Partnership Development Grants

SSHRC Partnership Development Grants provide support over one to three years to teams/partnerships, led by a project director, to: 1) develop research and/or related activities in the social sciences and humanities—these can include knowledge mobilization and the meaningful involvement of students and emerging scholars, by fostering new partnerships with existing and/or potential partners; or 2) design and test new partnership approaches for research and/or related activities that can result in best practices or models—these can either be adapted by others or have the potential to be scaled up to a regional, national or international level. Partnership Development Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Insight program and/or the Connection program.

Partnership funding is intended for formal partnerships between postsecondary institutions and/or organizations of various types. See the definitions for formal partnership and partner organization. Within the Partnership Development Grants funding opportunity, there are two distinct categories of partnerships that may request support:

  • Existing partnerships: Support to foster new research and/or research-related partnership activities that are distinct from the partnership’s previous/ongoing partnership activities.
  • New partnerships: Support to foster new research and/or research-related partnership activities that are undertaken by partnerships in their initial stages
  • SSHRC welcomes applications involving Indigenous research, as well as those involving research-creation.

Please see the SSHRC program page for more details.

Value and Duration

  • One to three years
  • Total of $75,000 to $200,000 over the funding period
  • Applicants are required to secure cash/in-kind contributions towards their proposal but no minimum value is required.

Eligibility

Applications submitted to SSHRC that would be more appropriately evaluated by NSERC or CIHR will not be accepted. In such cases, applicants may be required to submit a new application to the appropriate agency. Applicants working in research areas where boundaries overlap are advised to state clearly in all applications for funding why they believe their proposals are primarily appropriate for support by the agency to which they are submitting their application. Partners, as outlined in the proposal must provide evidence that they have entered into a formal partnership.

Application Checklist & Important Dates

  • Complete and submit a ROLA Proposal
  • Western (as partner) Letter of Support
  • Partner Letters of Engagement
  • Evidence of Formal Partnership document(s) (various formats as appropriate to the partnership)
  • Proposal development and review
  • Forward application to Western Research via SSHRC online system
  • Western Research Institutional Programs Officer (IRPO) submits application to SSHRC

Important Dates

Program information and dates
DEADLINE ACTIVITY
September 9 
  • Notify Western Research (WR) of intent to apply.
September 16
  • Meet with Institutional Research Programs Officer (IRPO) and your Faculty Research Office to discuss application requirements and Dept/Faculty/University contributions (cash and/or in-kind).
  • Discuss partner involvement, contributions and application process with partners.
  • Discuss and begin drafting any MOUs or Evidence of Formal Partnership documents.
October 6
  • Finalize all partner Letters of Engagement.
  • Finalize Western (as partner) Letter of Engagement for institutional signature.
October 20
  • Deadline to submit proposal draft (including budget) for IRPO review.
  • All partner contributions confirmed and invitations completed in the SSHRC system.
  • All co-applicants and collaborators confirmed and invitations completed.
  • Finalize partner MOU or Evidence of Formal Partnership documents.
November 9
  • ROLA proposal completed and submitted.
  • Deadline to submit a completed application with all supported documents in the online SSHRC portal for Western Research review.
November 15*
  • Sponsor deadline: Electronic submission of application to SSHRC by Western Research IRPO.
  • *Note SSHRC's next business day rule if deadline falls on weekends or holidays.

Resources

Contact

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Russell-Minda, Institutional Research Programs Officer