Research funding will help equip public, private and not-for-profit organizations to respond to challenges posed by pandemic
September 21, 2020, Ottawa, Ontario - Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
As Canada continues to manage the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the work of Canadian researchers is key to building a healthy, more resilient and prosperous country. Working together with government, industry and not-for-profit organizations, researchers from across the social sciences and humanities can help provide data, insight and evidence to guide our actions in the months to come while we navigate postpandemic economic and social recovery.
Today, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced an investment of over $4 million in funding through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's (SSHRC) Partnership Engage Grants, to support 172 projects and almost 600 researchers working with businesses and community partners from across Canada. These grants provide short-term and timely support for partnered research activities that will inform decision-making in the public, private or not-for-profit sector.
In response to the early phases of the pandemic crisis, the latest Partnership Engage Grants competition included a special call to address COVID-19-related research. Over $3 million of the investment announced today will directly support 139 projects addressing this call. Some of these projects will study changes in the teaching profession; the pandemic's impact on small- and medium-sized enterprises; mental health among entrepreneurs; and impacts on seniors and their community support services.
Quotes
"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges around the world. While much of the focus to date has been on developing and testing effective countermeasures to control the spread of the virus, the work these researchers will be doing to examine the longer-term impacts of the pandemic on individuals, businesses and communities will better position Canada for a strong recovery."
-The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
"SSHRC's investment in these diverse partnered research projects will advance critical knowledge needed to address the impacts of COVID-19 and the social, cultural and economic challenges facing citizens, communities and businesses in Canada and around the world."
-Ted Hewitt, President, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Quick facts
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SSHRC's Partnership Engage Grants provide short-term and timely support for partnered research activities that will inform decision making at a partner organization from the public, private or not-for-profit sector.
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The Partnership Engage Grants COVID-19 Special Initiative provides researchers and their partners a unique opportunity to foster knowledge exchange on COVID-19 crisis-related issues, challenges and impacts. It offers a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge between postsecondary researchers and different sectors of society, including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and other highly qualified personnel.
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The Partnership Engage Grants COVID-19 Special Initiative call is ongoing. Recipients of the September-deadline applications will be announced soon.
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The application intake for this first ever COVID-19 Special Initiative competition exceeded expectations. To ensure an appropriate response to this demand, SSHRC reallocated just over $3 million more to this initiative. This additional funding brings the total amount for the June and upcoming September competitions to almost $5 million.
