Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is an arm of the Canadian federal funding agency. SSHRC supports a wide range of research and scholarship in the social sciences and humanities. The current president of the Council is Chad Gaffield.

History

SSHRC was formally created by an act of Parliament in 1977. In the years since its creation it has expanded programs and funding considerably, from primarily recipient-driven grants and primary research to directed research that seeks to answer specific questions of importance to SSHRC or Canada as a country. In its 2006-2007 budget, the program offered CAN$306 million for grants and scholarships out of a total CAN$538 million budget. SSHRC recently underwent a transition from a granting council (dedicated towards providing funding for research) to a knowledge council (dedicated towards funding and disseminating research so it is useful to Canadians).

Types of grants

SSHRC now supports a variety of programs with a variety of goals. The application process generally involves peer review of the merit of the applications. The large number of applicants means that not all projects can be funded. SSHRC also works in partnership with NSERC and the CIHR (two other Canadian arms-length funding agencies responsible for the natural sciences and engineering, and medical research respectively) to fund the indirect costs of research (such as...
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