Sponsor

The Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) for Social Sciences and Humanities (funding for Canadian teams is provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ))

Program

Preparing for Tomorrow (P4T) – Societies and Strategies in Times of Transition

For More Information

For additional information, please visit the program's website [1] and review the detailed 'Application form and instructions, and assessment process [2],' 'Context, Scope and Aims of the Call [3],' and 'Canada (SSHRC and FRQ) – Addendum [4]' documents.

Description

The Trans-Atlantic Platform (TAP) has announced its fifth international funding call, Preparing for Tomorrow: Societies and Strategies in Times of Transition. The call will support innovative, transnational social sciences and humanities (SSH) research that strengthens society’s capacity to anticipate, understand and respond to future challenges and opportunities.

The Preparing for Tomorrow call will fund collaborative research that advances conceptual, empirical and normative understanding of how societies envision, prepare for and respond to uncertain futures. It seeks to generate knowledge that supports resilient, inclusive and forward-looking strategies, and that informs policy and practice at local, national and international levels.

Proposals are invited from transnational research teams to address one or more of the following overarching themes (possible research questions are included in the 'Context, Scope and Aims of the Call [3]' document):

• Uncertainty: sources, costs, communication and improvement
• The many faces of the future and crisis: historical, cultural and regional perspectives
• Scope and coordination of response strategies
• Normative inquiry into prevention and preparation for future crises

Research projects should address one or more of the following objectives:

1. Strengthen conceptual frameworks and (descriptive, explanatory or normative) theories related to foresight, crises and collective response strategies.
2. Identify and/or assess interventions, strategies and governance structures aimed at enhancing resilience, prevention and preparedness for future crises and opportunities.
3. Provide empirical case studies illustrating how past, contemporary regional collectives perceive future opportunities and risks, and how they prepare for them.
4. Investigate how disruptive technologies and new media shape both the emergence and perception of future opportunities and crises.

Proposals may use all relevant methodologies, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. Proposals may also include methods or approaches that emphasize theory development, conceptual and normative inquiry, and future-oriented methodologies such as, including simulations, visioning, risk analysis, modelling and scenario construction. Historical inquiry that helps us understand the present and the future are also welcome. This list is not exhaustive, and applicants can focus their work on other methodologies or approaches relevant to the call.

Eligibility

Each proposal must include at least three eligible co-PIs from at least three different T-AP participating countries, with representation from both sides of the Atlantic. The project team nominates one of the co-PIs as the Lead PI. If a participating SSHRC-eligible institution is not the lead PI, a co-PI who is considered the applicant/PI/project director in the SSHRC application system and literature will also be selected. Researchers may participate in only one proposal as a Lead PI or co-PI. 

For information on eligibility of international project team members, please consult the relevant funding organization Addenda available on the T-AP P4T website [1]. Applications must comply with all relevant eligibility requirements. If any research partner within a consortium is found to be ineligible, the entire consortium will be deemed ineligible.

To apply for the SSHRC funding component of the larger T-AP P4T Call, the SSHRC PI must be affiliated with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution [5]. 

Individuals are eligible to be co-directors [6] or co-applicants [7] if they are formally affiliated with any of the following:

• Canadian: postsecondary institutions; not-for-profit organizations; philanthropic foundations; think tanks; or municipal, territorial or provincial governments.
• International: postsecondary institution.

Any individual who makes a significant contribution to the project is eligible to be a collaborator [8]. 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.

See SSHRC’s regulations on Multiple applications for grants, fellowships and scholarships [9] for more information.

Funding Availability

The P4T call operates through a coordinated funding model, whereby each funding organization supports its own national research team(s) within a TAP P4T project partnership. When a project is selected for funding, each of the teams will receive a grant from its respective country and funder(s). Please review the 'Table of participating funding organizations' in the 'Application form and instructions, and assessment process [2]' for information on funding availability for each participating funding agency.

SSHRC applicants can request up to $85,000 per year up to a maximum of $250,000 over 2 to 3 years in funding. In addition, Québec researchers who are the principal investigator from Canada may apply for a supplement from FRQ of up to $75,000 plus indirect costs of research (with a maximum of one supplement per team).

For SSHRC-funded team members, a salary research allowance [10] can be requested for not-for-profit organizations involved in the partnership with a co-director [6] or co-applicant [7] on the team to release them from duties to their organization.

Indirect Costs

The indirect cost rate is 0% for funding provided by SSHRC. 

Project Duration

Each project should have a duration of between 24 and 36 months.

How to Apply

Letter of Intent

The Lead PI must submit a LOI form by 8th July 2026.

The LOI must be submitted online using the DFG's elan Portal [12]. The Lead PI of the project must complete and submit the LOI on behalf of the research team.

Information to include in the LOI:

• Preliminary project title
• Lead PI (full name, position and institution)
• Co-PIs (full names, positions and institutions)
• Funding organization (in case of multiple funders per country, check their annexes)
• Call scope theme(s) covered
• Key words
• Project summary (max. 500 words)

Every lead PI must create an elan account to submit both the LOI and the full proposal on behalf of the consortium. The Lead PI should create the account well in advance of the deadline for the LOI as the registration is checked by a DFG employee, which might take a few days. This is not required of other team members at this stage. Please refer to the elan manual on the call website for further instructions.

While project details and co-PIs- may be modified upon submission, it is anticipated that the Lead PI will not change.

Proposals for which the Lead PI has not submitted an LOI by the deadline will not be considered for evaluation.

Full Application

The proposal must be submitted online, in PDF format, on the elan Portal [12] by 28th October 2026. For submission of the full proposal the co-PIs must also create an elan account.

Proposal submission requires five files. Applicants must follow the prescribed structure and use the headings exactly as indicated. The required components are:

1. Project Overview
2. Research Description (including Data Management plan - please follow template prescribed in the 'Application form and instructions, and assessment process [2]' document)
3. Bibliography
4. Narrative Résumés for Lead PI and Co-PIs (please note these must follow the specific template prescribed in the 'Application form and instructions, and assessment process [2]' document)
5. Budget summary and Templates

Please see the detailed 'Application form and instructions, and assessment process [2]' document attached below for the application template and information on the evaluation process.

The proposal must be written in English. Further instructions on how to upload and submit your application are available on the T-AP P4T website. Please note that some funding organizations also require applicants to submit the proposal through their national online submission systems. Applicants must consult the funding organizations’ Addenda [1] for detailed instructions.

Proposals submitted after the deadline, or those that do not meet the call requirements or the funders’ specific requirements outlined in the Addenda, will be rejected.

SSHRC Supplemental Documents [4]

Important Note: Researchers applying for SSHRC funds must submit all supplementary SSHRC documents through the Convergence Portal [13] on or prior to the T-AP P4T Call deadline.

While co-directors and co-applicants must complete their own profiles, as the applicant / project director you must verify this has been done before submitting. You must remove any co-directors or co-applicants who have not completed their profiles before you can Finalize and Submit the application. 

The headings below match the application sections in the Convergence Portal:

• Application details
• Invitations (Canadian team only)
• Participants
• Fields of research
• Keywords
• Summary of proposal
• Proposed budget
• Certifications, licenses and permits
• Sensitive Technology Research Areas (STRA)
  • If a project aims to advance a STRA, attestation forms [14] must be attached for all members of the Canadian team
• Supporting Documents
  • Funds requested from SSHRC
  • Budget justification (maximum two pages)

If an application contains one or more attachments that do not comply with the page limits or formatting standards, the application could be withdrawn from the competition.

Information For Co-applicants

If not the Lead Investigator, the SSHRC Principal Investigator is still required to submit all supplementary SSHRC documents through the Convergence Portal [13] on or prior to the T-AP P4T Call deadline. Please review the 'Canada (SSHRC and FRQ) – Addendum [4]' for details.

Attachment(s)

Attachment	Size
Application form and instructions, and assessment process [2]	394.66 KB
Context, Scope and Aims of the Call [3]	127.66 KB
Canada (SSHRC and FRQ) – Addendum [4]	382.66 KB