

On this page

• Introduction
• Identification
• Letter of appraisal
• Accept and submit
• Technical support

Introduction

The referee forms are part of a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowships application package. One form must be completed by someone who can comment on the applicant’s past and potential contributions to research (normally, the applicant’s doctoral thesis supervisor). The other should be completed by another acknowledged expert in the applicant’s discipline, who can provide the merit review committee with insight into the application package in relation to the evaluation criteria. The Referee form is available only by the unique URL included in the system-generated email requesting a letter of appraisal. We suggest you bookmark the link or save the email.

Your Letter of Appraisal form is available until the application has been electronically submitted to SSHRC. This form must be verified and submitted before the applicant can submit their application package. The system will not accept incomplete applications.

• If you misplace the unique URL required to access this form, the applicant can resend the invitation.
• If you decline the invitation, the applicant will be notified by email.
• If you are removed by the applicant, you will be notified by email.
• If you try to make changes to the form after the applicant has submitted the application package, you will receive one of two messages: (1) form update error, or (2) The application form has been forwarded to SSHRC.

Three modules must be completed to submit a letter of reference: the Identification module, the Letter of appraisal module, and the Accept and submit module.

Identification

Fields identified in bold are required and must be completed.

Referee details

Names and initials
Any changes to the information displayed in this section will be reflected on the application form.

Position
Indicate your position (e.g., associate professor, director). If an applicable position is not listed, select “Other” from the list and type the information in the box provided.

Disciplines
Select the appropriate discipline by clicking on the “List…” button. If an applicable discipline is not listed, select “Other” from the list and type the information in the box provided. Duplicate entries are not permitted.

Organization—Department/Division
Select the organization and department/division by clicking on the “List…” button. The “Country” list will appear. Select the country, the province or state (if applicable), then the organization. If the organization or department/division is not listed, select “Other” from the list and type the information in the box provided.

Letter of appraisal

Applicant’s CV and form
You can preview the applicant’s CV and application by clicking on the appropriate link at the top of the page. The system will generate a PDF file of each form. You can view the application even if the applicant has not yet completed it.

You might have to complete Letter of Appraisal form at a later date. For this reason, we recommend that you save the system-generated email.

Best practices and guidelines to limit unconscious bias

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and SSHRC are committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion to ensure equitable access across their programs.

The following best practices and considerations should be taken into account when drafting your letter of appraisal.

Best practices

• Be accurate, fair, clear and balanced.
• Avoid being unduly personal.
• Support your points by providing specific examples of accomplishments where possible.
• Support superlative descriptors (e.g., excellent, outstanding) with evidence.
• Include only information that is relevant to the evaluation criteria (e.g., do not include information related to ethnicity, age, hobbies, marital status, religion, disability status, financial need, etc.).
• Avoid sharing personal information about the applicant. Such information might be helpful only in explaining academic delays or interruptions and should be addressed with caution.

Limiting unconscious bias
The agencies strongly encourage the use of inclusive language (e.g. “the applicant” or “they” instead of “he/she”). The letter of appraisal should be free of words or sentences that reflect prejudiced, stereotyped or discriminatory language of particular people or groups, or their institution.

Use of inclusive language has been shown to decrease unconscious bias during the evaluation process. For more information, refer to the Canada Research Chairs guidelines for letter writers on Limiting Unconscious Bias.

Letter writers should also refer to the tri-agency Bias in Peer Review training module as a guide for preventing unconscious bias in merit review.

For further information on unconscious bias, consult the Gender-based Analysis Plus webpage of Women and Gender Equality Canada (formerly Status of Women Canada).

When writing your comments, bear in mind that applications are reviewed by a multidisciplinary selection committee, some members of which might not be familiar with the field or subfield in which the candidate proposes to work.

Track record
Comment on the applicant’s past and potential contributions to scholarly research. Explain the importance to the discipline of the journals in which the applicant has published and/or assess the applicant’s prospects for publication.

Program of work
Assess the originality, the significance and feasibility, and the strengths and weaknesses of the applicant’s proposed program of work, and the appropriateness of the proposed institutional affiliation. If applicable, comment on the applicant’s proficiency in the foreign language(s) necessary to pursue the program of work.

Your comments should focus on the proposal, its theoretical framework, the relation of the proposal to the field and the methodology.

Accept and submit

Before you can submit the Letter of Appraisal form to SSHRC, you must successfully verify your form. When you select the “Accept and submit” module and click the link “Click here to verify your form,” the system will generate a Verification Report, which lists any fields that must be completed or corrected. Once you have successfully verified your form, you must click on the link “I accept” and the completed Letter of Appraisal form will be submitted electronically to SSHRC. When you click “I accept,” it confirms that you accept the Terms of Use and that your electronic acceptance is the equivalent to your handwritten signature.

Technical support

If you have problems with SSHRC’s online application form system, contact our helpdesk by telephone at 613-995-4273 or by email at webgrants@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca.