Sponsor

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

For More Information

Please visit the SSHRC Insight Grants (IG) website [1] for:

• Program guidelines
• Application forms
• Evaluation criteria
• Grant regulations & policies

Webinars

SSHRC will be holding two webinars regarding the above-mentioned competitions via MS Teams. They will outline what is new this year and will include a question period. Registration is required for these webinars. Detailed information for the webinars can be found below: 

Description

Insight Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Insight Research program [4].

Insight Grants support research excellence in the social sciences and humanities. Funding is available to both emerging scholars [5] and established scholars [6] for research initiatives of two to five years.

Stable support for long-term research initiatives is central to advancing knowledge. It enables scholars to address complex issues about individuals and societies, and to further our collective understanding.

Insight Grants support research proposed by scholars and judged worthy of funding by their peers and/or other experts. Insight Grant research initiatives can be undertaken by an individual researcher or a team of researchers working in collaboration.

Applicants choose from one of two streams, depending on the amount of funding required. Both streams will be adjudicated by the same committees, and will receive the same rigorous level of merit review [7]. The deadlines and application process are identical for both, however the targeted success rate for Stream A is higher than for Stream B.

SSHRC welcomes applications involving Indigenous research [8], as well as those involving research-creation [9].

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 [10] for more information.

Applications submitted to SSHRC that would be more appropriately evaluated by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council or the Canadian Institutes of Health Research will not be accepted.

Projects whose primary objective is curriculum development, program evaluation, preparation of teaching materials, organization of a conference or workshop, digitization of a collection, or creation of a database are not eligible for funding under this funding opportunity.

An application will be declared ineligible if it is determined 30% or more of the requested budget has been allocated to ineligible expenses.

Applicants

Applications can be submitted by an individual researcher or a team of researchers (consisting of one applicant [11] and one or more co-applicants [12] and/or collaborators [13]).

Applicants (except postdoctoral fellows and PhD students) must be affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution that holds institutional eligibility [14] at the time of application and before funding can be released. Researchers who maintain an affiliation with a Canadian postsecondary institution that holds institutional eligibility, but whose primary affiliation is with a non-Canadian postsecondary institution, are not eligible for applicant [11] status.

Applicants who have received a SSHRC grant of any type but have failed to submit an achievement report [15] 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 fellows are eligible to be applicants for this grant. However, for SSHRC to release grant funds, successful applicants must formally establish an affiliation with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution [14] within five months of the grant start date (i.e., by September 2026 for the current competition) and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period.

Students enrolled in a program of study are not eligible to apply. However, a PhD candidate is eligible to apply if they:

• will have met all requirements for the PhD before the grant is awarded, including all course work and successful defence of their dissertation; and,
• establish a formal affiliation with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution within five months of the grant start date, and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period.

Eligible PhD students and postdoctoral fellows are encouraged to make inquiries with the research grants office of the eligible institution(s) with which they will be seeking affiliation.

Federal scientists who are 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.

Co-applicants

Individuals listed as co-applicants must meet the same eligibility criteria as those described under the Applicants section [16].

Only a person who was named as a co-applicant in the original application can replace an applicant (principal investigator) for an Insight Grant-funded project. Such replacement, however, remains subject to program approval.

Collaborators

Any individual who makes a significant contribution to the project is eligible to be a collaborator [13]. Collaborators do not need to be affiliated with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution.

Multiple Applications and Holding Multiple Awards

Individuals can apply as an applicant [11] for only one Insight Grant at a time.

Normally, researchers cannot apply as an applicant for an Insight Grant and an Insight Development Grant [17] within the same calendar year. However, in 2017, SSHRC approved an exception to this multiple applications regulation that has been extended for the foreseeable future: researchers who applied unsuccessfully for an Insight Development Grant in February of a given year can apply for an Insight Grant in October of that same year. Therefore, researchers who applied for an Insight Development Grant in February 2025 and were not successful can apply for an Insight Grant in October 2025.

A researcher who applies for an Insight Grant in October 2025 can apply for an Insight Development Grant in February 2026, provided the objectives of the research are significantly different.

See SSHRC’s regulations on multiple applications and holding multiple awards [18] for more information.

Maximum Project Value

Insight Grants are valued at up to $500,000 over two to five years. A minimum request of $10,000 is required in at least one of the years. A maximum of $125,000 is available in a single year.

Applicants [11] can choose from one of two streams when applying for an Insight Grant, depending on the amount of funding required:

• Stream A for requests between $10,000 to $125,000; or,
• Stream B for requests between $125,001 to $500,000.

Indirect Costs

There are no indirect costs on the funding provided directly by SSHRC. Funds from other sources are subject to the applicable indirect cost rate as specified in the Full Cost of Research Policy [19].

Project Duration

2 to 5 years

Special Notes

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 [20] and the regulations set out in the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration [21]. Applicants are advised to consult the Use of Grant Funds [22] section of the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration to determine whether an expenditure is an appropriate use of grant funds.

Grant holders must also comply with the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications [23] (see the Open Access [24] overview for more information) and the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy [25]) which, as of April 1, 2021, has replaced SSHRC’s Research Data Archiving policy for all active grants.

The Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern [26] (STRAC) applies to this funding opportunity. Grant applications that involve conducting research and related activities that aim to advance a sensitive technology research area will not be funded if any of the researchers involved in activities supported by the grant are affiliated with, or are in receipt of funding or in-kind support from, a university, research institute or laboratory connected to military, national defence or state security entities that could pose a risk to Canada's national security. Read the tri-agency guidance [27] on the STRAC policy to understand how this may impact your application.

Specific Rules for the Use of Grant Funds

• Grant funds cannot be used to remunerate team [28] members regardless of an individual’s eligibility to apply for grants.* This includes postdoctoral fellows serving in any capacity as a member of the team.
  • *Exception to the above rule: In some cases, Indigenous team [28] members may be compensated. For more information, see the Tri-agency guideline on remuneration for Indigenous people participating in funded projects [29]. In such cases, the team member may not be delegated to authorize grant expenditures, and under no circumstances is the applicant/project director eligible to be compensated from grant funds.
• Grant funds cannot be used for remuneration and/or the travel and subsistence costs of presenters or guest speakers.
• Grant funds cannot be used for course release time to allow an individual to engage in research activities.
• Grant funds can be used for consulting fees for expert and/or professional and technical services that contribute directly to the proposed research activities, as long as the service is not being provided by a team member or an individual whose status would make them eligible to hold a SSHRC grant.
• Grant funds can be used for the travel and subsistence costs of collaborators [13] related to research planning, the exchange of information with the grantee, and the dissemination of research results. However, grant funds cannot be used for collaborators’ research costs to conduct research or research-related activities.

How to Apply

Applicants must complete the application form  [31]in accordance with application instructions [32].

Information For Co-applicants

If you need to meet a deadline set by the lead institution for this opportunity, please ensure that you provide RSO at least five days to review the full application or your proposed component of the project before the lead institution's deadline. Please be in touch with the Office of Research (contact information below) ahead of the deadline if it looks like it will be difficult for you to submit all the required documentation on time (i.e. budget, proposal, OR-5 Form).