Partnership Development Grants

Partnership Development Grants support research in the social sciences and humanities by fostering formal partnerships and developing new adaptable partnership models.

Visit the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) website for more information on the Partnership Development Grants.

Deadlines

• Faculty deadline: consult your Faculty Research Facilitator
• Office of the Vice-President (Research, Innovation and International) (OVPRII) Approval Form deadline: November 10, 2026 (anticipated)
• OVPRII submission to sponsor: November 17, 2026 by 9 a.m. (anticipated)

Value and Duration

Partnership Development Grants are valued at $75,000 to $200,000 over one to three years.

Overview

Partnership Development Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Research Partnerships program.

These grants provide support over one to three years to teams/partnerships, led by a project director, to:

• develop research and/or related activities in the social sciences and humanities — these can include knowledge mobilization and the meaningful involvement of students and emerging scholars by fostering new partnerships with existing and/or potential partners; or
• design and test new partnership approaches for research and/or related activities that can result in best practices or models — these can either be adapted by others or have the potential to be scaled up to a regional, national or international level.

Partnership funding is intended for formal partnerships between postsecondary institutions and/or organizations of various types.

The quality of training, mentoring and employability plans for students and emerging scholars will be evaluated as an important part of the proposed initiative. SSHRC’s Guidelines for Effective Research Training explain how students and emerging scholars can meaningfully participate in proposed initiatives.

The intellectual leadership and governance for the creation of a formal partnership can come from the research community and/or from partner organizations from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. However, only an institution that meets the institutional eligibility requirements can administer the grant funding, once awarded.

SSHRC invites applicants and their partner organizations who wish to propose formal disciplinary, interdisciplinary, interinstitutional, 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 that meet SSHRC’s subject matter eligibility.

Eligibility

Applications can be submitted by a team of researchers (consisting of one applicant and/or project director and one or more co-applicants, co-directors and/or collaborators). The applicant and/or project director prepares the application on behalf of the partner organizations of the formal partnership.

Applicants (except postdoctoral researchers and students) must be affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution that holds institutional eligibility at the time of application. Researchers who maintain an affiliation with a Canadian postsecondary institution, but whose primary affiliation is with a non-Canadian postsecondary institution, are not eligible for applicant status.

Applicants who have received a SSHRC grant of any type but have failed to submit an achievement report by the deadline specified in their Notice of Award are not eligible to apply for another SSHRC grant until they have submitted the report.

Federal scientists who are affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution must demonstrate that their proposed research or research-related activity is not related to either the mandate of their employer or the normal duties for which they receive payment from that employer.

If the proposal falls within the mandate of the federal government and the research or research-related activity is performed in government facilities, funding can only be allocated for student salaries, stipends and travel costs.

Submitting Your Application

1. Submit an internal Approval Form through our central awards management database cuResearch.
2. Submit an external application to SSHRC by following their submission guidelines.

Contact Us

Potential applicants are encouraged to discuss this funding opportunity with their Faculty Research Facilitator.