Research Admin Offices:

• ROADS

Opportunity Type:

• Grant

Value:

This grant is valued at up to $300,000 for the first two years and up to $400,000 for the third and fourth years, followed by up to $600,000 for the last year for an overall total maximum of $2 million over five years. A one-year automatic grant extension without additional funding is also available under this joint initiative.

Disciplines:

• DeGroote School of Business
• Faculty of Humanities
• Faculty of Science

Sponsors:

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
• Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Deadlines:

Additional Dates:

• Internal -NOI - August 18, 2023
• Internal - Draft Application - September 27, 2023
• Internal - Final Application - October 11, 2023
• Sponsor - Final Application - October 20, 2023

Description:

On March 20^th, NSERC, and SSHRC, in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), launched the NSERC-SSHRC Sustainable agriculture initiative to help reinforce, coordinate and scale up Canada’s domestic agriculture research capabilities through partnerships among universities, colleges and organizations from the private, public or not-for-profit sectors.

This funding opportunity will support the establishment of a national research network that brings together social sciences and humanities researchers and practitioners from all sectors to enhance learning, expertise, and knowledge sharing across Canada on studies in agriculture, climate change, and environment.

Overall Goal: The main goal is to support knowledge mobilization and partnership research on the social and socio-economic impacts of policy actions in agriculture pertaining to net-zero, behavioural and societal influences on agricultural practices, and inform approaches to scale up adoption of practices that support Canada’s environment and climate goals. The research network will:

• support knowledge mobilization and partnership research that leverage ongoing collaboration and mutual learning between academics and researchers from think tanks, institutes, the private, public (external to government) and not-for-profit sectors, etc.
• inform the NSERC/SSHRC Sustainable agriculture research initiative through, for example, information exchanges as workshops and symposiums, and in terms of identified research gaps and collaboration opportunities.
• collaborate with researchers in the NSERC/SSHRC Sustainable agriculture research initiative to help build research relationships and, ultimately, knowledge in this area.
• interact with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada  to ensure policy-research linkages that reflect the policy and data needs of the department.

Additional Program Information:

Objectives: Projects supported under the research network will leverage ongoing collaboration and mutual learning between academia and stakeholders from different sectors, including private, public and not-for-profit organizations, and from communities.

Within the first two years, the objectives of the research network are to:

• enable the multidirectional flow of social sciences and humanities research knowledge among researchers, and across academia and society, to enhance intellectual, cultural, social and economic influence, benefit and impact;
• increase the accessibility and use of social sciences and humanities research knowledge among academic and non-academic audiences;
• support the building of reciprocal relationships among social sciences and humanities researchers, and between the researchers and those in a position to either co-create or use research knowledge; and
• develop partnered research activities responding to the needs of partner organizations from the private, public and/or not-for-profit sector, and communities that will inform decision making.

Within the remaining period of the grant, the following objectives are to also be pursued:

• address considerations in agricultural research design and research practice;
• produce innovative approaches that enrich partnered research training experiences for students and postdoctoral researchers;
• develop intersectoral collaborations and connection activities, such as public outreach activities, workshops and conferences; and

leverage contributions from all partner organizations (cash and/or in-kind contributions).

Eligibility:

Eligibility: 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.

Applicants: Applications must be submitted by an eligible Canadian university that meets the institutional eligibility requirements.

• Students and federal scientists are not eligible for project director, co-director or co-applicant status.
• Postdoctoral researchers are not eligible for project director or co-director status.

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.  

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

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.

Application/Nomination Process:

Applicants must complete the application form in accordance with 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.

Resources:

For more information, please visit the program website.

Contact:

For more information and to apply, please contact Amanda Graveline, Senior Advisor.