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Gender-based analysis plus

Institutional GBA+ capacity

Governance of gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) remains the same as previously reported. SSHRC’s GBA+ Responsibility Centre is in the Corporate Strategy and Performance Division. Responsibility Centre staff manage GBA+ and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, generally lead on the integration of GBA+ into Treasury Board submissions, promote GBA+ Awareness Week annually, and convene SSHRC’s Coordination Group on EDI. This cross-divisional group coordinates the delivery of several GBA+ and EDI measures, and facilitates the internal strengthening of GBA+ capacity and knowledge.

Two particular initiatives have helped advance GBA+ departmental capacity at SSHRC. The first, included in the 2019-20 Departmental Plan, is the continued collection and analysis of self-identification data from applicants to funding competitions, and from merit review committee members. This initiative of the tri-agency EDI action plan started in fall 2018. Applicants and members are asked for their gender and age range, and whether they identify as a member of a visible minority group, as Indigenous and/or as a person with a disability. Respondents must complete the questionnaire before they can submit an application or begin evaluating applications, but for each question, they are given the option of “prefer not to answer.”

The availability of these data is crucial to the capacity of SSHRC staff to undertake GBA+ and other EDI-focused analyses in support of enhancing EDI in research funding and in the broader research enterprise in Canada. Two key performance measurement indicators of the tri-agency EDI action plan are:
(i) the proportion of applicants who submit self-identification data; and
(ii) the proportion of review committee members who submit self-identification data.

Across the designated underrepresented groups and across applicable SSHRC funding opportunities, an average of 94.7% of applicants and 98.6% of review committee members submitted self-identification data.

These data are published annually in the Canada Research Coordinating Committee progress report and on an interactive dashboard available on SSHRC’s website. Data for each SSHRC program are presented below in Highlights of GBA+ results by program.

The second initiative is a suite of mandatory staff training in GBA+ and EDI. All staff are required to complete the Introduction to GBA+ online course and the Civility and Respect course. In addition, depending on their position and functions, staff members might be required to take the Diversity and Inclusion course. Staff members who handle self-identification data must take the Introduction to Security Awareness course and the Equity, Diversity and Inclusive Data and Privacy Protection course. Recent training completion rates for staff, including the target deadlines set when the courses were first introduced, are as follows:

Training Deadline Completion by SSHRC staffFootnote *

Introduction to GBA+

October 1, 2019

84.1% (222/264)

Diversity and Inclusion

March 31, 2022

32.5% (66/203)

Civility and Respect

March 31, 2021

22.7% (60/264)

Highlights of GBA+ results by program

Insight Research
  • One of the performance indicators in the Performance Information Profile for the Insight Research program is “Percentage of award holders who are underrepresented individuals.”
  • Application rate, award rate and merit review committee member data for the four designated groups from 2019-20 are presented in the following tables.
Insight Research—Principal applicants and primary investigators
  Women Persons with disabilities Members of visible minorities Indigenous peoples

Application rate

50.0%

4.1%

19.3%

1.8%

Award rate

52.0%

3.8%

17.6%

2.1%

Insight Research—Merit review committee members
  Women Persons with disabilities Members of visible minorities Indigenous peoples

Representation on committees

27.3%

3.3%

7.8%

2.0%


Group % of filled chairs
As of June 2019
(total of 1,836) 		Estimated for December 2019Footnote *
Women 33.5% 37.6%
Visible minorities 15.9% 21.0%
Indigenous peoples 2.1% 3.2%
People with disabilities 1.6% 5.4%

  • Evaluation of institutional action plans: The Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS) convened an external panel of EDI experts to assess 55 institutional EDI action plans. The plans were reviewed in phases: those that did not meet program requirements were asked to revise and resubmit for additional review. This marked the first time institutional EDI action plans had been formally reviewed in Canada. These plans serve as roadmaps for institutions as they address systemic barriers in their management of chairs, which has historically limited the diversity of chairholders in the CRCP.
  • In addition, the CRCP launched the 2019 Addendum to the 2006 Canadian Human Rights Agreement for the Canada Research Chairs Program, which outlines a number of key measures to improve the diversity and, therefore, excellence of the CRCP. Some of the key measures include increasing equity targets to reflect the Canadian population versus academic representation of the four designated groups (50.9% women, 4.9% Indigenous peoples, 7.5% persons with disabilities and 22% members of visible minorities) and reviewing the CRCP literature and processes with an equity-based lens to identify and address any potential systemic barriers faced by underrepresented groups.
  • TIPS continued to work with chairholders of the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) and Canada 150 Research Chairs (C150), as well as Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) initiatives, to monitor the diversity of their teams. The revisions made to the CERC and CFREF annual progress reports in 2017-18 and included in the C150 progress reports have improved TIPS’s ability to collect EDI data and information that is needed to monitor EDI within these programs. In addition, the fifth-year evaluation of the CFREF program and the 10th-year evaluation of the CERC program (which included an evaluation of the C150 program) were underway in 2019-20. The evaluations will assess what additional measures could be needed within those programs to improve or address any EDI gaps.

Research Training and Talent Development
  • One of the performance indicators in the Performance Information Profile for the Research Training and Talent Development program is “Percentage of award holders who are underrepresented individuals.”
  • Application rate, award rate and merit review committee member data for the four designated groups from 2019-20 are presented in the following tables.

Research Training and Talent Development—Applicants and award holders
  Women Persons with disabilities Members of visible minorities Indigenous peoples

Application rate

62.9%

6.0%

17.3%

4.2%

Award rate

63.0%

4.5%

15.5%

4.2%

Research Training and Talent Development—Merit review committee members
  Women Persons with disabilities Members of visible minorities Indigenous peoples

Representation on committees

9.0%

0.7%

0.9%

0.5%
Research Partnerships
  • One of the performance indicators in the Performance Information Profile for the Research Partnerships program is “Percentage of award holders who are underrepresented individuals.”
  • Application rate, award rate and merit review committee member data for the four designated groups from 2019-20 are presented in the following tables.

Research Partnerships—Primary applicants and principal investigators
  Women Persons with disabilities Members of visible minorities Indigenous peoples

Application rate

46.6%

3.3%

11.4%

2.3%

Award rate

47.9%

3.4%

10.0%

2.7%

Research Partnerships—Merit review committee members
  Women Persons with disabilities Members of visible minorities Indigenous peoples

Representation on committees

15.9%

1.3%

0.9%

0.2%
New Frontiers in Research Fund
  • One of the performance indicators in the Performance Information Profile for the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) is “Percentage of team members who self-identify as members of four designated groups.”
  • The representation of the four designated groups among nominated principal investigators and among members of the multidisciplinary review panels for the 2019 competition of the Exploration stream of the NFRF are presented in the following tables.

NFRF—Nominated principal investigators
  Women Persons with disabilities Members of visible minorities Indigenous peoples

Letters of intent

34.0%

2.5%

28.7%

0.9%

Awards

36.0%

2.7%

26.3%

1.6%

NFRF—Members of multidisciplinary review panels
  Women Persons with disabilities Members of visible minorities Indigenous peoples

Adjudication of letters of intent

41%

5%

22%

—

Adjudication of full applications

46%

5%

26%

—
Research Support Fund

One of the four priority areas of the Research Support Fund—Incremental Project Grants funding opportunity is equity, diversity and faculty renewal (in the context of EDI). Of the 135 projects funded in 2019-20, 23 fell into this category. These account for 17% of all projects and 10% of all funding awarded in that year.
Internal Services

SSHRC pursued the following internal activities to increase awareness of GBA+ and EDI among SSHRC staff:

  • Introduction to GBA+ and associated mandatory training given to policy and program delivery staff enabled those employees to define key concepts of GBA+ and to recognize how various identity factors can influence the experience of members of designated groups in dealing with the federal government. This training has been made mandatory for all staff in 2019-20.
  • A mandatory Bias-Awareness Training for Staffing Purposes course was offered throughout the year. The course provides a range of applicable examples and strategies for mitigating the impacts of biases in the staffing process. The course is designed for executives, managers, supervisors and staff participating in hiring committees. Subsequently, a bias-awareness checklist with tips for the screening and interview processes was developed to remind managers to be aware of their possible biases so they can try to eliminate them from these processes.
  • The “People of NSERC-SSHRC” initiative increased the internal visibility of the diversity (ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or family status, disability, mental illness, etc.) in both organizations, by publishing various employee profiles on the intranet main page each month. This initiative encourages sharing of a variety of perspectives and experiences, promotes diversity among employees, and encourages employees to recognize and encourage diversity, inclusion and wellness. Although this is an ongoing initiative, a live component was added in 2019-20. Two live panels were held: one in celebration of Black History Month, in which a few employees shared a bit about their life and career trajectory and how they believe the agencies could help to eliminate bias and discrimination; and one that discussed disability and accommodation in the workplace.
  • Ongoing communication with managers through the quarterly human resources bulletin and with all staff continued through monthly learning emails, highlighting various learning opportunities related to EDI and GBA+.

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