Opportunities for international collaboration within SSHRC programs

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) aims to remove barriers to international collaboration in its main funding programs.

Scholarships and awards

The suite of SSHRC scholarships and awards support international research collaboration in many ways:

• portability—some scholarships and awards can be held at international institutions
• mobility—some funding opportunities are designed to support research conducted abroad or facilitate an exchange, allowing students and postdoctoral researchers to build global networks and access international research training
• talent recruitment—some scholarships and awards are open to international applicants, strengthening the Canadian research enterprise by attracting some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds, and building potential for collaboration between Canadian and international institutions

Funding opportunity	Features that support international collaboration
Canada Graduate Research Scholarships—Doctoral program	portability mobility talent recruitment
Canada Graduate Scholarships—Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements	mobility
Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program	portability mobility talent recruitment

Some examples of talent-related initiatives SSHRC has participated in with international partners:

• Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes—Postdoctoral award holders are invited to connect with the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) to explore the possibility of organizing a residency with one of CHCI’s member centres or institutes in the United States of America.
• Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in Economic Sciences—Every three years SSHRC supports doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to attend the Lindau Nobel Meeting in Economic Sciences in Lindau, Germany.

Grants

SSHRC grants are also designed to support international research collaborations. For example, SSHRC grant funds can be used to attend workshops or events that facilitate international scholarly exchange, or to work directly with internationally based researchers and partners on a project.

While eligibility is different for each funding opportunity, internationally based researchers can be part of a project as either co-applicants or collaborators. International partner organizations can also be part of a project for certain Research Partnership grants.

• Co-applicant—In several funding opportunities, internationally based researchers at postsecondary institutions are eligible to be co-applicants and to receive SSHRC funds via the Canadian administering organization, which remains accountable for the appropriate use of funds.
• Collaborator—All grants are open to internationally based researchers acting as collaborators in a SSHRC-funded project.
• Partner organizations—Most of the partnership funding opportunities are open to collaboration with international institutions or organizations (public, private, not-for-profit) of any type.

Funding opportunity	Roles
Connection Grants	collaborator co-applicant
Insight Development Grants	collaborator co-applicant
Insight Grants	collaborator
Partnership Development Grants	collaborator co-applicant partner organization
Partnership Engage Grants	collaborator co-applicant partner organization
Partnership Grants	collaborator co-applicant partner organization

For interdisciplinary research, the New Frontiers in Research Fund’s International stream (NFRF) aims to support international collaborations and position Canada and Canadian researchers as strategic partners at the international level. For NFRF’s International, Exploration and Transformation streams, internationally based researchers are eligible to be co-principal investigators, co-applicants and collaborators.