Impact Awards
Applicant Instructions

On this page

• Nomination process
• Submitting nominations via the Convergence Portal
• Nomination package
• Referee best practices for limiting unconscious bias and guidelines for writing letters of support
• Sensitive Technology Research Areas

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Nomination process

Accessibility

Persons with one or more disabilities seeking information on adaptive measures or accommodations to address barriers to accessibility at SSHRC, should consult the Accessibility in Programs and Services webpage.

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Submitting nominations via the Convergence Portal

Creating an account and nomination application in the Convergence Portal

Creating an 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;” and
• follow the instructions on the site and in your confirmation email to finish creating your account.

Self-identification information

You must complete the self-identification questionnaire to apply for SSHRC funding, including to be an eligible nominee for the Impact Awards. Nominees, including all members of a team nomination, must complete this questionnaire. However, you can select “Prefer not to answer” for any or all questions. SSHRC appreciates your participation, which supports the federal research funding agencies (SSHRC, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) in monitoring the equity of their programs, and in strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion in the research enterprise.

The self-identification information is collected as part of your user profile when you register in the Convergence Portal. It is not part of your application and is neither accessible to nor shared with external reviewers and/or merit review committee members.

For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions about the Self-identification Questionnaire.

Creating a nomination application

Impact Award nominations can only be proposed by an eligible institution’s president or their delegate. The institution’s president or delegate, referred to as the person proposing the nomination, is responsible for signing the Institutional nomination letter and rationale. However, an authorized administrative contact, typically from the institution’s research office or graduate studies office, can create a nomination application in the Convergence Portal on behalf of the person proposing the nomination by following these instructions:

• once you have created your account, click the home icon
• select the “Funding Opportunities” tab
• find the appropriate Impact Award category for your nomination (e.g., Insight Award or Talent Award)
• click “Create Application”
• select the language of the application
• attach the supporting documents in the Supporting documents module:
  • Institutional nomination process
  • Institution nomination letter and rationale
  • Information supporting nomination
• verify that the documents have been uploaded correctly and that the content is viewable
• once you have completed the nomination package, click “Finalize and Submit”
• read and accept the Terms and Conditions of the nomination application

You cannot submit an incomplete nomination package.

Invitations

The authorized representative completing the application must invite nominees to complete their portion of the application.

For team nominations (up to six team members, including the nominee), you must invite each team member to complete their portion of the application.

The Convergence Portal will send an email to the invited nominee or nominees, who can accept or decline the invitation.

Upon accepting the invitation, nominees will be led through the following steps to complete their portion of the nomination:

• answering the Participant Eligibility questions
• verifying the information prepopulated from their account profile, if applicable, is correct
• accepting the Consent to Disclosure of Personal Information and Consent to Disclosure of Nomination Content for Promotional Purposes forms
• completing the individual modules in the “My Information” section of the nomination:
  • CV Education
  • CV Affiliations
  • CV Interruptions and Special Circumstances
  • TCV Document

Letters of Support 

Referees who will provide letters of support for the nomination must first be invited to upload their letters in the Convergence Portal. The nominee or nominees must have accepted their invitation before referees can be invited to the Convergence Portal.

When referees are invited, the Convergence Portal will send them an email with a link to the Convergence landing page where they will upload their letter of support.

The nomination is not complete until the nominees’ section is filled out and the reference letters uploaded.

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Nomination package

Every nomination package must include all the components listed below. The jury will not assess any material additional to that requested here.

All documents, except for the tri-agency CVs and letters of support, must:

• be presented in portrait orientation;
• start on a new page; and
• Explain all acronyms and abbreviations used.
• Size all pages to 8 ½” x 11” (216 mm x 279 mm).
• Minimum of single line spacing (not narrow spacing).
• Put all text in 12 pt, Arial, black font. Normal/standard character spacing (not condensed).
• You can apply different fonts and sizes only in tables, figures, and legends. However, the text must be clear and readable when the page is displayed at its normal size of 100%. Do not use condensed fonts.
• Minimum margin of 0.79″ (2 cm) around all pages.
• Number pages sequentially.
• Page and character limits (if applicable) must be respected.
• Include the application ID number at the top of each page.
• Include the document name at the start of each document (e.g., “Proposal”).
• Before uploading, save/export your attachment as an unprotected PDF (i.e., one without security measures to lock or password protect the document).
• The size of each uploaded PDF cannot exceed 5 MB.

1. Institutional nomination process

Maximum one page

Institutions submitting more than one Impact Award nomination in a given year can include the same nomination process page for each nomination package, as applicable. SSHRC is committed to excellence in research and research training. Achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to advance knowledge and understanding, and to respond to local, national and global challenges.

Describe how equity, diversity and inclusion have been considered in:

• the institution’s decision-making processes and criteria for nominating candidates;
• how the institution manages its nomination process and who is involved in the decision (e.g., committees, vice-president-level administrators, deans / department heads);
• measures to ensure that individuals from the four designated groups (women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities) are not disadvantaged or overlooked in cases where they have career gaps due to parental or health-related leaves, the care and nurturing of family members, or community-based responsibilities; and
• training and development activities related to unconscious bias, equity, diversity and inclusion for administrators and faculty involved in the nomination.

These descriptions will be used for program monitoring purposes only and will not be shared with the jury.

2. Institutional nomination letter and rationale

Maximum three pages

This section presents the nomination and describes the program of research, research activities and achievements relevant to the Impact Award for which the candidate or team is being nominated. Include:

• the name, current position and institution of the person proposing the nomination;
• the name, position and affiliation of the nominee (and any team members) and the award category for which they are being nominated;
• a description of the SSHRC-funded research that forms the basis of the nomination, with relevant file numbers (this could include one or more legacy grants, such as Standard Research Grants or Community-University Research Alliance grants), summarizing the initiative’s or initiatives’ achievements, significance, challenges, impacts and outcomes;
• a summary of the nominee’s overall contribution to their field(s) of research;
• the level of engagement with, and the quality and scope of training and mentoring provided to students, emerging scholars and participants, and indication of the nominee’s career level;
• examples of success in widely sharing and encouraging application of resulting knowledge within and/or beyond the academic community;
• evidence that outcomes resulted in significant and positive impacts, relative to discipline-specific norms, in Canada and/or internationally; and
• the signature of the nominating institution’s president or their delegate.

3. Information supporting the nomination

This section should provide further information supporting the nomination. Include, as appropriate, a detailed list of research contributions, outcomes and other activities mentioned in general terms in the nomination letter. When referring to SSHRC-funded initiatives, cite all relevant SSHRC file numbers.

Supporting information should be grouped into the following categories, as applicable:

• publications
• conference presentations
• graduate students supported or trained
• creative outputs
• awards and prizes
• other research contributions
• activities
• outcomes

Page limits for this section are:

• up to six pages for the Gold Medal, covering the span of the nominee’s career;
• up to two pages (if relevant) for the Talent Award; and
• up to three pages for the Insight, Connection and Partnership awards.

4. Tri-agency CV (TCV)

My Information (section to be completed by the nominee)

You can either complete the “My Information” section by selecting existing entries in your profile or by adding them directly. There are four main sections:

1. CV Education
2. CV Affiliations
3. CV Interruptions and Special Circumstances
4. TCV Document

Tri-agency CV template

Nominating institutions and nominees must follow all presentation instructions provided on the tri-agency CV template and instructions page to allow members of the jury to provide a fair and balanced assessment of the nomination. Any information submitted beyond the limits stated in these instructions will be removed before merit review.

Upload the PDF version of the tri-agency CV directly in the Tri-agency CV Document module in the Convergence Portal. Once the CV has been uploaded, the Status column will have a green checkmark indicating the document has been successfully uploaded.

The nominee must ensure all My Information modules are complete and have been finalized.

5. Letters of support from three referees

Maximum two pages each

Three letters of support must be provided for the nominee before the nomination can be submitted. Referees must be established authorities in the fields and, except for the Talent Award category as specified below, cannot be from the same institution as the nominee. In addition, they cannot be individuals who are or were co-applicants in the initiative or initiatives forming the basis of the nomination. Referees cannot be individuals who are or who could be perceived as being in a conflict of interest with the nomination.

For more information regarding letters of support, and to consult the program's conflict of interest policy, see the guidelines for reference letters.

The Convergence Portal will send an email to the selected referees with a link and instructions on how to attach their letter. Referees will not have to create a Convergence Portal account. Once the referee submits their letter, they cannot remove or change it themself. If they need to remove or change their letter, they must contact the authorized official at the institution completing the nomination application. This person will be able to remove the letter on the referee’s behalf.

Reference letters must be included with the nomination at the time of submission.

Letters of support with multiple signatories will not be accepted.

Letters of support must:

• be dated and signed;
• show an official letterhead;
• include the referee’s position, affiliation, email address and telephone number;
• include the nominee’s name and the period of time and capacity in which the referee has known the nominee;
• offer an overall assessment of the nominee’s achievements, including examples of how these achievements fulfil the evaluation criteria outlined above; and
• be accessible.

For accessibility, we encourage the use of:

• sans serif fonts such as Atkinson hyperlegible in minimum 12 pt;
• the “Styles” feature to create headings for easier navigation for screen readers;
• embedded meaningful links to any websites; and
• if appropriate, high contrast logos or graphics or a brief description of any graphic or logo (suggested resource for visual accessibility).

Referees must upload their letter directly in the Convergence Portal. Institutions can include letters with an electronic signature in their nomination packages.

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Referee best practices for limiting unconscious bias and guidelines for writing letters of support

SSHRC is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion to ensure equitable access across its programs.

Limiting unconscious bias

SSHRC strongly encourages the use of inclusive language (e.g., “the nominee” or “they” instead of “he/she”). Letters of support should be free of words or sentences that reflect prejudiced, stereotyped or discriminatory language of particular people or groups or their institution.

Inclusive language has been shown to decrease unconscious bias during the evaluation process. Nominating institutions should refer letter writers to the Canada Research Chairs Program’s limiting unconscious bias guidelines and the tri-agency unconscious bias in peer review training module.

For more information, see Women and Gender Equality Canada’s unconscious bias resources.

Considerations when writing letters of support

Institutions must ensure any person drafting a letter of support considers the following best practices and considerations:

• Be accurate, fair, clear and balanced.
• Avoid being unduly personal (i.e., do not use the nominee’s first name).
• Support points by providing specific examples of accomplishments where possible.
• Be cautious about using superlative descriptors (e.g., excellent, outstanding), and support them with evidence.
• Include only information that is relevant to the selection criteria (e.g., do not include information related to ethnicity, age, hobbies, marital status, religion).
• Avoid sharing personal information about the nominee. Such information might be helpful only in explaining academic delays or interruptions and should be done cautiously.
• Be aware of unconscious bias and choose words carefully.

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Sensitive Technology Research Areas

In accordance with the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC), you must indicate in this section whether research and related activities funded by this grant will aim to advance any of the areas in the Sensitive Technology Research Areas (STRAs) list.

If you answered “No”, you will not need to take any further steps under this policy.

If you answered “Yes”, you must collect and submit attestation forms from the nominee, co-applicants and collaborators, as applicable, certifying that they have read, understand and are compliant with this policy. Attestation forms must be merged into a single PDF file and uploaded in the Supporting Documents section. Should your application be successful, you and your research team(s) will also be required to comply with the policy for the duration of the grant that aims to advance one or more STRAs.

For more information, read the tri-agency guidance for this policy.