2026 Partnership Development Grant

Eligibility

Applications must be submitted by the applicant (project director) on behalf of the partner organizations of the formal partnership.

Applicants must be affiliated with an eligible Canadian institution at the time of application.

• Researchers who maintain an affiliation with a Canadian postsecondary institution, but whose primary affiliation is with a non-Canadian postsecondary institution, are not eligible for applicant status within the Partnership Development Grants funding opportunity.
• Postdoctoral researchers are eligible to be applicants if they have formally established an affiliation with an eligible institution within five months of the grant start date and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period.

Co-directors and co-applicants may be individuals from any of the following:

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

Collaborators: Any individual who may make a significant contribution to the project. Individuals from the private sector or federal government may only participate as collaborators.

Partner organizations may be Canadian or international institutions or organizations (public, private, not-for-profit) of any type. Please see the definition of formal partnership.

An individual may not be an applicant on more than one application in the competition and may not also be the named project director in a Partnership Grants - Formal Application in the same calendar year.

Summary

Partnership Development Grants provide support over one to three years to teams/partnerships, led by a project director, to:

• Develop research and related activities in the social sciences and humanities, including knowledge mobilization and the meaningful involvement of students and emerging scholars, by fostering new partnerships for existing and/or potential partners; or
• Design and test new partnership approaches for research and/or related activities that may result in best practices or models that either can be adapted by others or have the potential to be scaled up to a regional, national or international level.

Funding is intended for teams working in formal partnership between academic institutions, or between one or more academic institutions and one or more non-academic partner organizations. Partnership Development Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Research Partnerships program.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Institutional and agency milestones are listed below, additional instructions follow.

Timeline

• Activity: Submit internal Notice of Intent to Research Services via email to ipd@ucalgary.ca 
  • Use iNOI template provided in the ¿Resources¿ section
  • Deadline: By 9:00 am July 15, 2026
• Activity: Submit draft application to Research Services for SUPPORT and Faculty review
  • Deadline: By 9:00 am September 17, 2026 (TBD)
• Activity: Submit final application to Research Services in the SSHRC portal for mandatory final administrative review; approvals obtained in the Research Management System (RMS)
  • Note: a step sheet for creating an application record in RMS is available in the Resources section below. Select the 'SSHRC Partnership Development Grant' funding opportunity in RMS, be sure to select 'Submitted for approvals' (Under Save & Progress) in RMS in good time to allow for approvals from your Department Head and/or ADR prior to the Research Services deadline. Consult your department and faculty for more information on their approval processes and timelines. 

  • Deadline: By 9:00 am November 9, 2026 

     

Overhead

not applicable

Application deadlines

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.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS, 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.

SSHRC will hold informational webinars on the PDG 2026 competition and application process on the following dates: 

English:               September 24, 2026, 9:00 am – 11:00 am MST

French:                September 25, 2026, 9:00 am – 11:00 am MST

Registration is required via links that will be made available on the competition website. Presentations and links to the webinar recordings will be uploaded to this posting once they become available. 

RESOURCES

Reminder: The sooner the researcher engages with Research Services, the more help we can be!

Contact the following Research Service units for support with:

Projects Involving Indigenous Research:

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST).

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.

For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage.

Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.

EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information.

Research Security:

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC).

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.

For assistance in identifying international partners:

Contact the International Research and Innovation Team at UCIresearch@ucalgary.ca.

iNOI template

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application