2023 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Network on Sustainable Agriculture in a Net-Zero Economy Grant

Eligibility

Subject Matter

Proposals can involve any disciplines, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas that are eligible for SSHRC funding or that are facilitating the flow and exchange of research knowledge and training activities on the social and socio-economic impacts of or influences on changes in the Canadian agricultural sector.

Projects whose primary objective is curriculum development, program evaluation, preparation of teaching materials, 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 that 30% or more of the requested budget has been allocated to ineligible expenses.

Applicants

Applications must be submitted by an eligible Canadian university that meets the institutional eligibility requirements. The project director must be affiliated with the host institution (the applicant), and prepares the application on behalf of the host institution and the formal partnership.

Co-Applicants

Individuals (including postdoctoral researchers) 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.

Institutions 

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

If your institution does not currently have institutional eligibility to manage SSHRC funding, have a representative contact institutional.eligibility@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca as soon as possible to discuss the steps required. The deadline for the institutional eligibility application is five (5) business days before the grant application.

Partner Organizations

Partner organizations can be Canadian or international institutions or organizations (private, public or not-for-profit) of any type.

Summary

Objective(s)

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Network on Sustainable Agriculture in a Net-Zero Economy aims to raise the profile of social sciences and humanities research in sustainable agriculture and contribute to Canada’s ambitions involving climate and the environment by facilitating the flow and exchange of research knowledge through collaboration among researchers and the development of training activities. The main objective of the research network is to support knowledge mobilization and partnership research on the social and socio-economic impacts of policy actions in agriculture pertaining to net-zero, behavioral and societal influences on agricultural practices, and inform approaches to scale up adoption of practices that support Canada’s environment and climate goals.

Application Process

Applicants must complete the application form in accordance with the accompanying instructions. Applications must be submitted electronically by an authorized research grants officer, or equivalent, from the administering institution, who has financial signing authority and is not participating in the project.

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

Institutional and Partner Organization Contributions

Applicants must include a proposed plan to secure, over and above the budget requested from SSHRC, additional cash and/or in-kind contributions from sources other than SSHRC during the life of the grant. SSHRC recognizes that the project can grow beyond the original planned amount as additional partner organizations become involved over the life of the grant.

For more information, see SSHRC’s Guidelines for Cash and In-Kind Contributions.

Merit Review

Applications are reviewed, and available funds awarded, through a merit review process. SSHRC bases funding decisions on the recommendations of the merit review committee and on the funds available. Committee discussions are guided by the principle of minimum essential funding.

SSHRC’s Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research are relevant for researchers preparing SSHRC applications related to Indigenous research. SSHRC provides these guidelines to assist committee members in interpreting SSHRC’s specific evaluation criteria in the context of Indigenous research. SSHRC relies on a community of merit reviewers to judge the extent to which the guidelines can be applied to a particular research proposal.

For this initiative, AAFC and SSHRC will establish a joint interdisciplinary and intersectoral merit review committee that may include expertise in sociology, economics, political science, Indigenous research, geography, psychology, anthropology, history and other relevant interdisciplinary fields, such as food studies and/or policy studies, with members from academia and non-academic sectors.

Participants in the review process, if not in a conflict of interest with the applicant or any team members, will be asked to evaluate proposals based on the evaluation criteria below.

After 18 months into the grant period, a merit review committee will assess the progress to date of the successful project, including the knowledge mobilization activities produced and the merit of its proposed partnership research and training activities. SSHRC will conduct this evaluation process in collaboration with AAFC.

This evaluation should be seen as an opportunity for the grantee to address any realignment of the project since the start of the grant and provide more details to the evaluation committee on the research and training activities to be developed in the remaining years of the grant.

Evaluation Criteria and Scoring

1. Challenge - The Aim and Importance of the Endeavour (40%)

• Alignment of the proposal with the goal and objective of the funding opportunity.
• Expected contribution to the preservation of, access to and/or mobilization of research knowledge.
• Quality and significance of the research being mobilized.

2. Feasibility - The Plan to Achieve Excellence (30%)

• Appropriateness of the proposed timeline and probability that the objectives will be met.
• Quality and genuineness of the formal partnership, associated management and governance arrangements, and leadership of partner organizations from the private, public and/or not-for-profit sector, including their involvement in the design and conduct of the research and/or related activities.
• Expertise of the team and appropriateness of partner organizations in relation to the proposed project

3. Capability - The Expertise to Succeed (30%)

• Quality, quantity and significance of past experience and published and/or creative outputs including community products of the applicant / project director and any co-directors or co-applicants, relative to their role in the partnership and to the stage of their career.
• Evidence of other knowledge mobilization activities (e.g., films, performances, commissioned reports, knowledge syntheses, experience in collaboration / other interactions with stakeholders, contributions to public debate and media), and of impacts on professional practice, social services and policies, etc.

Resources

• Application
• Application Instructions
• Program Contact: partnershipgrants@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

Overhead

N/A (Not Applicable)

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Submission Instructions:

1. Complete your application in the SSHRC Convergence Portal system.  When it is complete, verify and submit so that it advances to the Research Services Office. ***PLEASE NOTE: The SSHRC Convergence portal redirects the application to the University of Calgary Research Services; pressing "submit" does not submit the application to SSHRC.
2. To initiate internal approvals, complete the pre-award/application record in RMS (https://research.ucalgary.ca/conduct-research/additional-resources/research-management-system-rms), and attach a download of your complete and final application from the SSHRC online portal.  Please do not attach drafts, Word documents, etc.  Also attach any other relevant documents, including letters confirming financial or in-kind support if applicable.
3. Once complete, click "Save and set status", then select "submitted for approvals", and then select "Save and progress" in order to obtain approvals from your department head and/or faculty Associate Dean (Research). 

   Important: when submitting in RMS, please ensure that you allow time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services review deadline of October 17, 2023 at 12:00pm.       

4. Once these approvals are obtained, RMS will automatically forward the application record to Research Services for institutional review and approval.
5. Research Services will review and provide feedback (by email and via RMS), as necessary. 
6.  Once the application has undergone review and is in its final state, Research Services will obtain Institutional Approval and submit for adjudication by SSHRC through the SSHRC Convergence Portal
7. As an optional service, Research Services will perform a full detailed administrative review for any applications received by October 6, 2023 at 4:00pm.  The application must be received by RSO on both RMS and the SSHRC portal to initiate review.

Regulations, Policies and Related information:

AAFC personnel with responsibility for management of this initiative will be given access to relevant application material for purposes consistent with administrative or merit review processes, as required. Aside from information publicly available (e.g., list of award holders, administrative organizations, value of SSHRC's grants, title and keywords of projects), SSHRC will not share with AAFC any information pertaining to applications submitted to SSHRC without the consent of SSHRC applicants or award holders.

Therefore, by submitting an application to this funding opportunity, applicants/project directors agree to their application content being shared with AAFC for the purposes stated here.

AAFC and SSHRC reserve 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.

Communication of Results

Research offices will be informed of their applicants’ competition results via SSHRC’s secure site. All applicants will be provided, in addition to SSHRC’s notice of decision, a summary of the merit review committee’s evaluation of their proposal.