The Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide (v.2014) has been revised. The policies and requirements found in the guide apply to all three agencies: NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR. Any exceptions to these will be indicated in the program description of the respective Agency. The guide is effective January 1st, 2015 and supersedes all previous versions.
A Summary of the Changes can be found here.
Open data is trending right now. Why is this? First, it’s fast becoming a requirement by many Federal granting agencies to ensure publicly funded research results are made accessible and available to the public. Second, many governments and organizations around the world are publishing data sets to build networks, promote innovation, and grow social change. Open data access can come in many forms, the most common being open access publishing and web-based repositories. For university-affiliated researchers and scholars, common questions arise: How and where should I make my research findings publicly available? How much will it cost? Will my data be secure? Should I be concerned about privacy and confidentiality? For some informative solutions, refer to the following links to open data repositories, networks and other resources available to the Canadian research community:
Scholars Portal Dataverse Network
The Scholars Portal Dataverse network is a repository for research data collected by individuals and organizations associated with Ontario universities. The Dataverse platform makes it easy for researchers to deposit data, create appropriate metadata, and version documents as you work. (source: SP site).
Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Research Dissemination
University of Toronto Libraries Open Data
Tri-Agency Open Access Policy (draft stages) FAQs
The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support teams of researchers and knowledge users to produce knowledge syntheses and scoping reviews that will contribute to the use of synthesized evidence in decision-making and practice.
Objectives:
Eligibility to Apply
CIHR strongly recommends that each team include:
Amount:
Knowledge synthesis: $100,000 (max) for up to one year.
Scoping review: $50,000 (max) for up to one year.
Deadlines:
Brescia Research Officer: 2 weeks before agency deadline
CIHR:
Application Deadline: May 15 2015
Notice of Decision: January 2016
How to Apply:
More information:
Knowledge syntheses are the cornerstone of knowledge translation. They transform vast libraries of scientific literature into knowledge that is reliable, relevant and readable for knowledge users. Syntheses are comprehensive and apply scientific methods to literature analysis which minimizes the risk of bias and error that may accompany single studies, so decisions are less likely to be based on insufficient or premature evidence. Syntheses are also a means to integrate the established literature with other forms of knowledge or map the state of current knowledge on a topic, revealing to knowledge users where there is or is not strong evidence to inform their decisions, and guiding researchers to new avenues for primary research.
Knowledge syntheses
All forms of knowledge synthesis are eligible, including systematic reviews, realist syntheses, narrative syntheses, meta-analyses, meta-syntheses and meta-ethnography. Syntheses that are intended to lead to the development of practice guidelines are also eligible. Syntheses in this funding opportunity may synthesize results from qualitative, quantitative or multi-method research. The types of knowledge than can be synthesized are broad and can include empirical as well as theoretical knowledge. All syntheses in this funding opportunity must assemble, analyze and summarize knowledge.
Scoping reviews
Scoping reviews are exploratory projects that systematically map the literature available on a topic, identifying the key concepts, theories, sources of evidence, and gaps in the research. They are often preliminary to full syntheses, undertaken when feasibility is a concern — either because the potentially relevant literature is thought to be especially vast and diverse (varying by method, theoretical orientation or discipline) or there is suspicion that not enough literature exists. These entail the systematic selection, collection and summarization of existing knowledge in a broad thematic area for the purpose of identifying where there is sufficient evidence to conduct a full synthesis or where insufficient evidence exists and further primary research is necessary.
All Tri-Council granting agencies (SSHRC, CIHR and NSERC) require applicants to include knowledge dissemination plans within their applications for research funding. Other non-Tri-Council sponsors may also require knowledge dissemination plans to be included in the application. Knowledge dissemination takes on various forms: Knowledge mobilization (KMb) is the standard term used by SSHRC, Knowledge Translation (KT) is commonly used by CIHR, and NSERC has been known to use both terms interchangeably. Differences do exist between KD concepts, but all have a common goal in moving research from the “lab” to the social sphere through direct communication and exchange between researchers and the public. KMb/KT/KD is typically carried out through reports, policies, practice, meetings, and conferences. But research findings can be communicated and disseminated in many other creative and non-traditional ways. Internet-based communications and social media channels have created additional (and immediate) avenues for getting research findings out to a wider audience.
Examples of KMb/KT include:
If feasible, research results should be made available to the public through websites, databases, or institutional repositories in accordance with many Tri-Council Open Access policies.
KT/KMb/KD plans do not have to be formulaic. They can be integrated as a part of the proposed research study, and as part of an “end of study” dissemination plan, or both.
The following sites provide useful information and insights into the world of KMb/KT and KD:
Institute for Knowledge Mobilization
SSHRC Community Engagement and KMb
Innovation from Lab to Marketplace – Points worth Considering
Presenter: Lisa Cechetto, Executive Director, WORLDiscoveries
As we move towards globalization, our society and corresponding economy will increasingly rely on new technologies and innovation for prosperity. Research laboratories at universities, institutes and colleges represent a critical source of discoveries with high commercial potential. An invention is the first step in the innovation process with the ultimate goal of commercialization. Successfully transferring new ideas into the marketplace requires a solid understanding of the key challenges, business expertise and a strong relationship between industry and academia.
When: January 21st 2015
Time: 12:00 – 1:30pm
Location: Mother St. James Building, Room 136
Feel free to bring your lunch!
About WORLDiscoveries: WORLDiscoveries® is born out of a partnership between The University of Western Ontario, Robarts Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute. WORLDiscoveries® draws upon a mix of industry connections, sector-specific market knowledge and business development expertise, to help researchers commercialize their discoveries through licensing and new company spin-offs.
WORLDiscoveries® strives to: Encourage and promote innovation at Western University, Robarts Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute, and identify and facilitate the protection, development and timely transfer of said innovative research products and services for the use and benefit of the organization, its faculty, staff, students and society. WORLDiscoveries® represents a new and exciting means of bringing local knowledge and invention to the global market and the global market to our local economy.
Learn more: http://www.worldiscoveries.ca/
For Canada to be a successful 21st‑century society we need to anticipate the challenges ahead and keep our minds open to the potential futures facing us all. This is the inspiration behind SSHRC’s Imagining Canada’s Future initiative.
SSHRC launched Imagining Canada’s Future in June 2011 to identify future challenge areas for Canada in an evolving global context that are likely to emerge in five, 10 and 20 years and to which the social sciences and humanities research community could contribute its knowledge, talent and expertise.
The project involved a two‑year, cross‑Canada and international consultation process, during which we reached out to more than 13,000 subject matter experts, members of the academic research community, students, and public, private and not-for-profit sector leaders, to seek their insight.
The Six Future Challenge Areas are as follows:
SSHRC invites all applicants to its funding opportunities to review the future challenge areas, and subquestions, and to consider addressing one or more of these areas in their research proposal.
In response to consultations with the research community, and informed by a literature review, the guidelines present a common definition of effective research training across all SSHRC funding opportunities.
The guidelines apply to each of SSHRC’s programs (Talent, Insight and Connection) and are designed to assist the research community in its efforts to promote effective research training and career development as part of its SSHRC-funded research activities.
All SSHRC funding applicants proposing training plans and budgets are encouraged to use the guidelines as a tool to help identify the elements of effective research training. Funding applicants should include in their proposals the dimensions of research training that are the most relevant to their research projects and that can be of most benefit to all parties involved. External reviewers and committee members are also encouraged to use the guidelines to assist in gauging the quality of research training activities proposed in SSHRC applications.
To read the guidelines, please follow this link to the SSHRC website.
The Statistics Canada Research Data Centre at Western University, provides access to detailed data for research, promotes the use of data through associated training, and assists in the dissemination of research results.
The RDC@Western opened in 2004 and is part of a network of 26 Statistics Canada Research Data Centres and associated Branches in Canadian universities.
The Research Data Centres (RDC) program is part of an initiative by Statistics Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and university consortia to help strengthen Canada’s social research capacity and to support the policy research community.
RDCs provide researchers with access, in a secure university setting, to microdata from population and household surveys. The centres are staffed by Statistics Canada employees. They are operated under the provisions of the Statistics Act in accordance with all the confidentiality rules and are accessible only to researchers with approved projects who have been sworn in under the Statistics Act as ‘deemed employees.’
RDCs are located throughout the country, so researchers do not need to travel to Ottawa to access Statistics Canada data.
The Centre is open to all persons who have appropriate clearance from Statistics Canada. Access to data is allowed after approval of an application that has been peer reviewed through a process managed jointly by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council and Statistics Canada.
Workshops, conferences and training about statistical techniques and the use of data are periodically conducted for researchers. Projects undertaken at the RDC have generated products including master’s thesis, doctoral dissertations, and publications in books and journals. The Centre highlights research findings at the RDC. A Council advises the RDC management.
More and more, the world of academic publishing is moving in the direction of open access avenues of dissemination. In fact, there is a draft Tri-Agency open access policy on the table as we speak (see also: Science.gc.ca Open Access and response to the draft policy). This proposed policy would require grant applicants to include plans for open access publishing of results and overall open data management within their grant applications. It’s something worth considering as the world of academic research and funding agencies appear to be heading in the open access direction. What’s also worth considering is the way in which we think about open access publishing. Reputable and distinguished open access journals are out there, but at the same time, there are tons more that aren’t worth your time or your money. The journals that fall in the latter category are often billed as “predatory journals” or “vanity publications.” Their main intent is to publish as many articles and journals as they possibly can, and take the money and run. And many don’t incorporate a true peer-review process, which can lead to all sorts of problems for the author down the road.
One way to avoid these types of predatory publishers is to begin by conducting your own investigation and evaluation. Below you will find some resources compiled by Western Libraries that will help you make an informed decision on where to find the most reputable open access publisher.
The following questions can be used as guidelines when you are evaluating open access journals.
Publisher level
Is the publisher a member of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)? OASPA consists of a group of open access publishers, which are recognized for promoting and advocating open access publishing. Please see the list of OASPA members here. Newer publishers are not listed in OASPA, so it will be more appropriate to evaluate them based on their reputation in the related academic community.
Is the publisher a questionable open access publisher? Jeffrey Beall, an academic librarian at the University of Colorado Denver has compiled a list of predatory scholarly open access publishers in his blog. See his criteria for determining predatory open access publisher (2nd edition) here.
What is the mandate of the publisher of the journal? Is it for-profit or not-for-profit? The mandate of the publisher often can be found on their website. Not-for-profit publishers may have deeper commitment to open access, as they focus on scholarship and the dissemination of information rather than profit.
Journal level
Is the journal listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)? DOAJ has an established quality control process to ensure the quality of the journals being included. For the selection criteria, please refer to their webpage.
Does the journal have an impact factor? How high is the impact factor? For some newer open access journals, impact factor may not be available.
Are the peer review guidelines posted on the journal’s website? Is it a blind peer review (or anonymous peer review) in which the reviewers’ and author’s identities are kept secret from each other? Or is it an open peer review in which the identities of the reviewers are transparent to the author? Blind peer review is traditionally considered as the trademark for scientific publishing.
How qualified is the editorial board of the journal? You can check the editorial board members’ profiles if they are available on the journal’s site, or you can do some research on their research backgrounds on the Internet.
Is the journal indexed in major databases or index services? Check Ulrichs Global Serials Directory and sometimes the journal’s website for that information.
How many issues have been published since the journal started? It is useful to review the current and past issues of the journal to get a quick snapshot of the publication history of the journal.
Article level
Check the authors of several articles published in several issues. Are these articles written by a single author or different authors? This can help to see the pool of article submittors of the journal.
Scan through some articles published in several issues. Does the content make sense? Are the articles well-written?
If the author is listed with some affiliation, check the affiliation’s background. If it is an institution or a university, is the affiliated institution or university a reputable one? Does it have a program in the field the article is written about? Check their website for this kind of information.
Check the total cites (number of times being cited by others) for some articles published in several issues. Are these articles being cited reasonably frequently by others in the field, given the time since they were published? There are different places where you can check the total cites for articles. Web of Science has total cites if the article is indexed there. If you need help finding this information, you can contact a subject librarian.
SSHRC’s Connection Grants support events and outreach activities geared toward short-term, targeted knowledge mobilization initiatives. These events and outreach activities represent opportunities to exchange knowledge and to engage on research issues of value to those participating.
Amount: $7,000 – $50,000 (potentially higher amounts)
Matching Funds: SSHRC will not fund the full cost of any connection event or outreach activity. Additional support in the form of cash and/or in-kind contributions (excluding registration fees), equivalent to a minimum of 50 per cent of the amount requested from SSHRC, must come from sponsoring organizations.
Deadlines:
Brescia Research Officer:
3-4 weeks for institutional support request (funds and letters of support)
1 week for proposal review and feedback
SSHRC:
Deadline Decision Date
May 1, midnight (eastern time) June 30
August 1, midnight (eastern time) September 30
November 1, midnight (eastern time) December 31
February 1, midnight (eastern time) March 31
Description: Connection Grants support workshops, colloquiums, conferences, forums, summer institutes or other events or outreach activities that facilitate:
Eligibility: Applicants must hold an eligible academic research appointment at Western.
Note these updates to the program:
Applicants can have whatever combination of cash or in-kind they can confirm from sponsoring organizations. i.e. support from the sponsoring organization can now be entirely in-kind, provided it is justified and calculated using the appropriately.
The maximum value for a SSHRC Connection Grant is now dependent on whether it is an “event” Connection Grant only OR if it is a Connection Grant with “outreach activities”.
“Event” Connection grants are a maximum of $25,000 over one year. (Minimum$7,000 and maximum is $25,000).
Connection grants with “outreach activities” are a maximum of $50,000. (Minimum $7,000 and maximum is $50,000).
SSHRC is willing to consider amounts higher than $50,000, although such applications must satisfactorily justify the need for the higher amount, as well as provide evidence that the entire award can be managed within the one-year time frame.
There is now a restriction on the number of applications per year. As of June 18, 2014, “An applicant may apply for one Connection Grant per calendar year. An applicant may not apply for or hold more than one Connection Grant for the same event or outreach activity.” Please refer to SSHRC’s regulations regarding multiple applications for more information.
Applicants may draw on complementary funding from SSHRC research grants and/or other research funding agencies, but must make clear in their budget proposal that there is no duplication of financial support for the same budget expenses. While SSHRC funds may be used in this complementary way, these funds cannot be counted towards the 50 per cent requirement for matching funds.
Application instructions: SSHRC Connection Grants