December 14, 2019 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
J.J. McMurtry Announced Dean of LA&PS
On Friday, December 13, President & Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton announced that John Justin (JJ) McMurtry had agreed to take up a 4.5-year term as Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, commencing January 1, 2020.
Professor McMurtry holds an appointment in the Department of Social Science in LA&PS and is a member of its Business and Society Program. Since October of 2018 he has been serving as Interim Dean of the Faculty. As Interim Dean, he has promoted research in the Faculty through the Dean’s Award for Research Excellence and supports for researchers to secure tri-Council funding; enhanced the student experience through a review of advising, expansion of experiential education opportunities, and technology upgrades to classrooms; initiated a Colleges revisioning process; led the Faculty’s planning around York’s Markham campus; welcomed the opening of the IBM Learning Space in Markham in September 2019; overseen the hiring process for close to 40 tenure-stream faculty members, including Canada Research Chairs; and significantly improved the Faculty’s financial position.
The full text of President Lenton’s announcement can be found here.
SSHRC Impact Awards: LAPS Internal Competition Launched
The LA&PS Research Office is inviting self-nominations for the SSHRC Impact Award competition, in the following four categories – Gold Medal, Insight, Partnership and Connection. Please follow the link above for detailed information on this award and the criteria for each of the four categories.
Impact Awards are designed to build on and sustain Canada’s research-based knowledge culture in all research areas of the social sciences and humanities. The awards recognize outstanding researchers and celebrate their research achievements, research training, knowledge mobilization, and outreach activities funded partially or entirely by SSHRC.
The LA&PS Internal application deadline is 4PM, Wednesday, January 8, 2020.
If you are interested in putting your name forward in one of the award categories, please contact Dr. David Cuff, Director, Strategic Research & Partnerships (dcuff@yorku.ca) as soon as possible, and he will be able to provide you with a copy of the complete LAPS-round call, as well as guidance and advice.
FGS Launches GA Training Fund
FGS has launched a GA Training Fund, an annual fund of $80,000 available to researchers who hire a GA (Graduate Assistant) on an external grant.
The GA Training Fund provides researchers up to $2,000 annually. Funds are limited and awarded on a first come, first served basis. Awards will be administered through FGS, and deposited to Principal Investigators’ generic cost centres.
FGS is accepting 2019/2020 applications for this award until the fund is expended. The application form is available here. Please visit this page on the FGS website for more information.
VPRI Internal Funding Opportunities: Changes
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. There have been new and improved updates to the guide and applications for Funding for Scholarly Events & Outreach Activities and for Funding for Indigenous Scholarly Events & Outreach Activities. Previously, deadlines have been rolling, there are now set deadlines quarterly throughout the calendar year. Be sure to check out the Application Guidelines for more information.
New VPRI Announced
The Executive Committee of the Board of Governors has accepted the recommendation of the search committee that Professor Amir Asif be appointed to the position of Vice-President Research and Innovation for a five-year term beginning on May 1, 2020. A detailed story appeared in YFile.
Organized Research Units Open House
On January 29, 2020, from 10 am – 2 pm, please drop by the ORU Open House at the Collaboratory, Scott Library. This event is an opportunity to learn more about the ORUs and the exciting research that they are undertaking. A special address will be given by the Associate Vice-President Research & Innovation and more. Refreshments will be served.
Internal Grants
2020-21 York-Massey Fellowship and Visiting Scholarships
Deadline: January 13, 2020
The Office of Research Services invites applications for the 2020-21 York Fellowship and two Visiting Scholarships at Massey College in the University of Toronto. The Fellowship and the two Scholarships are open to full-time faculty members planning to go on sabbatical or other leave during 2020-2021.
Visit the VPRI website for full details. (Note: expect to be prompted for your Passport York login before being able to view the web page.)
YUFA Leave (Sabbatical) Fellowship
Deadline: January 15, 2020
A Leave Fellowship Fund (Article 19.30 of the YUFA Collective Agreement) is available to provide peer-adjudicated additional grants of up to 10% of academic base salary to sabbaticants (second and subsequent sabbaticals). See the guidelines and application form.
LA&PS Seed Grant for Collaborative Research Initiatives
Deadline: January 15, 2020
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. Applications can be found under section #1 on this web page.
SSHRC Exchange – Conference Grant (ORS)
Deadline: February 1, 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. Application available here. (Expect to be prompted for your York Passport login.)
LA&PS Travel Grant for Dissemination
Deadline: March 1, 2020
LA&PS offers this grant to offset costs associated with the public dissemination of research, scholarship, or creativity. Eligibility: Full-time YUFA faculty members and senior scholars in LA&PS. In the case of CLAs and SRCs, travel must also occur within the term of the appointment. Applications must be submitted in advance of the presentation. Applications can be found under section #2 on this web page.
For a general listing of internal research funding opportunities, visit here.
External Notices
SSHRC Webinar: Insight Development Grant
SSHRC will be holding two webinars on the upcoming Insight Development Grants (IDG) 2020 competition. The webinars will outline what is new this year and focus on responding to questions.
The Office of Research Services would like to invite researchers and research support staff to attend the English webinar on December 18, 2019 from 1:30 – 3:00pm in room 902 Kaneff Tower. Please RSVP at research@yorku.ca if you plan on attending this session.
Individuals can also take part in the French or English webinars individually from their own computers. Advance registration is not required. The webinars will be held via WebEx (for the visual presentation, written questions and audio) on the following dates:
French: December 18, 2019, 10 – 11:30 am Meeting link
English: December 18, 2019, 1:30 – 3 pm Meeting link
Note: LA&PS faculty members interested in applying for an IDG should contact the LA&PS research unit in order to access additional facilitation resources for the development of their IDGs.
SSHRC Storyteller Contest
SSHRC’s Storytellers contest challenges post-secondary students to show Canadians, in three minutes or 300 words, how social sciences and humanities research is affecting our lives, our world and our future for the better. More details are available on SSHRC’s website.
CIHR Issues New Guides
This fall, CIHR launched its new Application Administration Guide and its Standards of Practice for Peer Review. The agency has also published the Reviewer Quality Feedback form to further promote transparency in the review quality assurance process. This form will be used by CIHR to collect information on the performance of reviewers throughout the peer review process, and to highlight reviewers who are outstanding, or those who may need additional support. The specific criteria that CIHR will use to measure performance can be found on the new Review Quality Assurance Process page.
External Grants and Fellowships
Knowledge Synthesis Grant: “Living within the Earth’s Carrying Capacity”
Submission to agency: January 7, 2020
Value: Up to $50,000
Duration: 1 year
SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR have launched a Knowledge Synthesis Grants competition linked to SSHRC’s Imagining Canada’s Future initiative. Proposals are sought that assess the state of research knowledge on the topic of “Living within the Earth’s Carrying Capacity.” The resulting syntheses will identify roles that the academic, public, private and not-for-profit sectors, as well as Indigenous rights-holders, may play in advancing and supporting mitigation and adaptation responses, and may inform the development of effective tools, robust policies and sustainable practices required to support the transition to an equitable, prosperous, healthy and sustainable future.
SSHRC Insight Development Grants
Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS for technical review: January 20, 2020
• Submission to agency: February 3, 2020
Value: up to $75,000
Duration: 1-2 years
Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and/or ideas. Funding is provided for short-term research development projects of up to two years that are proposed by individuals or teams. Funding is available for two distinct categories of scholars: emerging scholars and established scholars.
SSHRC Connection Grants
Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS for technical review: January 20, 2020
• Submission to agency: February 3, 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 Engage Grants
Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS for technical review: March 2, 2020
• Submission to agency: March 16, 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.
To access an application form and full instructions, log into your SSHRC account.
CIHR Funding Opportunities
The Office of Research Services (ORS) recently updated the spreadsheet of funding opportunities available through CIHR. Due to the large volume of RFAs, ORS has created a simplified Excel spreadsheet that will make it easier for researchers to locate the funding call that is most appropriate to their research area.
View the spreadsheet. You will be required to enter your Passport York user ID and password for YU Link to gain access to the spreadsheet. If the link below does not take you directly to Passport York, please copy and paste the link into your web browser.
NSERC Research Alliance Grants: Option 1
Deadlines: See ORS guidelines.
Value: Requesting $150,000 or more annually from NSERC
Duration: 1 – 5 years
Value: $20,000 – $1M/year
Alliance grants support projects of varying scale and complexity, from short-term smaller projects involving one researcher to long-term projects involving researchers across several universities, and from one-on-one collaborations with one partner organization directly involved in the research to projects involving many partner organizations across multiple sectors.
NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE)
Deadlines:
• Internal NOI deadline: March 16, 2020
• Agency LOI deadline: May 1, 2020
• Agency full application deadline (by invitation only): September 22, 2020
Value: $1.65 million
Duration: 6 years
CREATE initiatives provide a value-added experience to the university training environment that includes the development of professional skills among students and postdoctoral fellows that complement their qualifications and technical skills, with a focus on providing an enriched training experience for graduate students.
The CREATE program has permitted York University a yearly quota of 4 LOIs, and only those researchers selected by York can submit LOIs. For more information and to schedule a consultation, please contact Maheen Hasan, Strategic and Institutional Research Specialist, in the Office of Research Services at mhasan@yorku.ca.
Please note that there are multiple internal and agency deadlines for this competition. For a full list of deadlines, and access to the iNOI form, please consult the ORS posting. (You will be prompted for your Passport York login before you can view this page.)
New Frontiers in Research Fund – Transformation
Deadlines:
• NOI submission to agency: February 5, 2020 (mandatory but used for administrative purposes only)
• LOI submission to agency: April 15, 2020
• Full application to agency (from those teams invited after LOI): November 18, 2020
Value: $1.6M – $3.2M per year for direct costs (plus additional funding for indirect costs of up to 25%)
Duration: up to 6 years
Some preliminary details (which are subject to change) have been released about the Transformation program of the New Frontier in Research Fund.
The Transformation program is designed to support large-scale, Canadian-led interdisciplinary research projects that address a major challenge. The expectation is that execution of the project will have the potential to realize real and lasting change. Projects may involve any discipline, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas eligible for funding across the Tri-Council. Projects must include elements from at least two different disciplines – projects that fall under the mandate of only one federal research funding agency are not eligible.
Proposals must be submitted by teams, which must include a nominated principal investigator (NPI) and may include co-principal investigators, co-applicants and/or collaborators. Early career researchers (individuals who have five years’ or less experience since their first academic appointment) must be included as confirmed members in all teams. Teams must demonstrate a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, demonstrating diversity by meaningfully engaging members of underrepresented groups, including the four designated groups (women, Indigenous people, members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities) and consider diversity as it applies to career stages, sectors and institutions. At the Notice of Intent (NOI) stage, a minimum of 5 confirmed members (NPI, co-principal investigators and co-applicants, but not collaborators) is required.
This SIRI unit in the central Office of Research Services will be supporting this competition. SIRI will be issuing more specific details pending the release of the final documentation from the agency. In the interim, any researchers intending to apply are asked to Mark Roseman in the SIRI unit as soon as possible (by email at roseman@yorku.ca). Please note that in addition to the information available by clicking the link above, Mark Roseman has a more detailed draft description of the program in a PDF file that was provided to him by the agency.
Shastri Mobility Programme
Agency deadline: December 17, 2019 by 5:00pm (IST)
Value: $750 CAD per week
Duration: 3 weeks
Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute is pleased to announce a call for Applications for Shastri Mobility Programme (SMP) for faculty members/ educational administrators from its Canadian and Indian Member Institutions of good standing to study and learn best practices through exposure to respective Canadian or Indian Institutions.
Shastri Programme Development Grant
Agency deadline: December 17, 2019 by 5:00pm (IST)
Value: Up to 1,00,000 INR (1 lakh) – 3, 00000 INR (3 lakh) depending on the nature of the Programme/ Activity proposed.
The Shastri Programme Development Grant (SPDG) is devised in order 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 member of the Shastri Institute. Among the activities included for grant consideration are conferences, symposia, workshops, lecture series and theme-based orientation programmes for students of CMC/IMC to familiarize them with India and Canada are specially encouraged to apply. A tripod arrangement involving two or more institutions for CMC/IMC and Shastri Institutions will be considered favourably to promote movement of students between two countries.
Shastri Publication Grant
Agency deadline: December 17, 2019 by 5:00pm (IST)
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 the 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.
Kenneth Spencer Research Library Travel Awards
Agency Deadline: December 31, 2019
Value: $1000 USD
Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas is pleased to announce the availability of three travel grants to facilitate research and use of the library’s collections: the African American Experience Collections: Alyce Hunley Whayne Visiting Researchers Travel Award; the Polish Collections: Alexander and Valentine Janta Endowment Travel Award; and the Spencer Research Library Travel Award (any of the library’s collections).
2020-2021 Fellowship Opportunities at the American Philosophical Society Library & Museum
Agency deadline: Various for multiple opportunities
The American Philosophical Society Library & Museum in Philadelphia invites applications for long and short-term fellowships for scholars engaged in all fields, and especially those working on projects pertaining to the history of science, technology, and medicine; early American history; the digital humanities; and Native American and Indigenous studies. Comprehensive, searchable guides and finding aids to our collections are available online at www.amphilsoc.org/library and http://amphilsoc.pastperfectonline.com/.
McGill Institute for the Study of Canada: Eakin Visiting Fellowship in Canadian Studies
Agency deadline: January 3, 2020
Value: $15,000 per semester
The McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) is now accepting applications for the Eakin Visiting Fellowship in Canadian Studies for the 2020/2021 academic year.
Lewis Walpole Library 2020–2021 Fellowships & Travel Grants in Eighteenth-Century Studies
Agency deadline: January 6, 2020
The Lewis Walpole Library, a department of Yale University Library, invites applications to its 2020–2021 fellowship program. Located in Farmington, Connecticut, the library offers short-term residential fellowships and travel grants to support research in the library’s rich collections of eighteenth-century materials (mainly British), including important holdings of prints, drawings, manuscripts, rare books, and paintings.
Office of the Privacy Commissioner: 2020-21 Contributions Program
Agency deadline: January 6, 2020 by 11:59 PM
Value: Up to $50K for any single project and $100K maximum per recipient organization; required overhead 15%
Duration: 1 year (April 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021)
The general goal of this Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) program is to generate new ideas, approaches and knowledge about privacy that organizations can apply to better safeguard personal information and that individual Canadians can use to make more informed decisions about protecting their privacy.
This year the OPC is interested in funding one or more research projects on artificial intelligence and the repercussions on privacy rights.
The OPC is also interested in funding the organization of a new “Pathways to Privacy” symposium.
Mourou/Strickland Scientific Mobility Program
Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS: January 7, 2020
• Submission to agency: January 15, 2020 by 23:59 PST (Canada)
Value: round-trip economy flight, contribution to subsistence
Duration: 3-28 days
The Embassy of France in Canada has launched its 2020 Mourou/Strikland Scientific Mobility Program. This program, which is open to all disciplines, is intended for French and Canadian researchers who wish to spend a short stay with their counterparts, either in France or in Canada. Research stays may include, but are not limited to meetings/research on joint projects, meetings for a first contact for future collaboration, work on co-publications, participation in French-Canadian (not international) conferences or seminars, etc.
Ontario Agri-Food Research Initiative
Deadlines:
• ORS deadline for technical review: January 9, 2020
• Submission to agency: January 23, 2020
Value: Up to $150,000 per project (including 25% required overhead)
Duration: Up to 33 months
To offer funding that stimulates innovation to support the growth and competitiveness of Ontario’s agri-food sector, promotes food safety and strengthens rural communities. Research priorities for the current call for proposals are: Food Safety; Global Market Analysis; Automation – Barriers and Adoption by the Sector; and Bio-Based Production Systems.
OCE Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) Program
Deadlines:
• Submission to ORS: 10 working days before submission to the agency
• Submission to agency: Any time
Value:
• OCE Contribution: 50% (maximum of total eligible project costs, from $20,000 to $150,000. Minimum OCE contribution $20,000 per year
• Industry Partner Contribution: 50% (minimum) of total eligible project costs (i.e., minimum 1:1 match to OCE contribution, in cash
Duration: 6 to 24 months
The Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) is now accepting applications for the Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) Program which replaces the previous VIP I and VIP II programs. The VIP program is designed to help eligible companies develop, implement and commercialize technical innovations by supporting partnerships between Ontario’s industry and publicly funded post-secondary institutions. The intent is to generate economic benefit for companies in Ontario (including job creation/retention, new revenue generation, investment attraction, cost savings, value chain development) in the short-to-medium term (e.g., within three years of project completion).
Note: While OCE is accepting VIP applications on a rolling basis, they are encouraging applicants to submit by 30 January 2020 in order to be considered in the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
Mitacs Elevate Postdoctoral Fellowship
Deadlines:
• Letter of Intent and Conflict of Interest Declaration to agency: January 8, 2020 by 5pm PT
• Draft application to agency for pre-review: January 22, 2020 by 5pm PT
• Application to agency: February 19, 2020
Value:
• $55,000 minimum annual stipend/salary
• Training curriculum valued at $7,500 per year
• Submission assistance, including application feedback, from Mitacs representatives
• Certificate of completion after receipt of their exit survey and final report submission
Duration: 2 years
Mitacs Elevate is a postdoctoral fellowship with a customized research management training component. A minimum one-year research project (normally two years in duration) with a partner organization in need of high-level expertise.
If you are interested in applying to this competition, please contact Kim McIntyre, post-doctoral services coordinator, at kimmcint@yorku.ca or extension 22993.
Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellowship
Agency deadline: February 5, 2020
Value: salary of $70,000-$80,000
Duration: 1 year
Help solve public policy challenges in Canada. The Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellowship offers PhD holders from all disciplines a 12-month immersion into the policy making process with participating government departments.
Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED): Accessible Technology Program
Deadlines: Multiple agency deadlines
Value: Up to $4 million/year
The ISED Accessible Technology Program aims to facilitate and encourage participation and inclusion of underrepresented groups in the digital economy. By investing in initiatives that will expand the range of assistive technologies, and giving more Canadians better access to digital services, the Program will contribute to providing Canadians with disabilities with the right tools, skills and access to study, work, or engage socially online.
The ISED Accessible Technology Program is an institutional grant and thus all applications need to be submitted by York University. All researchers should notify both their Faculty and Diana Frasca (dfrasca@yorku.ca) as soon as possible about their intention to apply. Doing so will both streamline the process of securing Faculty-level support and ensure that researchers receive adequate support in application preparation.
Please visit the full internal posting about this opportunity for more details. (You will be prompted for your Passport login before seeing the page.)
Senate House Library Visiting Research Fellowship 2019-2020
Agency deadline: March 1, 2020
Value: up to £10,000
Duration: up to 3 months
Senate House Library, in partnership with the Friends of Senate House Library, invites applications for a Visiting Research Fellowship. As well as 50 named special collections and over 1,800 collections of archives and manuscripts, from the Middle Ages to present time, Senate House Library provides access to over a million printed items, arranged into 14 named subject collections, in addition to a nationally significant collection of print and electronic journals, and a growing range of e-resources and e-books, thus making it one of the world’s greatest research libraries for the study of the arts, literature, humanities and social sciences.
