Funder’s website
The funder’s website can be found HERE.
Funding Value and Duration
$7,000 to 75,000 for 1 to 2 years.
Overview
Insight Development Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Insight program.
Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and/or ideas. Funding is provided for short-term research development projects of up to two years that are proposed by individuals or teams.
Insight Development Grants foster research in its early stages but are not intended to support large-scale initiatives. Long-term support for research is offered through SSHRC’s Insight Grants.
Proposed projects can involve, but are not limited to, the following types of research activities:
- case studies
- pilot initiatives
- critical analyses of existing research
Projects can also involve national and international research collaboration, and the exploration of new ways of producing, structuring and mobilizing knowledge within and across disciplines and sectors.
Funding is available for two distinct categories of scholars:
- Emerging scholars who will develop new research questions and/or approaches. Such projects can build on and further the applicant’s (or team’s) graduate work and/or represent a continuation of their overall research trajectory.
- Established scholars who will explore new research questions and/or approaches that are distinct from the applicant’s previous/ongoing research. Research projects should be clearly delimited and in the early stages of the research process. Insight Development Grant funding is not intended to support ongoing research for established scholars.
SSHRC welcomes applications involving Indigenous research, as well as those involving research-creation.
Eligibility Criteria
Subject matter
Most SSHRC funding is awarded through open competitions. Proposals can involve any disciplines, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas eligible for SSHRC funding. See the guidelines on subject matter eligibility for more information.
Projects whose primary objective is curriculum development, preparation of teaching materials, program evaluation, organization of a conference or workshop, 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 non-eligible expenses.
Applicants
Applications can be submitted by an individual researcher or a team of researchers (consisting of one applicant and one or more co-applicants and/or collaborators).
Applicants (except postdoctoral fellows and PhD students) must be affiliated with a Canadian institution that holds institutional eligibility at the time of application and before funding can be released. Researchers who maintain an affiliation with a Canadian institution, but whose primary affiliation is with a non-Canadian postsecondary institution, are not eligible for applicant status.
Applicants who have received a SSHRC grant of any type but have failed to submit an achievement report by the deadline specified in their notice of award are not eligible to apply for another SSHRC grant until they have submitted the report.
Postdoctoral fellows are eligible to be applicants for this grant. However, for SSHRC to release grant funds, successful applicants must formally establish an affiliation with an eligible Canadian institution within three months of the grant start date (i.e., by September 2023 for the current competition), and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period.
Students enrolled in a program of study are not eligible to apply. However, a PhD candidate is eligible to apply if they:
- will have met all requirements for the PhD before the grant is awarded, including all course work and successful defense of their dissertation; and
- establish a formal affiliation with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution within three months of the grant start date (i.e., by September 2023 for the current competition) and maintain such an affiliation for the duration of the grant period.
Federal scientists who are affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution must demonstrate that their proposed research or research-related activity is not related to either the mandate of their employer or the normal duties for which they receive payment from that employer.
If the proposal falls within the mandate of the federal government and the research or research-related activity is performed in government facilities, funding can only be allocated for student salaries, stipends and travel costs.
Institutions
Grant funds can be administered only by an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution. Institutions proposing to administer a grant awarded under this funding opportunity must hold or obtain institutional eligibility.
Institutions must contact institution.eligibility@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca to begin the institutional eligibility application process, or if they have questions about institutional eligibility.
Co-applicants
Individuals (including postdoctoral fellows) are eligible to be co-applicants if they are formally affiliated with any of the following:
- Canadian eligible postsecondary institutions; or
- International postsecondary institutions.
In the case of international co-applicants, the rationale for international collaboration must be clearly outlined in the application.
Postdoctoral fellows and PhD candidates are eligible to be co-applicants under the same conditions as those described under the Applicants section.
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.
Multiple applications and holding multiple awards
Individuals can apply, as an applicant, for only one Insight Development Grant at a time.
Normally, researchers cannot apply as an applicant for an Insight Grant and an Insight Development Grant in the same calendar year. However, in 2017, SSHRC approved an exception to this multiple applications regulation that has been extended for the foreseeable future: researchers who applied unsuccessfully for an Insight Development Grant in February of a given year can apply for an Insight Grant in October of that same year. Therefore, researchers who apply for an Insight Development Grant in February 2023 and are not successful can apply for an Insight Grant in October 2023.
A researcher who applied for an Insight Grant in October 2022 can apply for an Insight Development Grant in February 2023, provided that the objectives of the research are significantly different.
See SSHRC’s regulations regarding multiple applications and holding multiple awards for more information.
Monitoring
Grant holders will be expected to report on the use of grant funds, on funded activities undertaken during the grant period, and on outcomes. Successful applicants will be informed of reporting requirements when they receive their notice of award.
Internal Contacts
Potential applicants are encouraged to discuss this funding opportunity with their Faculty Research Facilitator.
Deadlines
| Faculty Deadline | Consult your Faculty Research Facilitator. |
| OVPRI Deadline (Approval Form and Application) | January 26, 2025 |
| Submission to Sponsor | February 2, 2025 (anticipated) |
Submitting Your Application
- Step 1) Submit an internal Carleton Approval Form
Submit an internal Approval Form through our central awards management database CUResearch:
https://ovpri.research.carleton.ca/Romeo.Researcher/Administrator/Default.aspx
For a user’s guide on submitting an Approval Form, click HERE. - Step 2) Submit an external application to the granting agency
Submit an external application to the corresponding grant or award agency. To navigate to the funder’s website, click HERE