Apply for Funding
Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
(NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) support and promote high-quality research in a wide variety of disciplines and areas. This includes research that bridges more than one discipline or that requires the skills of several disciplines.
In any given application, applicants should apply to the agency that is responsible for the dominant research discipline or area. A researcher or research team may not submit the same application to more than one of the three federal granting agencies.
Applications submitted to SSHRC that would be more appropriately evaluated by NSERC or CIHR will not be accepted. In such cases, the applicant may be required to prepare a new application to the appropriate agency.
General Guidelines for the Eligibility of Subject Matter at SSHRC
Applications to SSHRC as the primary source of research or research training support must meet the following two criteria:
- The program of research must be primarily in the social sciences and humanities (i.e., aligned with SSHRC’s legislated mandate); and
- The intended outcome of the research must primarily be to add to our understanding and knowledge of individuals, groups and societies—what we think, how we live, and how we interact with each other and the world around us.
Guidelines for the Eligibility of Applications Related to Health
Applicants should consider the following in their decision whether to apply to SSHRC if their research is related to health:
- Research that is primarily intended to improve health, produce more effective health services and products and/or strengthen the Canadian health care system (e.g., research concerning the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of a condition, the evaluation of the effectiveness of health programs, the development of health management systems, etc.) is not eligible for consideration at SSHRC.
- Research involving clinical trials, with a health research orientation, is not eligible for SSHRC support.
- Research that is eligible under the
mandate of CIHR
will not be considered by SSHRC. CIHR provides funding opportunities for four themes of health research:
- Biomedical;
- Clinical;
- Health systems services; and
- Social, cultural, environmental and population health.
Investigators whose proposed research is health-related should contact CIHR first to explore eligibility. CIHR has procedures in place to adjudicate the full range of social science and humanities research proposals related to health research. The use of social science or humanities theories, methodologies and hypotheses are, in and of themselves, not sufficient to make the proposal eligible at SSHRC.
Guidelines for the Eligibility of Applications in Psychology
Notwithstanding the above-mentioned guidelines for research related to health, applicants should consider the following guidelines in their decision to apply to a federal granting agency if their research is in the field of psychology:
- SSHRC considers eligible applications within the broad areas of social, developmental, personality and educational psychology. SSHRC also considers eligible proposals related to theory and methods in these areas. SSHRC does not support clinically oriented research with a health intent, or research involving clinical trials.
- NSERC considers eligible applications that relate to fundamental psychological processes, their underlying neural mechanisms, their development within individuals, and their evolutionary and ecological context. Fundamental processes are understood to include:
- Sensation and perception;
- Sensorimotor integration;
- Motivation, emotion and reward;
- Learning and memory;
- Cognition and language;
- Sleep, arousal and the chrono-biological modulation of behaviour; and
- Statistical methods for analysis of psychological data.
NSERC does not normally support clinical psychology programs of research.
- CIHR considers applications for support of research on normal and abnormal psychological processes with clear and direct relevance to human health. This includes research on behavioural aspects of physical health and disease or mental health and disorders.
Multidisciplinary Collaboration with Other Agencies
Applicants are encouraged to collaborate with researchers in fields other than the social sciences and humanities, such as the natural sciences and engineering. Social sciences and humanities researchers may participate as co-applicants, for example, in NSERC's Strategic Network Grants Program. Visit the NSERC website to find out if you meet the eligibility requirements for the Strategic Network Grants Program, and for full details on the program including how to apply.
Support for Research Areas Where Boundaries Overlap
Applicants working in research areas where boundaries overlap are advised to state clearly in all applications for funding why they believe their proposals are appropriate for support by the agency to which they are submitting their application.
Such applicants should contact the research services office at their institution for guidance, and seek the advice of the appropriate program officer in charge of the program to which they are applying.
Research Falling Under the Jurisdiction of More than One Agency
The Inter-Agency Funding Mechanism is currently under review. The three federal research funding agencies are endeavouring to put in place flexible mechanisms for the joint review and funding of research activities involving overlapping jurisdictions.
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