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Research Digest, July 2020

July 31, 2020 Issue

The LA&PS Research Office publishes a bi-weekly Research Digest to keep faculty members informed about important research issues and opportunities.

If you or your unit is planning an event, a notice or a funding opportunity that you would like included in our Digest Newsletter, please send these to lapsrsc@yorku.ca.

In this issue:


Internal Notices

York Research Chairs 2020/21 Information Session

The YRC Chairs 2020/21 information session is scheduled for July 29 from 10:00 am – 11:30 am, via Zoom. The session will provide an overview of the nomination process, including changes to this year’s competition, and provide insights for developing effective nominations. Potential nominees and those involved in the nomination process are encouraged to attend. Please register here.

Research Commons New Faculty Research Orientation

July 30, 2020

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

The first in a series of workshops designed to introduce new faculty members to the research world at York University. Register here. Zoom link.

Robarts Centre: Canada Watch Summer 2020 Issue

The Summer 2020 issue of Canada Watch “Supporting Indigenous Language Preservation and Revitalization in Canada” is now available online.  This issue of Canada Watch is a special collaboration with the Canadian Language Museum. In addition to three articles on the topic of preserving and revitalizing Indigenous languages, we are pleased to include the booklet “Indigenous Languages in Canada” from the Canadian Language Museum. Find the issue online here.

Submission of External Grants through Office of Research Services

Given the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, ORS is now accepting electronic submission of research applications.  A description of the submission process, and the two versions of the ORS checklist, can be found on this page. Please submit ORS Checklists and research applications to researchapps@yorku.ca.


Internal Notices

Internal Grants

York Research Chairs, 2020-2021 Competition

LAPS 1st round deadline: August 24, 2020 at 12 pm (noon)

The internal competition for the 2020-21 York Research Chairs (YRC) program has commenced. The YRC program offers both “Tier 1” and “Tier 2” chairs. In the case of Tier 2, there are two levels of chair.

Information pertaining to both the internal LA&PS and University-wide YRC competition and selection process, as well as application forms, can be found on the LA&PS Intranet site. Please review the full details on this page of the LAPS website.

To have your name considered for a YRC nomination, you must submit the completed application form, along with the full internal application materials (described within the form) to David Cuff (dcuff@yorku.ca) no later than 12 Noon on Monday, August 24, 2020.

SSHRC Partnership Grant 2021 Competition: York’s Internal Notice of Intent (iNOI)

SSHRC has not formally launched the 2021 competition, but York University is launching an internal Notice of Intent (iNOI) process early given the competitiveness and strategic importance of the competition to the university. If you are interested in pursuing a SSHRC Partnership Grant, please review the full internal posting about the NOI, which can be found here.

GA (Graduate Assistant) Training Protocol

On July 15, 2020, FGS commenced the second round for the GA Training Protocol. Eligible researchers will receive a maximum of $2,000 for each award, which will be administered by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Applications from faculty members who have not previously received a GA Training award in 19/20 will be reviewed on a first come, first served basis until the total fund is expended. Full program details are located on this page of the Faculty Relations website.

SSHRC Exchange – Conference Grant Program

Deadline: August 4, 2020

To provide assistance for attendance at national and international scholarly conferences for which the applicant is giving a paper, making a poster presentation, or featured at a solo or 2-person opening of an exhibition, a principal screening, premier performance of dance, theatre or musical production. The application form can be found here (expect to be prompted for your Passport York login). Completed applications should be submitted via email to: Denise Jagdeosingh-Martinez at djagdeo@yorku.ca.

VPRI Funding for Scholarly Events and Outreach Activities

Deadline: September 1, 2020

Value:  Normally $500-$1,500

Duration: within 12 months

The Office of the VPRI offers seed funding to support events or outreach activities that strengthen the research culture and build the profile and reputation of research at York University. Application can be found here.

VPRI Funding for Indigenous Scholarly Events and Outreach Activities

Deadline: September 1, 2020

Value: Normally $500-$1,500

Duration: within 12 months

The Office of the VPRI offers funding to support scholarly events or outreach activities that address Indigenous priorities and needs, strengthen York’s Indigenous research culture and build the profile and reputation of sound Indigenous-focused research at York University.  Priority will be given to proposals from Indigenous applicants. Application can be found here.

LA&PS Seed Grant for Collaborative Research Initiatives

Deadline: September 15, 2020

Value: Up to $5000

LA&PS full-time faculty members are invited to apply for seed funding to build new research collaborations with scholarly and/or community partners by supporting the specific costs associated with bringing key partners together to explore and develop new research and research funding opportunities. These initiatives must involve at least one LA&PS faculty member working with collaborators, who can be faculty or external community members (locally or globally). The funding is designed to offset costs associated with bringing the collaborators together for a preliminary planning meeting or small-scale workshop. Application can be found under section #1 on this web page.

York Incentive Grant

Deadline: Rolling

Value: Up to $6,000

Duration: 18 months

To defray costs associated with assembling interdisciplinary collaboration teams (involving two or more Faculites) to assist larger-scale initiatives in the quest for external funding. These grants are not awarded to support the preparation of applications for the standard programs of research support (e.g., NSERC Discovery, SSHRC Connections Grants, and SSHRC Insight and Insight Development Grants). Applications will be considered in support of the development of larger-scale tri-council applications.  Application can be found here. (Expect to be prompted for your Passport York login before seeing the form.)

York Indigenous Incentive Grant

Deadline: Rolling

Value: Up to $3,000.

To provide support for the development of research grant applications, related to Indigenous priorities and needs, to external sources as articulated in our Strategic Research Plan (SRP). Its main purpose will be to defray costs associated with applications for standard programs of research (including but not limited to NSERC Discovery, CIHR, SSHRC Connection Grants, SSHRC Insight and Insight Development Grants, and SSHRC Partnership Development Grants). While the scale of initiatives supported may vary according to discipline, all proposals must clearly demonstrate the intended external source of support. Application can be found here. (Expect to be prompted for your Passport York login before seeing the form.)

LA&PS Book Publication Subvention Program

Deadline: Rolling

Value: Up to $1000.

YUFA faculty (full-time, Senior Scholars, and retired faculty within six years of retirement) or visiting professors associated with the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies are invited to apply to this program if the scholarly book publisher with which they are publishing a work requires a subvention in order to offset the costs of production, or if the publisher has made them responsible for absorbing the costs of hiring an indexer. The application form can be found under section #5 on this page.

LA&PS Research Events Fund

Deadline: Rolling

Value: Up to $5,000

LA&PS Faculty Members (YUFA and CUPE 3903 Unit 2, or retired YUFA) and post-doctoral visitors affiliated with LA&PS programs or faculty members, are welcome to apply to the fund in support of events they are organizing/co-organizing either on or off campus. Post-doctoral visitors may only apply if the proposed event will occur within the period of the visitorship. The application form can be found under section #5 on this page.

For a general listing of internal funding opportunities, visit here.


Internal Grants

External Notices

SSHRC Insight Grant Webinar

In August, SSHRC will be offering English and French webinars focused on the Insight Grant.

• English session:
August 20, 2020 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET
Webex link.  Event #: 129 524 5900;  Password: VWpW5em552T

• French session:
August 19, 2020 from 1 pm to 2:30 pm ET
Webex link. Event #: 129 549 7740; Password: CRSH2020

SSHRC Revises Grant Extension Information in Relation to IDG

As the end date for Insight Development Grants (IDG) is May 31, effective immediately, the eligibility window for the SSHRC grant extension [provoked by the COVID-19 situation] has been expanded to include IDG grants ending on May 31, 2021 (including the one-year automatic extension, where applicable). This additional extension is for IDG recipients only. The original notice about extensions can be found on the SSHRC website here.

The Impact of Social Sciences and Humanities on Society

The AESIS Network is proud to announce that its next edition on ‘The Impact of Social Sciences and Humanities on Society’ will be hosted from Ottawa, Canada, and broadcasted online to a global audience on October 14-16, 2020. For this edition, the aim is to foster a discussion on how one can assess and stimulate the impact of Social Sciences and Humanities through an interdisciplinary approach. Learn more by visiting here.

HSS during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Are you conducting research related to the COVID-19 pandemic or know someone who is? The Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences wants to share your story. Visit here for more details.

Call for Speakers, Big Thinking - November 2020

The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences welcomes proposals for a Big Thinking lecture or panel featuring scholar(s) in any discipline of the humanities and social sciences, on the topic of the 2020 US election. The event will take place virtually on a date to be determined, sometime between October 20 – November 17, 2020. To submit a proposal, please fill out the online form by August 7, 2020. More details can be found on this page of the Federation website.

NSERC Project Opportunities Related to COVID-19 Pandemic

NSERC now has listed on its website challenges and questions submitted by industry, not-for-profit and public-sector organizations. NSERC encourages university faculty to visit this page and review the opportunities.


External Notices

External Grants and Fellowships

SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant: Skills and Work in the Digital Economy

Deadlines:
• ORS deadline for full technical review: August 20, 2020
• Agency deadline:  September 3, 2020

Value: Up to $30,000

Duration: 1 year

SSHRC in partnership with Future Skills Centre of Canada recently launched a Knowledge Synthesis Grants (KSG) competition to assess the state of research knowledge on the topic of “Skills and Work in the Digital Economy.” (Application forms can be accessed by logging into your SSHRC account here, and then clicking on “Create New Form.”)

Note: Knowledge Synthesis Grants are not intended to support original research.  Rather, they are intended to support the synthesis of existing research knowledge and the identification of knowledge gaps. This call is focused on the state of research knowledge emerging over the past 10 years.

SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS for technical review: September 1, 2020
• Agency deadline: September 15, 2020

Value: $7,000 to $25,000

Duration: 1 year

These grants provide short-term and timely support for partnered research activities that will inform decision-making at a single partner organization from the public, private or not-for-profit sector. The small-scale, stakeholder-driven partnerships supported through Partnership Engage Grants are meant to respond to immediate needs and time constraints facing organizations in non-academic sectors. In addressing an organization-specific need, challenge and/or opportunity, these partnerships let non-academic organizations and post-secondary researchers access each other’s unique knowledge, expertise and capabilities on topics of mutual interest. (Application forms can be accessed by logging into your SSHRC account here, and then clicking on “Create New Form.”)

SSHRC Partnership Engage Grants – COVID-19 Special Initiative

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS for technical review: September 1, 2020
• Agency deadline: September 15, 2020

Value: $7,000 to $25,000

Duration: 1 year

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.

Through the June 15, 2020 and September 15, 2020 rounds of its Partnership Engage Grant competitions, SSHRC will invest up to $1.5 million in special initiative funding to COVID-19 related projects.

Note: SSHRC recently updated the eligibility section of this competition to allow researchers who have already submitted a PEG application in 2020 to be able to apply to the PEG COVID-19 Special Initiative.

Application forms can be accessed by logging into your SSHRC account here, and then clicking on “Create New Form.”

SSHRC Insight Grant

Deadlines:
• Deadline to guarantee a full substantive review of draft application by LAPS pre-award staff member: August 24, 2020
• Verified application, final budget, and ORS checklist due at LAPS: September 29, 2020 by 9 am
• Agency deadline: October 1, 2020

Value: $7,000 - $400,000

Duration: 2 to 5 years

Insight Grants support research projects proposed by scholars in the humanities or social sciences that are judged worthy of funding by their peers and/or other experts. Insight Grant research initiatives can be undertaken by an individual researcher or a team of researchers working in collaboration.

Applicants choose from one of two streams, depending on the amount of funding required. Both streams will be adjudicated by the same committees, and will receive the same rigorous level of merit review. The deadlines and application process are identical for both; however, the targeted success rate for Stream A is higher than for Stream B. Stream A is for budgets between $7000 and $100,000; Stream B is for budgets between $101,00 and $400,000. (Application forms can be found by logging into your SSHRC account here, clicking on “Create New Form,” and selecting the Insight Grant from the list provided.)

SSHRC Connection Grant

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS for technical review: October 19, 2020
• Agency deadline: November 2, 2020

Value:  $7000 to $25,000 for events, and up to $50,000 for other outreach activities; higher amounts for outreach activities may be considered if well justified

Duration: 1 year

These grants support workshops, colloquiums, conferences, forums, summer institutes, or other events or outreach activities.  To access an application form and full instructions, log into your SSHRC account.  In most cases, the appropriate application to select is “Connection – Individual.”

SSHRC Partnership Development Grants

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS for technical review: November 2, 2020
• Agency deadline: November 16, 2020

Value: $75,000 to $200,000

Duration: 1-3 years

SSHRC invites applicants and their partner organizations who wish to propose formal disciplinary, interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, international and/or cross-sector partnership arrangements to apply for support through this funding opportunity. Funds are available to support a variety of formal partnership development initiatives in all of the disciplines and themes eligible for funding at SSHRC. Please see the definitions for formal partnership and partner organization before beginning an application. (Application forms can be accessed by logging into your SSHRC account here, and then clicking on “Create New Form.”)

CIHR Funding Opportunities

A list of funding opportunities through CIHR can be found on this page of the agency’s website. Please be attentive to any COVID-19 update that appears as part of the posting for specific opportunities.

NSERC: Upcoming Notices of Intent to Apply

NOI deadline: August 4, 2020, 8:00 pm ET

Researchers who intend to apply for a Discovery Grant, Subatomic Physics Discovery, Major Resources Support, or Category 2 or 3 Research Tools and Instruments in the 2021 competition must submit a Notification of Intent to Apply (NOI) by the deadline date of August 4, 2020, 8:00 p.m. (ET). NSERC will not accept any NOI after the deadline.  In addition, NOIs do not need to come through ORS but should be submitted directly to NSERC. 

Discovery Grant NOI now available in Research Portal.

Subatomic Physics NOI now available in the Research Portal.

NSERC PromoScience Program

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS technical review: September 1, 2020
• Submission to ORS for final proposal and fully signed ORS Checklist: September 11, 2020 by 9:00 am
• Agency deadline: Sept. 15, 2020

Value: Up to $200K per year

Duration: Up to 3 years

This program offers financial support for initiatives that promote the natural sciences and engineering to Canada's young people, particularly to groups such as girls and Indigenous peoples that are under-represented in scientific and engineering careers. It supports hands-on learning experiences for young students and their science teachers.  Grants may be used to cover improvements to program content or delivery, as well as for new programs and activities.  Grants can also be used to cover operational costs such as salaries, travel, postage, materials and supplies, provided that they relate to the promotion of science and engineering.

Activities that encourage Indigenous undergraduate students to pursue graduate studies in the natural sciences and engineering are eligible.

Note: NSERC will not fund 100% of the costs of a proposed activity. NSERC’s contribution is generally up to one-third of a program’s funding, but NSERC will allow more flexibility if justified for competition 2020 given the circumstances surrounding COVID-19.

Note: Post-secondary institutions will be limited to one PromoScience application per department. Faculties that do not have departments will be limited to one application from that Faculty. If multiple applications come in per department/Faculty, as applicable, the Faculty will select which applications go forward. Therefore please notify your Faculty research office as soon as possible if you are interested in applying.

New Frontiers in Research:  2020 Exploration

Deadlines:
• Submission of NOI plus fully signed ORS Checklist to ORS: no later than August 17, 2020 at 9 am (in order for ORS to provide institutional approval and forward your NOI to NFRF by the August 18th agency deadline)
• Submission of NOI to agency: August 18, 2020
• Submission to ORS for full technical review: October 5, 2020
• Submission to ORS of final application and fully signed ORS Checklist: October 15, 2020 at 12 noon (in order for ORS to provide institutional approval and forward your application to NFRF for October 20, 2020)
• Agency deadline: October 20, 2020

Value: Up to $125,000 per year (including indirect costs)

Note re: indirect costs: Researchers must include 25% in indirect costs in their applications on top of the direct costs of research. The 25% of indirect costs will be used by the university to cover indirect costs driven by your project and will be managed as per the Research Support Fund under the SHARP budget model and will not be available to the applicants to spend.

Duration: Up to 2 years

The objective of the Exploration stream is to support high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research.  It seeks to inspire projects that bring disciplines together in unexpected ways and from bold, innovative perspectives.  With the Exploration stream, there is recognition that innovation often carries risk; proposals for high-risk research projects that have the potential to deliver game-changing impacts are strongly encouraged. Exploration stream grants support projects that: 1) bring disciplines together beyond traditional disciplinary or common interdisciplinary approaches; 2) propose to explore something new, which might fail; and 3) have the potential for significant impact. Projects must be interdisciplinary. The nominated principal investigator and team members (if applicable) can be from any discipline, but the proposed research project must include elements from at least two different disciplines (as defined by a group-level classification based on the Canadian Research and Development Classification).

TD Ready Challenge

Agency deadline: August 13, 2020, 4 pm EDT

Value: $350,000 to $1 million

This year's TD Ready Challenge is part of the $25 million (CAD) that TD has allocated to help strengthen community resilience and COVID-19 recovery through the TD Community Resilience Initiative. The 2020 TD Ready Challenge seeks to provide financial support to organizations that have designed innovative, scalable and/or replicable solutions to help address the pandemic-caused issues faced by communities that are experiencing disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 across North America. Solutions must address at least one (but can address more) of the four interconnected drivers of change of the TD Ready Commitment (Financial SecurityVibrant PlanetConnected Communities and Better Health).

Note: York can only submit one application to this competition. If you are interested in this funding opportunity, please contact Diana Frasca in ORS immediately at dfrasca@yorku.ca.

Shastri Institutional Collaborative Research Grant

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS of final proposal and fully signed ORS Checklist for required review: August 13, 2020 by 9 am
• Agency deadline:  August 17, 2020 by 5 pm (IST)

Value:  INR 10, 00,000 (two equal installments of 5 lakh each year)

Duration: 2 years

To support and encourage Institutional collaboration in R&D for a period of two years in the areas in which Institutions from SICI’s Indian and Canadian Member Council can benefit.  This grant intends to fill information gaps for policy makers and others influencing the policy-making process. Proposals can be developed and submitted from all domains of knowledge/disciplines under this program.

Shastri Mobility Programme

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS deadline of final proposal and fully signed ORS Checklist for required review: August 13, 2020 by 9 am
• Agency deadline:  August 17, 2020 by 5 pm (IST)

Value: 500-1000 CAD

Duration: 3 weeks

This program is for the faculty members/educational administrators from its Canadian and Indian Member Institutions of good standing to study and learn best practices of partner country. This program is for SICI’s Member Institutions who wish to bring about a change in his/her university by understanding the Canadian/Indian education system, interested to develop curriculum on the pattern of partner country, willing to build up a course, wants to deliver lectures or interested to teach a module/part of a course via online teaching methods.

Shastri Programme Development Grant

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS deadline of final proposal and fully signed ORS Checklist for required review: August 13, 2020 by 9 am
• Agency deadline:  August 17, 2020 by 5 pm (IST)

Value: Up to 1, 00,000 INR (1 lakh) - 3, 00000 INR (3 lakh) depending on the nature of the Programme/activity proposed

Duration: April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021

To encourage scholarly and professional academic activities with a view to contributing to the expansion of knowledge about India or Canada at Indian/Canadian universities that are members of the Shastri Institute. Among the activities included for grant consideration are conferences, symposia, workshops, lecture series and theme-based orientation programs via e-platform for students of Canadian Member Council/Indian Member Council to familiarize them with India and Canada.

Shastri Publication Grant

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS of final proposal and fully signed ORS Checklist for required review: August 13, 2020 by 9 am
• Agency deadline:  August 17, 2020 by 5 pm (IST)

Value: Up to INR 1, 00,000

Shastri Indo Canadian Institute India office is pleased to announce Shastri Publication Grant (SPG) for its Indian Members Council (IMC) and Canadian Members Council (CMC) of SICI. The purpose of this grant is to encourage scholarly publications like books which are critical in nature, festschrifts volumes, working papers, and policy papers. This is a competitive grant designed to assist publication on topics relevant to the themes where Shastri Institute promotes research via various activities. Please note that for purposes of all SICI granting programs, ‘research/training/activity/ shall be deemed to include creative activity conducted within the structures and programs of a member institution. Publications can be submitted from all domains of knowledge/subjects under this grant.

Guggenheim Fellowships

Anticipated Agency deadline: mid-September 2020

Duration: 6-12 months

The purpose of the Guggenheim Fellowship program is to help provide Fellows with blocks of time in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible. No special conditions are attached to the funds – Fellowship recipients may spend their grant funds in any manner they deem necessary to their work. The United States Internal Revenue Service, however, does require the Foundation to ask for reports from its Fellows at the end of their Fellowship terms.  View the ORS posting for more details.

2020-21 Sloan Research Fellowships

Agency deadline: September 15, 2020, 11:59PM EDT

Value: $75,000 USD

Duration: 2 years

The Sloan Research Fellowships seek to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. Candidates must be tenure-track, though untenured, as of September 15, 2020. The awards are for researchers in the fields of chemistry, computer science, Earth systems science, economics, mathematics, molecular biology, neuroscience, physics, or a related field.

The SIRI team in ORS is available to support nominations. Please contact Abby Vogus, SIRI Specialist, at avogus@yorku.ca to discuss timelines and how the team can assist.

Fulbright: Awards for Canadian Scholars

Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS for technical review: October 30, 2020
• Agency deadline: November 15, 2020

The Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program operates on the principle of reciprocal exchange and provides the opportunity for outstanding Canadian scholars to lecture and/or conduct research in the United States.

Traditional Awards: US$12,500 for one semester (4 months). These awards are field open and can be taken up at any university, think tank, or government agency in the United States.

Research Chairs Program: The award values range from US$25,000 to US$50,000 and from four to nine months.

Additional opportunities open to Canadian scholars, with alternative/rolling deadlines can be found on this page of the Fulbright Canada website.


External Grants
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