Destination Horizon Grants

2024-25 Competitions

On this page

• Webinars for potential applicants
• Description
• Future Challenge Areas
• Value and duration
• Eligibility
• Application process
• Selection process
• Regulations, policies and related information
• Contact information

Webinars for potential applicants

SSHRC will hold one webinar in English and one in French for potential applicants to this funding opportunity.

Description

Destination Horizon Grants support researchers affiliated with eligible Canadian postsecondary institutions to build capacity, foster existing partnerships, and further develop networks and/or consortia with European Union and other “associated countries” researchers, with the ultimate goal of applying to Horizon Europe—Pillar II calls for proposals.

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding program for research and innovation, with a budget of €95.5 billion. It offers significant opportunities to access new knowledge, partners, markets, customers and suppliers. In November 2023, the Government of Canada closed substantive negotiations with the European Commission to join Horizon Europe as an associated country under Pillar II: Global challenges and European industrial competitiveness. While Canadians could previously participate in all Horizon Europe calls that were open to international partners, they would have had to largely secure their own funding to participate in a given project. With associated country status, Canadians can now access funding directly from the EU.

Destination Horizon Grants proposals are expected to respond to the objectives of the Research Partnerships program.

Destination Horizon Grants are not intended to support implementation of Horizon Europe projects. Instead, the grants support activities between researchers that facilitate:

• disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary exchanges;
• scholarly exchanges;
• intersectoral exchanges between academic researchers and practitioners from the public, private and/or not-for-profit sectors; and/or
• international research collaboration and scholarly exchanges between researchers affiliated with Canadian postsecondary institutions and researchers, students and non-academic partners from the EU and other associated countries.

Future Challenge Areas

SSHRC invites all applicants to review Imagining Canada’s Future’s 16 future global challenges and to consider addressing one or more of these areas in their proposal.

This is not an eligibility criterion for selection and does not offer additional or dedicated funds for this funding opportunity.

Value and duration

Destination Horizon Grants are valued at up to $15,000 for one year.

Matching funds

SSHRC will not fund the full cost of any Destination Horizon Grant. Additional support in the form of eligible cash contributions equivalent to 100% of the amount requested from SSHRC must come from the host institution.

Applicants must demonstrate their ability to secure at least the minimum matching funding. Applicants must do so by including a letter of support from the host institution that clearly confirms the amounts and types of contributions the host is providing.

Applicants can draw on complementary funding from SSHRC research grants and/or from other research funding agencies, but must make clear in their budget proposal there is no duplication of financial support for the same budget expenses. While such funds can be used in this complementary way, these funds cannot be counted toward the requirement for matching funds.

See SSHRC’s Guidelines for Cash and In-Kind Contributions for more details.

Eligibility

Subject matter

Most SSHRC funding is awarded through open competitions. Proposals can involve any disciplines, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas eligible for SSHRC funding. See the guidelines on subject matter eligibility for more information.

Projects whose primary objective is to conduct research activities (e.g., literature reviews, field work, data collection, interviews) are not eligible for funding under this funding opportunity.

To be eligible for this funding opportunity, applicants must demonstrate:

• their eligible affiliation and primary affiliation in the social sciences or humanities;
• their readiness to further develop networks and/or consortia with EU and other associated countries’ researchers, with the ultimate goal of applying to a Horizon Europe—Pillar II call;
• eligible budget requests; and
• 100% matching cash contributions from the host institution.

Applicants

Applications can be submitted by an individual researcher or a team of researchers (consisting of one applicant and one or more co-applicants and/or collaborators).

Applicants must be affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution that holds institutional eligibility at the time of application. Researchers who maintain an affiliation with a Canadian institution that holds institutional eligibility, but whose primary affiliation is with a non-Canadian postsecondary institution, are not eligible for applicant status.

Applicants who have received a SSHRC grant of any type but have failed to submit an achievement report by the deadline specified in their Notice of Award are not eligible to apply for another SSHRC grant until they have submitted the report.

Postdoctoral researchers and students are not eligible for applicant or co-applicant status for a Destination Horizon Grant.

Federal scientists affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution must demonstrate that their proposed research or research-related activity is not related to either the mandate of their employer or the normal duties for which they receive payment from that employer.

If the proposal falls within the mandate of the federal government and the research or research-related activity is performed in government facilities, funding can only be allocated for student salaries, stipends and travel costs.

Institutions

Grant funds can be administered only by an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution. Institutions proposing to administer a grant awarded under this funding opportunity must hold or obtain institutional eligibility.

Institutions must contact institution.eligibility@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca to begin the institutional eligibility application process, or if they have questions about institutional eligibility.

To apply through the Convergence portal, you must have started the institutional eligibility process, so the organization will have been added and the administering organization can be selected in the Affiliations step. You will need to identify an institutional representative as the research administrator who will be responsible for forwarding the grant application to SSHRC by the deadline. Creating a new research administrator role in the portal can take up to about five business days; however, during this time, you can continue to work on key sections of your application (e.g., attachments in the Supporting Documents section). See the application instructions for more details.

Co-applicants

Individuals are eligible to be co-applicants if they are formally affiliated with any of the following:

• Canadian: eligible postsecondary institution; not-for-profit organization; philanthropic foundation; think tank; or municipal, territorial or provincial government.
• International: postsecondary institution.

Collaborators

Any individual who makes a significant contribution to the project is eligible to be a collaborator. Collaborators do not need to be affiliated with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution.

Individuals from the private sector or federal government can participate only as collaborators.

Multiple applications and holding multiple awards

Individuals can, as an applicant, only hold one Destination Horizon Grant. There is no limit to how many competitions an individual, as an applicant, may apply to.

See SSHRC’s regulations regarding multiple applications and holding multiple awards for more information.

A postsecondary institution may only submit up to three Destination Horizon Grant applications for a given deadline.

Monitoring

Grant holders will be expected to report on the use of grant funds, on funded activities undertaken during the grant period, and on outcomes. Successful applicants will be informed of reporting requirements when they receive their Notice of Award.

Application process

Applicants must complete the application form in accordance with accompanying instructions. Applications must be submitted electronically by an authorized research grants officer, or equivalent, from the applicant’s institution.

Applicants needing help while preparing their application should communicate with SSHRC well in advance of the application deadline.

Selection process

All applications deemed eligible will be entered into a randomized selection process.

Randomized selection process

Eligible applications will have their application number entered into a random number generator. This random number generator operates by using an independent random number generation code as a seed value to then inform the Excel RAND function. Grants will then be selected, in order, from the lowest random number to the highest random number until the financial resources allocated to the competition are exhausted.

Communication of results

SSHRC makes competition results available to applicants (via the SSHRC Extranet for Applicants) and institutions (via the Grants and Scholarships Administration Portal).

Regulations, policies and related information

SSHRC reserves the right to determine the eligibility of applications, based on the information included. SSHRC also reserves the right to interpret the regulations and policies governing its funding opportunities.

All applicants and grant holders must comply with the Regulations Governing Grant Applications and with the regulations set out in the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration.

Grant holders must also comply with the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (see the Open Access overview for more information) and the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy, which, as of April 1, 2021, has replaced SSHRC’s Research Data Archiving policy for all active grants.

Specific rules for the use of grant funds

• Grant funds cannot be used to provide salaries or stipends to applicants, co-applicants or collaborators, regardless of an individual’s eligibility to apply for grants.
• Tri-agency grant funds cannot be used to remunerate team members (applicant, co-applicant or collaborator). This includes postdoctoral fellows serving in any of these capacities.
• Grant funds cannot be used to provide salaries or stipends to the grantee or to other individuals whose status would make them eligible to apply for grants from the agency.
• Grant funds cannot be used to pay for research activities.
• Course release time to allow an individual to engage in research is not an eligible expense.
• Consultation fees are eligible for expert and/or professional and technical services that contribute directly to the proposal, so long as the service is not provided by a team member or others eligible to apply for a SSHRC grant.
• Expenses to facilitate equitable, inclusive and accessible participation in the research are eligible. See the Statement on equity, diversity and inclusion and the use of grant funds in the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration.

Guidelines and related support material

All applicants for SSHRC funding should consult the following guidelines while preparing their application:

• SSHRC’s Definitions of Terms for terms used in the grant application process;
• the Guidelines for Effective Research Training, which can also be useful to reviewers and postsecondary institutions;
• SSHRC’s Indigenous Research Statement of Principles and Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research for applications involving Indigenous research;
• SSHRC’s definition of knowledge mobilization and Guidelines for Effective Knowledge Mobilization for guidance on connecting with research users to create impact.

Contact information

For more information, contact:

Email: partnerships@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

Toll-free: 1-855-275-2861

Date modified:

2024-11-15