Impact Awards
Applicant Instructions

On this page

• Nomination process
• Nomination package
• Referee best practices for limiting unconscious bias and guidelines for writing letters of support

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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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Nomination package

Every nomination package must include all the components listed below, except those in the optional section 4, Career interruptions and special circumstances. The jury will not assess any material additional to that requested here.

All documents, except for the SSHRC CVs and letters of support, must:

• be presented in portrait orientation;
• start on a new page; and
• use 12-point Times New Roman or comparable font.

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 is being nominated. It should 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 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;
• the name and contact information of a person to receive all correspondence (typically, someone in the Research Office or Graduate Studies Office); 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. Career interruptions and special circumstances (if applicable)

Maximum one page

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

Special circumstances involve slowdowns in research productivity resulting from health (and/or disability-related), administrative, family, cultural or community-based responsibilities, socio-economic context, COVID-19 pandemic or other reasons (i.e., the researcher was not completely taken away from research work). Nominees from small institutions may indicate their teaching load in this section if the change in workload affected their research output.

SSHRC asks its Impact Awards jury to consider career interruptions and special circumstances that may have affected nominees’ record of research achievements. In doing so, jury members will be able to more accurately estimate the productivity of each researcher, independent of any career interruptions or special circumstances.

5. SSHRC CVs and consent forms

Nomination packages must include:

• the nominee’s and team members’ SSHRC CVs (for up to six team members, including the nominee)—ensure that the online versions of the nominee’s and all team members’ SSHRC CVs (not the Canadian Common CV) have been completed and are up to date, as SSHRC will capture data from these;
• the nominee’s and team members’ Consent to Disclosure of Personal Information form (58 Kb, PDF document); and
• the nominee’s and team members’ Consent to Disclosure of Nomination Content for Promotional Purposes form (161 Kb, PDF document).

6. Letters of support from three referees

Maximum two pages each

Three letters of support must be provided for the nominee. 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(s) 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.

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 send their letters to the nominating institution, not to SSHRC. 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 (SSHRC, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) 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.

Nomination submission

Incomplete nominations will not be accepted.

Submit your nomination package using the secure submission form for the SSHRC Impact Awards.

Self-identification data collection in support of equity, diversity and inclusion

After the nomination submission, nominees will be contacted by email to submit a self-identification questionnaire via a secure online platform.

Completing the self-identification form is mandatory, but each category offers the option for “I prefer not to answer.”

The collection of self-identification data is driven by the Government of Canada’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in the federal research enterprise. Self-identification information is collected, used, disclosed, retained and disposed of in accordance with the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act.