Competition

* Unless explicitly noted, all times indicated for deadlines are for the appropriate NL timezone (NST or NDT)

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges globally. While much needed focus to date has been on developing and testing effective countermeasures to control the spread of the virus, examining the longer-term impacts of the pandemic—and the ensuing economic slowdown—on individuals, businesses and communities is just as important.

Social sciences and humanities research, including Indigenous research, both in disciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches, can help shed light on the nature of these impacts. It can also build knowledge on the potential strategies for managing recovery efforts, addressing inequalities in our societies, and building resilience to handle later waves of the pandemic as well as other emergencies.

Working in partnership with government, industry and not-for-profit organizations, researchers from across the social sciences and humanities can help provide the data, insight and evidence to guide action in the months and years to come.

There are a wide range of ways social sciences and humanities researchers can contribute: from highlighting the lessons of history, to probing individual and group behaviour, to exploring possible responses in policy and practice in all sectors.

SSHRC encourages projects in, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Understanding the differentiated social impacts of a pandemic, like COVID-19, using gender-based analysis, or by analyzing its political and economic effects at a regional, national or global scale.
• Designing and implementing effective and equitable recovery measures, such as fiscal and monetary policies, supply chain management measures, and social protection and employment creation initiatives.
• Building longer-term resilience and disaster preparedness, for instance, by learning from Indigenous knowledge systems, developing new emergency, public communication and work environment plans, or by rethinking communal and pedagogical approaches, artistic models and rituals.

Through Partnership Engage Grants (PEG), the PEG COVID-19 Special Initiative provides short-term and timely support for small-scale, stakeholder-driven partnerships. It will allow researchers and their partners to address urgent and specific needs, challenges or opportunities through collaborations. It will also provide a unique opportunity to foster a knowledge exchange on COVID-19 crisis related issues, challenges and impacts between postsecondary researchers and different sectors of society, including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and other highly qualified personnel.

Value and duration

SSHRC is committed to investing up to $1.5 million over the next two PEG competitions to support COVID-19 related projects, at a maximum amount of $25,000 per project for one year.

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Note: Because additional SSHRC Partnership program proposal submission steps are involved, applicants are advised to pursue partnerships at the earliest opportunity. Applications require issuing invitations to partners and receipt of Letters of Support (for the Partnership Development program only this also includes Memorial University). Partners must accept Invitations in the SSHRC portal and upload Letters of Support to the SSHRC portal prior to the internal HSS Deadline.

Faculty of HSS Submission Procedures (mandatory): In addition to the external funding agency’s submission procedures, this opportunity must also be submitted for Departmental, HSS Faculty, and Research Grants and Contracts Services (RGCS) institutional reviews and approvals via Memorial's Researcher Portal (RP). In order to facilitate the HSS Faculty’s administrative review, please ensure "Heather C. O'Brien (Grants Facilitator)" and “Matthew Milner (Grants Facilitator)” are added as "Team Members" on your RP file. 

In accordance with University-wide approval protocols, all tabs of the RP file must be completed, the completed application must be uploaded to the “Attachments” tab, all supporting documentation including support for cash and in-kind commitments and/or letters of support must also be uploaded, and “Submit” must be pressed prior to the HSS internal deadline listed below. HSS cannot guarantee completion of an administrative review for application files that are incomplete and/or are submitted after the HSS deadline. For more detailed submission instructions and information, please consult the HSS Research Support Services website.

If you plan to apply to this competition or other research funding opportunities (as either PI or CI), e-mail an HSS Grants Facilitator, Heather C. O’Brien (HSSResearchAdmin@mun.ca or 864-8603) or Matthew Milner (HSSResearchGrants@mun.ca or 864-8050), to notify the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of your intent to apply. E-mailing the intent to apply as early as possible will help to facilitate an efficient review. A Grants Facilitator can answer any questions you may have about internal or external submission procedures and may also be able to help with proposal development.

Tags:

covid-19-research-funding