SSHRC Public Outreach Grants: Workshops and Conferences

November 2011 Competition

Overview
Value	No maximum limit
Duration	1 year
Application deadline	November 28, 2011
Results announced	March 2012
Apply	Application form not available

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Context

Knowledge mobilization is a core priority for SSHRC, one aimed at facilitating and enabling the movement of knowledge in the social sciences and humanities to and from various sectors of society in order to inform Canadian and international debate, decisions and actions.
SSHRC actively supports connecting, disseminating, exchanging and co-creating knowledge to meet the needs of society. The aim is to ensure that people who stand to benefit from research results (e.g., policy-makers, business leaders, community leaders, educators, and members of the media, as well as academics in various fields) have the knowledge they need, when they need it, in useful forms.

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Objectives

Public Outreach Grants are designed to mobilize and/or leverage existing and ongoing research in the social sciences and humanities for a range of audiences beyond academia. Through this funding opportunity, SSHRC encourages researchers to find effective ways to disseminate, transfer, exchange, synthesize and broker research results to wider audiences.
Funding is available for knowledge mobilization events in the open category or any of SSHRC's priority areas:

• Open: Applicants may submit knowledge mobilization projects drawing from any eligible SSHRC discipline.
• Canadian Environmental Issues
• Northern Communities: Towards Social and Economic Prosperity
• Innovation, Leadership and Prosperity
• Aboriginal Research
• Digital Economy

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Description

The Public Outreach Grants: Workshops and Conferences funding opportunity supports knowledge mobilization events directed primarily to non-academic audiences. This includes:

• Workshops: Smaller, invitational, interactive events that link researcher(s) and target audience(s). Applicants are encouraged to produce a concrete deliverable where appropriate (synthesis, report, policy document, etc.).
• Conferences: Larger, possibly interactive, open events that link target audience(s) and researcher(s). Applicants are encouraged to produce a concrete deliverable where appropriate (synthesis, report, policy document, etc.).
• Innovation forums: A new initiative from SSHRC, innovation forums are brainstorming events that: a) are short, small in scope and intensive; b) include participants from both academic and non-academic sectors; and c) use interactive, facilitated formats organized around setting new research agendas and/or developing new research questions or methodologies. 
• Summer institutes: Drawn from the Image, Text, Sound and Technology funding opportunity, a summer institute is an intensive, short, interactive event that facilitates the mobilization of cutting-edge digital media technologies and skills to researchers, students and other audiences where appropriate.

Public Outreach Grants are not intended to support traditional means of dissemination to the research community (such as academic conferences). SSHRC does, however, support such efforts through funding opportunities such as Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences. Applicants cannot submit an application to the Public Outreach Grants: Workshops and Conferences funding opportunity and the Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences funding opportunity in the same calendar year.
Target audiences for all events and activities should include, but are not limited to:

• policy-makers;
• organizations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors;
• communities of interest (geographic or virtual);
• other areas of Canada beyond the scope of the original research;
• students at all levels (i.e., primary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities);
• the general public; and
• international audiences.

Applicants are encouraged to describe how the proposed knowledge mobilization activities are expected to increase the capacity of selected audiences to understand and use research results.

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Value and Duration

Applicants must situate their proposals within one of three funding levels: under $50,000, $50,000 to $100,000, and over $100,000. There is no maximum value for the last category; however, applicants should ensure their plans can be implemented in one year. The applications will be adjudicated according to merit and the adjudication criteria outlined below. The level of funding requested should be justified in detail and appropriate to the activities undertaken by the proposed project.
Public Outreach Grants will be tenable for one year only, with the possibility of one one-year extension. Grant holders must apply to the Public Outreach Grants program officer for any extensions. This is a one-time call for proposals.

For further information, please see http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/programs-programmes/public_outreach-sensibilisation_public/workshops-ateliers-eng.aspx.  Please also feel free to get in touch with me at sara.mueller@usask.ca