Destination Horizon Grants: 2026 Competitions—Applicant Instructions

On this page

• Documents to read before applying
• Accommodations and accessibility
• Collection and use of personal information
• Self-identification information
• Open access and data management
• Am I eligible to apply?
• Application process
• Applicant or project director responsibilities
• Research or financial administrator responsibilities
• Electronic submission process and acknowledgement of receipt of applications
• Application deadline
• Using the Convergence Portal to prepare your application
• Applicant eligibility (to be completed by applicant / project director)
• Completing the application
• Application details (mandatory)
• Invitations
• Participants
• Fields of research (mandatory)
• Keywords (mandatory)
• Summary of proposal (mandatory)
• Proposed budget (mandatory)
• Supporting documents
• Project description (mandatory)
• Funds requested from SSHRC (mandatory)
• Budget justification (mandatory)
• Funds from other sources (mandatory)
• Letter of support from host organization (mandatory)
• Tri-agency CV document
• Submitting the application
• How to connect to ORCID (optional)

Documents to read before applying

For Destination Horizon Grants applicants

• Destination Horizon Grants funding opportunity description
• Research Partnerships

For all grant applicants

• Institutional eligibility—guidelines and requirements
• Policies, regulations and guidelines
• Help: online application form support
• Guidelines for Cash and In-Kind Contributions
• Guidelines for Effective Knowledge Mobilization
• Guidelines for Effective Research Training
• Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research
• Definitions of terms used in the grant application process
• Research Data Management
• Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research
• Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications
• Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration
• Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy

Helpful tips

Write your proposal in clear, plain language. Use nontechnical terms that can be understood by a range of audiences with varied areas of expertise.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) advocates the practices listed below when applicable in your application. In addition, costs related to these activities are eligible:

• responsible research data management strategies;
• open access publishing activities;
• dissemination in both official languages;
• promotion and support of official language minority communities; and
• effective research training.

Accommodations and accessibility

If you need help completing online application forms due to circumstances arising from a disability, contact your institution (scholarship liaison officer, research grant office or other applicant support office) as early in the application process as possible to investigate available supports. If your institution cannot provide help, or needs SSHRC to collaborate on a solution, refer to the Accessibility in programs and services webpage for information on requesting assistance or contact accessibility-accessibilite@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca directly. You can also contact SSHRC if you have questions or are seeking specific adaptation arrangements. You do not need to share your medical or sensitive personal information, and, to protect your privacy, should avoid doing so.

Frequently requested accommodations include, but are not limited to:

• one-on-one phone or video appointments to clarify funding program information or the application process, or receive technical support;
• alternative formats of online materials to enable access using assistive technology; and
• submission of the application (in full or part) through alternate means or format (e.g., hard copy, voice recording, or data entry by SSHRC staff on the applicant’s behalf).

Collection and use of personal information

The information you provide in your application is collected under the authority of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Act and stored in a series of SSHRC data banks described in the information about programs and information holdings. Details on the use and disclosure of this information are described on the Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information SSHRC page, in the Convergence Portal, and below. The information is used in accordance with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Self-identification information

You must complete the self-identification form to apply for SSHRC funding. However, you can select “Prefer not to answer” for any or all questions. SSHRC appreciates your participation, which supports the federal research granting agencies (SSHRC, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) in monitoring the equity of their programs and strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion in the research enterprise.

The self-identification information is collected as part of your user profile when you register in the Convergence Portal. It is not part of your application and is neither accessible to, nor shared with, external reviewers and/or merit review committee members.

Open access and data management

Grant holders must follow the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications. To the extent possible, and in keeping with this policy and SSHRC’s endorsement of open access forms of knowledge dissemination, grant holders should make their research results openly available through, for example, open access publications, websites, publicly accessible databases and/or institutional repositories. To learn more, see the Open Access overview.

Am I eligible to apply?

Consult the Eligibility section of the funding opportunity description to ensure you can participate in this grant program as an applicant, co-applicant or collaborator.

Application process

Creating an account and application in the Convergence Portal

Creating an account

If you are a new user, you need to create a Convergence Portal account:

• navigate to the Convergence Portal;
• select your preferred language;
• on the log-in page, select “Create my portal account;” and
• follow the instructions on the site and in your confirmation email to finish creating your account.

For information on connecting to ORCID, see below.

Creating an application

• Once you have created your account, select the home icon. Select the “Funding Opportunities” tab.
• Find “Destination Horizon Grants.” Select “Create Application.”
• Answer the Participant Eligibility questions. Once you have answered all questions, select “Accept” on the Terms and Conditions page.
• Select “View Application” to navigate to the application just created.
• Complete the “My Information” section of the application by selecting existing entries in your profile or by adding them directly. There are four main sections:
  • CV Education
  • CV Affiliation
  • CV Interruptions and Special Circumstances (optional)
  • Tri-Agency CV Document
• Verify your documents to ensure they have been uploaded correctly and their content is viewable.
• Once you have completed your application, select “Finalize and Submit.”
• Read and “Accept” the terms and conditions of the application.

Applicant or project director responsibilities

By accepting the terms and conditions, the applicant or project director certifies all information is accurate.

You are also responsible for:

• completing all mandatory fields;
• attaching mandatory supporting documents; and
• selecting “Accept” for approval by your institution’s or organization’s internal deadline. The electronic submission process ensures validation of the information by an institution’s or organization’s administrator before they forward your application to SSHRC on your behalf (the application’s status will change from “In progress” to “Received by administrator”). You must accept the terms and conditions to submit.

Research or financial administrator responsibilities

By selecting “Forward to Agency,” the research administrator, or designated financial administrator for not-for-profit organizations (institutional approval), certifies:

• the primary applicant:
  • is affiliated with the institution or organization; and
  • has the necessary time and facilities to carry out the activity; and
• the postsecondary institution or the not-for-profit organization:
  • is willing to administer any grant received following SSHRC policies;
  • agrees to take the necessary steps to ensure machine-readable files or computer databases are preserved and accessible under conditions agreed to by the institution and the researcher;
  • will release funds to the successful candidate once all necessary certification requirements and conditions have been met;
  • will notify SSHRC of any change in the grant holder’s status during the tenure of the grant;
  • will notify SSHRC of any changes during the tenure of the grant, such as the addition of new co-applicants and/or collaborators; and
  • has verified the budgetary estimates are in accordance with its rates and policies.

Electronic submission process and acknowledgement of receipt of applications

Applicants must allow enough time for their institution’s or organization’s internal approval process, as specified by the relevant authorities.

Applications will remain available for download, via the Convergence system, for a period following the application deadline.

Application deadline

Your completed application must be received at SSHRC by 8:00 p.m. (eastern) on the deadline date. You will not be able to access your application for further editing once it is submitted.

Using the Convergence Portal to prepare your application

Complete the application using the Convergence Portal. The Convergence Portal is supported on only the latest versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox. The portal might appear to function in other browsers, but can malfunction: for example, the information entered might not be properly captured in the system, without you being aware. Use of an unsupported browser is strongly discouraged.

• Sign in to the Convergence Portal. If you currently have an account on the Research Portal, use these existing credentials to sign into the Convergence Portal.
• Select Funding Opportunities.
• Select the initiative you wish to apply to.

Applicant eligibility (to be completed by applicant / project director)

• Step 1—Applicant / project director eligibility: Read the eligibility section of the funding opportunity description and answer the portal-generated question to confirm the eligibility of your proposal.
• Step 2—Affiliations: List all your current affiliations and identify your primary affiliation. Select from the drop-down list the organization that will administer the grant. If the name of the organization with which you are applying is not in the list, contact partnerships@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca.
• Step 3—Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI): Complete the self-identification form, as required, to apply for SSHRC funding; however, you can select “Prefer not to answer” for any or all questions (see Self-identification information for more information).
• Step 4—Fields of research: List your fields of research and indicate one as a primary area of research.
• Step 5—Keywords: Provide a minimum of five keywords that best describe, overall, your areas of research.
• Terms and conditions: Accept the terms and conditions to begin the application process.
• Begin application: Complete all sections, including uploading your tri-agency CV (a PDF attachment) based on the tri-agency CV instructions.

Completing the application

Before writing your proposal, consult the Eligibility section of the funding opportunity description. The headings below match the application sections in the Convergence Portal. Follow the instructions provided in this document, along with the instructions provided onscreen in the Convergence Portal, to complete the application.

As the applicant / project director, you are responsible for completing all sections of the application and submitting it to the research administrator once complete. While co-applicants must complete their own profiles, as the applicant / project director you must verify this has been done before submitting. You must remove any co-applicants who have not completed their profiles before you can finalize and submit the application.

As the applicant / project director, you are responsible for verifying the page lengths and proper formatting of any uploaded attachments. If an application contains one or more attachments that do not comply with the page limits or formatting standards, the application could be withdrawn from the competition.

Application details (mandatory)

• Application title: Provide a short, descriptive title for your proposal in nontechnical terms. Restrict use of acronyms (e.g., UN, NATO). Use uppercase for only the first word of the title, proper nouns and acronyms/abbreviations.
• Language of the application: Choose the language in which the application will be submitted.
• Does your proposal involve Indigenous research, as defined by SSHRC?: If your application involves Indigenous research, it will be reviewed in the context of SSHRC’s definition of Indigenous research and its Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research.

Invitations

Invite the co-applicants and collaborators for this application. Those invited will receive an email, which will include your name and email address (as the applicant / project director), and the project title, as well as a link to the Convergence Portal. Once they have selected Accept Invitation and completed their own eligibility profile, the co-applicants’ and collaborators’ names will be displayed in the Participants section of your application. Co-applicants must upload a tri-agency CV. Refer to the Tri-agency CV document section below.

Ensure co-applicants and collaborators invited in this section are eligible for that role by consulting the Eligibility section of the funding opportunity description.

Participants

This section lists co-applicants and collaborators who have successfully joined the application. If a participant has not accepted the invitation, follow up with them to confirm they have received it. If a participant is listed as Pending Eligibility, this means they have accepted your invitation but have not yet completed their eligibility profile.

Once a co-applicant has uploaded their tri-agency CV in the Tri-Agency CV Document module and completed the My Information section, their status will be listed as Information not finalized. The applicant must then select “Finalize information” to add the co-applicant to the application. It is important to review the information of the participant to ensure correctness, as this action cannot be undone.

Participant statuses will show as Complete when the required information has been finalized.

Fields of research (mandatory)

List the fields of research that best describe this specific application according to the 2020 version of the Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) (Version 2.0).

You must provide one primary field of research. You may add up to a maximum of five fields of research directly related to the project.

Keywords (mandatory)

List between one and 10 keyword entries that best describe this specific application. Commas are accepted as part of multiple words that make up one keyword. Use the enter key to add your keyword.

Summary of proposal (mandatory)

Provide a clear summary of your proposal, indicating:

• the overall research goal and objectives of the network and/or consortium; and
• how Destination Horizon Grants funding will influence and impact the network and/or consortium’s overall research goals.

Proposed budget (mandatory)

Enter the yearly amounts requested. Ensure your proposed budget does not exceed the maximum amount that can be requested per year or the maximum number of years that can be requested.

Additional budget details are required in the Supporting documents section (i.e., “Funds requested from SSHRC” and “Budget justification” attachments). Ensure the total amounts requested from SSHRC correspond with those submitted in the “Funds requested from SSHRC” detailed budget table in the Supporting documents section.

Supporting documents

Instructions for attachments

Prepare your supporting documents, which will be separate attachments, following these requirements (for the tri-agency CV, see the tri-agency CV page):

1. Explain any acronyms and abbreviations.
2. Size all pages to 8 ½" x 11" (216 mm x 279 mm).
3. Use a minimum of single line spacing (no narrow spacing).
4. Put all text in 12 pt, Arial, black font with standard (not condensed) character spacing.
5. Apply any different fonts and sizes only in tables, figures and legends. However, all text must be clear and readable when the page is displayed at its normal size of 100%. Do not use condensed fonts.
6. Set minimum margins of 0.79″ (2 cm) around all pages.
7. Number pages sequentially in multipage attachments.
8. Include the application identification number (e.g., 876-2025-xxxxx) at the top of each page of each attachment.
9. Include the document name at the top of the first page of each attachment (e.g., Proposal).
10. Respect the maximum number of pages allowed for each attachment (if applicable).
11. Before uploading, save/export your attachment as an unprotected PDF (i.e., without security measures locking or password protecting the document).
12. Each uploaded PDF cannot exceed 5 MB.

Convert the documents

All attachments must be converted to PDF before you can attach them to the application. The conversion process varies with the operating system and word processing software you are using. If you have questions about converting your documents to PDF, contact your institution’s technical support staff.

Project description (mandatory)

You must attach a PDF copy of your Destination Horizon project description. Before writing your proposal, consult the eligibility criteria in the funding opportunity description. Write your proposal in clear, plain language. Avoid jargon, acronyms and highly technical terms.

Include:

• a description of the existing relationships with researchers, partners, networks and/or consortia from European Union and associated countries;
• a description of the overall research goals and specific research objectives of the researchers, partners, networks and/or consortia;
• a description of how Destination Horizon funding and host contributions will support the further development of the network and/or consortium in order to apply to a future Horizon Europe—Pillar II call for proposal;
• the nature and extent of training, mentoring and employability activities for students, emerging scholars and/or other highly qualified personnel, if applicable; and
• details on how all activities can be undertaken within one year.

Funds requested from SSHRC (mandatory)

For each budget year, estimate the costs you are asking SSHRC to fund using the Excel template provided for this section (which you will upload as a PDF). Ensure the totals match the figures entered in the Proposed Budget section of the Convergence application form. Consult the Specific rules for the use of grant funds section of the funding opportunity description. All budget costs must conform to the rates and regulations of the applicant’s / project director’s institution and take into account the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration principles governing the appropriate use of funds.

All costs must be justified in terms of the needs of the proposed project, including costs for organizing and integrating team activities, and for communicating results to audiences, stakeholders and the public. The budget will be reviewed according to the appropriateness of the requested budget, and to the justification of other planned resources (e.g., time, human and financial), including cash and in-kind support already or to be secured from partner organizations (see Guidelines for Cash and In-Kind Contributions).

Enter amounts rounded to the nearest dollar without any spaces or commas (e.g., 2000). For blank entries, leave the “0” value.

Personnel costs

For each of the categories below, enter the number of students and non-students you plan to hire, whether as salaried employees or as recipients of stipends.

Student and non-student salaries and benefits

For each applicable category, enter the number of students and non-students to be hired. Specify the total amount to be paid. When students are paid by wage, the amounts should follow the institution’s collective agreement or policy.

Student stipends

You may request stipends for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Stipends must be justified in terms of the project objectives. The work performed by stipend recipients should be an integral part of the project. Stipend rates are set by the institution concerned.

Travel and subsistence costs

Enter, by budget year, the total amounts requested for travel abroad and within Canada for both the research team and student personnel. Applicants / project directors must obtain the lowest possible travel fares.

Travel and subsistence costs must be based on rates approved by the institution or organization that will administer the funds.

Other expenses

Professional or technical services

Consulting fees for professional and technical services are eligible expenditures if the budget justification demonstrates expert advice is needed.

Supplies

You can include other supply items (e.g., software, stationery, postage and telephone calls) only if they directly relate to the research and are not provided by the administering institution to their research personnel or by the employer.

Nondisposable equipment—computer hardware

Purchase or rental of computers and associated hardware is allowable only if these are not provided by the administering institution to their research personnel or by the employer.

Nondisposable equipment—other

Purchase or rental of equipment (e.g., audio or video equipment) is allowable only if these are not provided by the administering institution to their research personnel or by the employer.

Other expenses

Specify other research and/or related expenses not already included.

Budget justification (mandatory)

Using the categories listed on the Funds requested from SSHRC page, explain how you will use the funds in each budget category to achieve the proposal objectives. For example, under the Student and non-student salaries and benefits categories, explain why these people need to be hired to meet the proposal’s objectives. Applicants are reminded of SSHRC’s mandate to provide training opportunities for students, emerging scholars and other highly qualified personnel, as applicable. Budget costs for research assistants, associates or proposal support personnel who are not students must be fully justified in terms of the needs of the proposal. Justify any funds that appear in the “Other” category.

SSHRC will not fund the full cost of any Destination Horizon proposal. Additional support in the form of cash contributions equivalent to 100% of the amount requested from SSHRC must come from the applicant’s institution. You must outline the overall cost of your proposal and clearly indicate which portion will be paid with SSHRC’s grant. SSHRC suggests including a table showing a cost breakdown of both the funds requested from SSHRC and the matching contributions.

Funds from other sources (mandatory)

Complete the Excel template provided for this section (which you will upload as a PDF). Ensure that you fill in year one only.

List the cash contribution that the administering organization is providing for the proposal (see Guidelines for Cash and In-Kind Contributions). Indicate whether these funds have been confirmed.

Type in the source name and amount, and identify the contribution type.

Letter of support from host organization (mandatory)

SSHRC will not fund the full cost of any Destination Horizon proposal. Additional support in the form of cash contributions equivalent to 100% of the amount requested from SSHRC must come from the host organization (see SSHRC’s Guidelines for Cash and In-Kind Contributions for more details).

The host organization letter of support must:

• be signed by someone with signing authority for the host organization;
• include a statement confirming the value of the host organization’s financial contribution; and
• include a statement confirming the host organization will support the applicant in developing future applications to Horizon Europe—Pillar II calls for proposal.

Failure to provide a letter of support that meets these criteria and failure to meet the matching funds requirement could render the application ineligible.

Tri-agency CV document

Project directors and co-applicants must follow the instructions on the tri-agency CV page and complete the tri-agency CV template. For this funding opportunity, there is no option to submit additional information through an appendix to the tri-agency CV template.

Upload the PDF version of the tri-agency CV directly in the Tri-Agency CV Document module in the Convergence Portal. Once the CV has been successfully uploaded, the Status column will show a green checkmark indicating the document has been uploaded.

Submitting the application

Review your application to ensure it is complete. Follow the prompts from the Finalize Application section to submit it.

After you accept the terms and conditions, the status of your submission will change to Received by Administrator. If you want to make any changes at this point, you may request that your research grants office (research administrator) return it to you. Once your research administrator has approved and submitted your application, the application status will be changed to Received by Agency. No further changes can be made. If the research administrator does not forward the application, it will expire.

How to connect to ORCID (optional)

1. Log in to the Convergence Portal.
2. Select the “Connect to ORCID” button, which can be found:
   • in your profile, on the contact information page;
   • when selecting an affiliation during enrolment; or
   • when adding CV Education, and/or CV Affiliation to the application.
3. Sign in to ORCID and add Convergence to your Trusted Organizations. You will then have access to the activities.
4. Once connected, you can import activities from ORCID into specific areas of the Convergence Portal. For example, in the “Education” tab within your profile, click on “Import from ORCID”, select your record, and select “Import Selected.”