Funding Opportunities
Protection and Disclosure of Personal Information: Grant Programs
All information provided to SSHRC is subject to the Access
to Information Act and to the Privacy
Act. The purpose of the Privacy Act is to protect the privacy of individuals
with respect to personal information about themselves held by a federal
government institution and to provide individuals with a right of access
to such information. The Act also stipulates that personal information
obtained shall not be used without the consent of the individual to whom
it relates, except for the purpose for which it was collected or for a
use consistent with that purpose.
Use and Disclosure of Personal Information in Applications for SSHRC
Awards
Personal information collected by SSHRC is used for:
- reviewing applications;
- administering awards;
- establishing data bases for program planning and evaluation; and
- developing banks of potential external assessors and committee members.
If necessary, SSHRC may also use this information for:
- consultations with NSERC, CIHR and the Canada Council for the Arts
to determine the most appropriate funding jurisdiction for the proposed
activity or to monitor overlap in federal support;
- statistical studies on the funding of research and research training
in Canada; and
- review of allegations of scholarly misconduct in accordance with the
provisions of the Tri-Council
Policy Statement on Integrity in Research and Scholarship.
SSHRC uses the information provided in the identification section of
the curriculum vitae strictly for purposes of identification and statistical
summaries. Personal information provided in grant applications is accessible
only to SSHRC staff, members of adjudication committees and, as applicable,
to external assessors and partners in SSHRC strategic joint initiative
programs. Neither adjudication committees nor external assessors are privy
to personal information about gender and age.
In the case of strategic joint initiative programs and the Canada Foundation
for Innovation's Leaders Opportunity Fund, SSHRC shares all grant application
information with the partnering agencies.
SSHRC also forwards competition results for all grant programs to research administration officers. These individuals are responsible for
processing applications from their institutions before submitting them
to SSHRC, for informing candidates of the outcome of their applications,
and for administering grants. Such sharing of applicant information is
necessary to facilitate adjudication of applications and monitoring and
evaluation of the programs. The same statutes governing confidentiality
and disclosure of personal information apply equally to SSHRC and the
partnering agencies.
Successful grant applicants should note that, for the purposes of requests
made under the Access
to Information Act, the summary of their program of research and the
financial details of their project expenditures are not considered personal
information (Privacy
Act, section 3 (l)). Accordingly, SSHRC is obliged to make such information
available to anyone who requests it.
In response to a request for information submitted under the Access to
Information Act, SSHRC may be required to provide all information in a
successful grant application that pertains to a certain organization.
In doing so, however, SSHRC would also be obliged to withhold comments
made on behalf of that organization about the applicant or any other individual
as well as the names of any external assessors and any comments that might
identify them. These constitute personal information and would therefore
not be accessible.
Co-applicants (co-investigators)
and research collaborators
should be aware that all members of a research team have access to external
reviews and adjudication committee comments. As a matter of procedure,
SSHRC normally forwards this information only to the applicant (principal
investigator), who is expected to then make the information available
to all members of his or her research team.
Applicants' Access to Their Personal Information in SSHRC Files
Individuals have right of access to their personal information held in
SSHRC files and may request that any errors be corrected. Applicants to
SSHRC's research support programs and other members of the research team
have full access to the external assessors' reports, but not to the name
of the assessor, to any comments that might identify the assessor, or
to any comments about other applicants and their identities. This exception
applies because, according to the Privacy Act, the name of the assessor
of a grant application constitutes personal information about the assessor,
not the applicant.
To request a copy of your file or your assessments, please contact:
Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
350 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 6G4
Tel.: 613-992-1058
Fax: 613-992-4010