Imagining Canada’s Future Ideas Lab – Stage 2: Funding opportunity –
Applicant Instructions

Documents to read before applying

Application process

Creating an account and application on the Convergence Portal

Creating a Convergence account

If you are a new user, you need to create a Convergence Portal account:

• navigate to the Convergence Portal;
• select your preferred language;
• on the log-in page, select “Create my portal account;”
• follow the instructions in the portal and in your confirmation email to finish creating your account.

Creating an application

The primary applicant will be sent a unique application link to access the application form for Stage 2;

• answer the participant eligibility questions and verify that the information prepopulated from your account profile is correct. Once you have answered all questions, click “Create application;”
• select your language of application, then attach your supporting documents. Verify your documents to ensure they have been uploaded correctly and their content is viewable;
• after you have completed your application, click “Submit to Research Administrator.” Read and accept the Terms and Conditions of the application.

Accommodations and accessibility

If you need help completing online application forms because of a disability, contact your institution (scholarship liaison officer, research grant office or other applicant support office) as early in the application process as possible to investigate available supports. If your institution cannot provide help, or needs SSHRC to collaborate on a solution, contact accessibility-accessibilite@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca. You can also contact SSHRC if you have questions or are seeking specific adaptation arrangements. You do not need to share your medical or sensitive personal information, and, to protect your privacy, should avoid doing so.

Frequently requested accommodations include, but are not limited to:

• one-on-one phone or video appointments to clarify funding program information or the application process, or receive technical support;
• alternative formats of online materials to enable access using assistive technology;
• submission of the application (in full or part) through alternate means or format (e.g., hard copy, voice recording, or data entry by SSHRC staff on the applicant’s behalf).

Applicant or project director responsibilities

By clicking “Submit to research administrator” and accepting the terms and conditions, the primary applicant certifies that all information is accurate.

They are also responsible for:

• completing all mandatory fields;
• attaching mandatory supporting documents;
• ensuring all co-applicants and collaborators have submitted the required documents; and
• clicking “Submit to research administrator” for approval by their institution’s or organization’s internal deadline. The electronic submission process ensures that an institution’s or organization’s administrator has validated the information before forwarding the application to SSHRC on the primary applicant’s behalf.

Research or financial administrator responsibilities

By clicking “Forward to agency,” the research administrator or designated financial administrator for not-for-profit organizations (institutional approval) certifies that:

• the primary applicant:
  • is affiliated with the institution or organization; and
  • has the necessary time and facilities to carry out the activity; and
• the postsecondary institution, or the not-for-profit organization:
  • is willing to administer any grant received following SSHRC policies;
  • agrees to take the necessary steps to ensure that machine-readable files or computer databases are preserved and accessible under conditions agreed to by the institution and the researcher;
  • will release funds to the successful candidate once all necessary certification requirements and conditions have been met;
  • will notify SSHRC of any change in the grant holder’s status during the tenure of the grant;
  • will notify SSHRC of any changes during the tenure of the grant, such as the addition of new co-applicants and/or collaborators; and
  • has verified that the budgetary estimates are in accordance with its rates and policies.

Electronic submission process and acknowledgement of receipt of applications

Primary applicants must allow enough time for their institution’s or organization’s internal approval process, as specified by the relevant authorities.

Applications will remain available for download through the Convergence system for a period following the application deadline.

Attaching a document

Many modules in your application will require you to attach a PDF file. You must follow the below specified requirements for margins and font size, or your application will be deemed ineligible. An error message will appear if the file you are trying to attach does not meet the required specifications for page length and file size.

Prepare all attachments as follows:

• explain all acronyms and abbreviations used;
• size all pages to 8 ½” x 11” (216 mm x 279 mm);
• single-space all text;
• put all text in 11 pt, Arial, black font (condensed fonts will not be accepted);
• set margins at a minimum of ¾” (1.87 cm);
• number pages sequentially;
• include the application ID number at the top of each page;
• do not include any identifying information in headers and/or footers (e.g., name, PIN, institutions);
• include the document name at the start of each document (e.g., “CV Extension Justification”).

Filling out the IDEAS Lab Application Form

The primary applicant will be able to fill in, edit and submit the application form. They will also be able to upload all necessary supporting PDF documents. Co-applicants will not have the ability to edit any section of the application other than their own CV documents.

The primary applicant will need to fill in the following sections of the application:

• Application Details
• Invitations
• Participants
• Collaborators
• Fields of Research
• Keywords
• Summary of Proposal
• Expected Outcomes
• Exclusion of potential reviewers (if applicable)
• Certifications, Licenses and Permits

Application Details

This section includes the application title, language of the application and the following question regarding Indigenous research: Does your proposal involve Indigenous research, as defined by SSHRC?

Select “Yes” if you wish to signal to the merit review committee that your application should be reviewed in the context of SSHRC’s definition of Indigenous research and its Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research.

Invitations

This section will allow the primary applicant to invite co-applicants (collaborators will be added in the “Collaborators” section). Once they have invited the co-applicant(s) by email, the applicant will be able to see the status of each invitation in the table.

The primary applicant should follow up with each co-applicant to ensure they have received the invitation. Once the co-applicant has confirmed their participation in the research project, the applicant should see the “Accepted,” status They will be able to cancel or resend the invitations: see the far-right section of the page under the “Actions” heading. Note that “Accepted” does not confirm that the co-applicant has submitted all necessary documents to participate in this research project; it simply indicates that they have accepted the invitation to participate.

Participants

In this section, the primary applicant will be able to view the status of each co-applicant. The primary applicant will need to ensure that each co-applicant has a “Complete” status to be properly included in the research project. Each primary applicant should communicate directly with each co-applicant to ensure they have received all the information needed to complete this section. The primary applicant can also view the eligibility and information for each co-applicant under the “Actions” heading and remove any participant from the research project if necessary.

For co-applicants

Co-applicants will be invited to participate by the primary applicant. Co-applicants will need to click on the invitation email and follow the participant eligibility flow in Convergence. They should update any information as needed in their Convergence account (if the co-applicant needs to create a new Convergence account, please see earlier instructions). Once the eligibility flow has been completed, the co-applicant will need to accept the Terms and Conditions to be eligible to participate in the research project.

The co-applicant will need to upload their CV in the “CV Documents” section by clicking “upload file.” The co-applicant should contact the primary applicant after they have uploaded their CV to confirm that the primary applicant sees the “Completed” status.

Collaborators

The primary applicant needs to insert the pertinent information for each. For each, they will need to include:

First name, family name, position or role, department, organization, country of organization

The primary applicant must then click “Add Collaborator;” no further verification is required. The primary applicant must ensure all collaborators are properly added to the application.

Fields of Research

Applicants are asked to include two primary field of research and up to a maximum of five fields of research. Include any areas or disciplines that the IDEAS Lab application will engage in during its two-year research project. They may select any option from the dropdown menu.

Keywords

Primary applicants must include up to five keywords that best describe the main areas of research for the project: each word should be separated by a comma.

Summary of Proposal (one page)

Provide a clear summary of your proposal, written in clear, non-technical language, indicating the challenges or issues to be addressed. Please include:

• the potential contribution of the research in terms of the advancement of knowledge; and
• the research’s broader potential benefit (e.g., will this research be of interest to other disciplines/areas of research? Will it be of interest outside the academic community? How will it be used and by whom?).

Note that by submitting an application, successful applicants consent to the use of this summary for promotional purposes outside the research community and to inform parliamentarians, media and members of the public who request information about research funded by SSHRC.

Expected Outcomes (one page)

The project’s expected outcomes are essential for the review of the proposal and are part of the Challenge evaluation criterion.

Describe the potential benefits and outcomes (e.g., evolution, effects, potential learning and implications) that could emerge from the proposed project. Explain the significance and expected contribution of the project to the wider community. If applicable, include details of plans to engage cross-sectoral stakeholders throughout the project to mobilize knowledge related to promising policies and practices.

Note that the Supporting Documents section will include a downloadable table of expected outcomes to be filled out.

Exclusion of potential reviewers (if applicable)

List potential reviewers who, in your opinion, would be unlikely to provide an impartial review. While SSHRC cannot be bound by this information, it will take it into consideration in the selection of reviewers.

This information will not be provided to members of the merit review committee.

Certifications, Licenses and Permits

As the IDEAS Lab competition is multidisciplinary in nature, each primary applicant is required to fill out any potential certifications or licenses needed for their research project.

If your application needs to submit an Impact Assessment Form, please download Appendix A at the bottom of this section and upload it in the “Supporting Documents.” For further information on SSHRC’s Guidelines on Impact Assessment click here.

Supporting Documents

Applicants must submit the following documents as pdf attachments. Note that the Impact Assessment Form is only mandatory if the primary applicant has clicked “yes” to any of the four Impact Assessment questions.

Description of team

Maximum four pages

Describe the research team, previous outputs and student training using the following subtitles, in the same order:

A. Description of the research team

Clearly explain:

• the different types of expertise needed to ensure the success of the project;
• describe the relative roles, responsibilities and contributions of the primary applicant (principal investigator), each co-applicant and each collaborator (if applicable);
• outline new co-applicants or collaborators who were not part of the workshop and justify their inclusion in this research project;
• the proportion of time to be spent on this research project in relation to any other ongoing research projects or programs (exclude prospective grants); and
• if the project involves community participants, such as knowledge users, the support provided by the community and the applicant’s ties with said community.

B. Description of previous and ongoing research results

Summarize the results of the team’s most recent and ongoing research. Where appropriate, indicate the relevance of each to the proposed research. In the case of team research, include summaries of any relevant projects undertaken by co-applicants.

C. Description of proposed student training strategies

Clearly describe the specific roles and responsibilities of students and research assistants and indicate the duties, especially with respect to research, that they will be undertaking, as well as how these will complement their academic training.

Consult the Guidelines for Effective Research Training in preparing this section. These guidelines will also be provided to reviewers.

Detailed Project Description

Maximum eight pages

Using the headings below, describe the proposed research in enough detail to allow informed assessment by committee members:

• Objectives
• Context (including literature review and theoretical approach)
• Methodology
• Knowledge mobilization

SSHRC also suggests including the following:

• justification of the proposal within the stated objectives of the ICF Ideas Lab, detailing the overall goal and specific objectives that the team will address during the term of the grant;
• explanation of the originality, significance (social, economic, cultural and intellectual) and expected interdisciplinary contribution to knowledge of the proposed project;
• explanation of the significance and expected contribution of the project to the wider community and, if applicable, details of plans to engage cross-sectoral stakeholders throughout the project to mobilize knowledge related to promising policies and practices; and
• demonstration of the appropriateness of the theoretical and methodological approaches that will be chosen to meet the stated objectives.

SSHRC encourages applicants to discuss, if applicable, how research data arising from the project will be managed, including collection, preservation and sharing.

Expected Outcomes Table

Please complete the provided excel spreadsheet and upload the completed document as a pdf.

The project’s expected outcomes are essential for the review of the proposal and are part of the Challenge evaluation criterion. Elaborate on the potential benefits and/or outcomes of your proposed project.

Research and related outcomes include enhanced curriculum and teaching material, enriched public discourse, improved public policies, enhanced business strategies and increased innovations in every sector of society, as well as graduate supervision opportunities. Research outcomes, which are facilitated by the effective mobilization of knowledge, then permeate daily life in the form of new thinking and behaviour that lead to improvements in our economic, social, cultural and intellectual well-being.

For “Scholarly benefits,” “Social benefits” and “Audiences”, indicate and rank selections in order of importance. If the information is not listed, select “Other” from the list and type the information in the box provided.

Funds requested from SSHRC

Please complete the provided excel spreadsheet and upload the completed document as a pdf.

For each budget year, estimate the costs you are asking SSHRC to fund. All budget costs must conform to the rates and regulations of the applicant’s or project director’s institution and take into account the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration’s principles governing the appropriate use of funds. All costs must be justified in terms of the needs of the project, including costs for organizing and integrating team activities and for communicating results to audiences, stakeholders and the public. The budget will be reviewed to determine the suitability of the requested budget.

Enter amounts rounded to the nearest dollar without any spaces or commas (e.g., 2000). For blank entries, leave the “0” value.

Open access and data management

Grant holders must follow the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications. To the extent possible, and in keeping with this policy and SSHRC’s endorsement of open access forms of knowledge dissemination, grant holders should make their research results openly available, through open access publications, websites, publicly accessible databases and/or institutional repositories, among others. To learn more, see Open Access overview.

Personnel costs

For each of the categories below, enter the number of students and non-students you plan to hire, whether as salaried employees or as recipients of stipends.

Student and non-student salaries and benefits

For each applicable category, enter the number of students and non-students to be hired. Specify the total amount to be paid. When students are paid by wage, the amounts should follow the institution’s collective agreement or policy.

Student stipends

You may request stipends for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Stipends must be justified in terms of the research, research training and/or research-related objectives. The work performed by stipend recipients should be an integral part of the project. Stipend rates are set by the institution concerned.

Travel and subsistence costs

Enter, by budget year, the total amounts requested for travel abroad and within Canada for both the research team and student personnel. Project directors must obtain the lowest possible travel fares.

Subsistence costs must be based on rates approved by the institution or organization that will administer the funds.

Other expenses

Professional or technical services

Consulting fees for professional and technical services are eligible expenditures only if the budget justification demonstrates that expert advice is needed.

Supplies

You can include other supply items (e.g., software, stationery, postage and telephone calls) only if they directly relate to the research and are not provided by the administering institution to their research personnel or by the employer.

Non-disposable equipment—computer hardware

Purchase or rental of computers and associated hardware is allowable only if these are not provided by the administering institution to their research personnel or by the employer.

Other non-disposable equipment

Purchase or rental of equipment (e.g., audio or video equipment) is allowable only if these are not provided by the administering institution to their research personnel or by the employer.

Other expenses

Specify other research and/or related expenses not already included.

Tools for research and related activities

For tools for research and related activities, select “Other expenses” and specify “Tools.” You must combine all requested expenses (i.e., for software, equipment, and professional and technical services) into this category. You must then elaborate on these items in the Budget justification section. Consult SSHRC’s Guidelines for Support of Tools for Research and Related Activities for more information on social sciences and humanities tools.

Budget justification

Maximum two pages

Applicants are required to explain how they will use the funds in each budget category to achieve the project objectives. Justify any funds that appear in the “Other” category.

Fully justify all budget costs in terms of the needs of the research, keeping in mind that the appropriateness of the requested budget and justification of the proposed costs are a subcriterion within the Feasibility criterion. It is imperative to distinguish between types of travel when explaining your travel expenses. The types are:

• travel for research purposes; and
• travel for communication purposes (e.g., conference travel).

Briefly describe all (if applicable) funds obtained from other sources, list all contributors and, if applicable, provide details in your budget justification.

Note that expenditures for non-student assistants or associates must be fully justified in terms of the needs of the research. Also justify the number of students to be hired relative to the objectives of the proposed research.

For tools for research and related activities: Within the Budget justification page limit you must include a table clearly itemizing amounts (e.g., professional/technical services, supplies). These separate amounts cannot be included individually in the “Funds requested from SSHRC” module. Provide clear justification for each item proposed.

Impact Assessment—Appendix A

If the primary applicant has selected “Yes” to at least one of the four questions in the Impact assessment section, the “Impact Assessment Form (PDF document, 139 Kb)” (Appendix A) must be completed and uploaded it in the Supporting Documents section.

The Impact Assessment Form (Appendix A) is not needed if none of these four situations apply to the proposed research activities. For further information, consult SSHRC’s Guidelines on Impact Assessment.

Bibliography

Maximum five pages

List all references cited or works referred to in the proposal. SSHRC recognizes and allows the use of different referencing styles.

Curriculum vitae

Maximum eight pages

Since winter 2020, individuals from the research community have continued to participate in workshops to identify the needs of a harmonized CV management experience. The Tri-agency Grants Management Solution team has summarized what it has heard from applicants and reviewers. SSHRC is now piloting a tri-agency harmonized CV as part of the ICF Ideas Lab funding opportunity to inform the development of a new CV for the agencies.

The CV should highlight experiences and outputs over the last six years (unless otherwise specified) that demonstrate innovation, interdisciplinarity, ability to collaborate and/or interest in the workshop topic. Applicants should review the “Evaluation criteria and scoring” section of the ICF Ideas Lab description when preparing their CVs.

There is no limit to the volume of information for each section. You may choose to devote more space to certain sections depending on the nature of your past contributions and experience.

Include the following sections (1-6). See below for examples of what you may (but are not required to) include in each section:

1. Personal information:
   
   
   1. Title/role refers to the title or role you hold in your current position at your institution/organization.
   2. You may list multiple degrees and/or qualifications, including their completion date, that you believe to be relevant to your role on the application.
   
   
2. Personal statement:
   
   Describe why you are well suited for your role(s) in this application. Examples include (but are not limited to):
   • description of the impact of research, and benefits and impacts to society and science;
   • description of the progress/productivity to contextualize results from your research activities that support your current application;
   • previous work on the specific topic or related topics;
   • expertise;
   • lived and/or living experience(s);
   • leadership activities and skills;
   • collaborations and/or past performance in the field or related fields;
   • factors influencing career trajectory/path.
   
   
3. Most significant contributions:
   
   Describe up to five contributions made and/or relevant experience(s) gained throughout your career that you consider significant as they relate to the topic and objectives of the application.
   
   For each contribution, describe its impact, significance to and use by others.
   
   A contribution does not have to be a single publication or report. For example, a group of publications on a specific subject could be discussed as one contribution.
   
   Some examples of contributions include:
   • communication and knowledge translation of research to specialist or non-specialist research users, including the public (e.g., magazine/newspaper articles, media interviews, blogs, social media or public lectures);
   • contributions to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility in the research ecosystem;
   • contributions to supporting traditional knowledge or Indigenous ways of knowing, including cultural practices in the social sciences and humanities context;
   • creative outputs, which may include exhibitions, performances, publications, presentations, and film, video and audio recordings:
     • List your most recent and significant achievements grouped by category.
     • Creative outputs will be evaluated according to established disciplinary standards and creative and/or artistic merit.
     • If applicable, you may include a website link. SSHRC cannot guarantee that links will be accessed
   • • publications, including articles, communications, pre-prints, monographs, memoirs or special papers, review articles, conference/symposia/workshop proceedings, posters and abstracts, government publications and reports documenting industrial contributions or contributions to engineering practice;
       • Indicate trainees for each publication using an asterisk (*) after the trainee name (e.g., Person Doe* or Doe, Person*).
       • If authorship is listed alphabetically rather than lead author first, indicate which author is the lead author by bolding the lead author’s name.
   
   
4. Other contributions to knowledge:
   
   Indicate up to five additional contributions to knowledge creation and/or knowledge sharing/translation.
   
   Refer to the list of examples in the instructions for most significant contributions.
   
   
5. Supervisory and mentorship activities:
   
   
   1. Describe how you have helped mentor and/or train future generations. Mentorship can include formal or informal mentorship activities.
      
      Some examples of contributions to training and mentoring include (but are not limited to):
      • contributions supporting Indigenous research training;
      • development and delivery of training workshops outside of research or course requirements;
      • establishment of safe, equitable and inclusive research environments, practices and norms;
      • formal or informal mentoring of highly qualified personnel (HQP) (including supervision during the research process), colleagues (including early career researchers), collaborators, relevant partners, other professionals or community members;
      • outreach to and engagement with students, youth or members of the general public, including through in-person or online targeted activities or capacity building.
      
      Specify if opportunities for such contributions have been limited because your postsecondary institution does not have graduate degree programs in your field or discipline.
      
      
   2. Copy the summary table of HQP below and indicate:
      • the number of individuals you currently supervise/co-supervise (at the application deadline);
      • the number of individuals you have supervised/co-supervised over the past six years (from the application deadline), excluding students that you are currently supervising or co-supervising; and
      • the totals for each line and column.
   
   
   

   Notes:

   • Include only HQP whose research training was under your direct and formal supervision. Do not include students supervised as part of your undergraduate course, a postdoctoral position, a thesis advisory committee, or normal teaching duties such as undergraduate courses and capstone design projects.
   • If, for example, you have supervised the same student during their full master’s and doctorate degrees, you may insert two supervision entries.

   Summary table of HQP

   Training of HQP
   Indicate the number of students, fellows and other research personnel that you:
   	Currently (application deadline)		Over the past six years (excluding current HQP)
   	Supervised	Co-supervised	Supervised	Co-supervised	Total
   Undergraduate
   Master’s
   Doctoral
   Postdoctoral
   Total

6. Other relevant information:
   
   Provide any additional information you believe to be relevant to support your role/contribution to the proposed application for funding.

Career interruptions and special circumstances

Maximum one page

SSHRC asks its merit review committees to consider career interruptions and special circumstances that have affected candidates’ record of research. In doing so, merit review committee members will be able to assess the productivity of each researcher more accurately and equitably, independent of any career interruptions or special circumstances in the last six years. Previous productivity is one element that can predict the success of the proposed research project.

All information provided to SSHRC is subject to the Privacy Act. The information included in this section of your application will be shared with both external assessors and merit review committee members for consideration as part of their assessment. Research Office Administrators will also have access to your application when submitting on behalf of the administering organization. For more information, see merit review. All SSHRC merit reviewers are subject to the Tri-Agency Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy and are prohibited from sharing this information outside the merit review process.

Career interruptions occur when researchers are taken away from their research work for an extended time for health, administrative, family or other reasons, or reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Special circumstances involve slowdowns in research productivity or any circumstances that affect the progression of academic careers in a distinctive way. Researchers can use this section to show that circumstances related to health (and/or disability), administrative, family, cultural or community responsibilities, socio-economic context, COVID-19 or other factors hindered their research work. For example, applicants from small institutions could indicate their teaching load in this section if the change in workload reduced their research output. Indigenous applicants can use the “Special Circumstances” section to describe special circumstances that may have affected their academic or career paths.

Use this optional section to outline any career interruptions or special circumstances that have affected your research activities. Provide dates of interruptions and indicate the reason for the delay in general terms (e.g., illness, disability, family loss or illness, cultural or community responsibilities, socio-economic context, COVID-19).

When considering how to describe your details of career interruptions and/or special circumstances, applicants should note that:

• they do not need to disclose any personal details of the career interruption or special circumstance;
• they are asked to indicate how their research was impacted by delays to enable the reviewers to equitably assess the excellence of their research contributions while considering the impact of the interruption or special circumstances on their research production.
• they are asked to quantify the impact on their research production as best they can, providing estimates of time or opportunities lost due to the interruption or special circumstances. For example, the amount of time and effort involved in seeking and receiving accommodations would help inform the committee’s assessment by supporting the estimated impact the special circumstances had on the applicant’s research production.