UBC Science SSHRC Explore Grants Competition

Through its SSHRC Institutional Grants (SIG) funding opportunity, SSHRC provides annual grants to help eligible Canadian postsecondary institutions fund small-scale research and research-related activities in the social sciences and humanities. SSHRC uses a standard formula to determine institutional award amounts. UBC uses the same formula to determine distributed amounts available to individual Faculties. Under SSHRC and UBC rules this funding can be used to fund both Explore Grants (modest research funding to develop a research project or to conduct pilot work) and Exchange Grants (small-scale knowledge mobilization activities, support for conference attendance). UBC Science has elected to use our SIG Funding allocation as seed funding to support social sciences and humanities research projects that advance our research and educational activities and/or have the potential to attract additional research funding. Consequently, we will use the entire funding allocation to provide SSHRC Explore Grants to researchers proposing to develop a research project or conduct pilot research in support of a future grant application.

The UBC Science SIG Funding allocation for 2025-2028 is $34,910 (approximately 3.5 full-size awards)

Download the Grant Description [PDF]  Download the Application Template [DOCX]

Eligibility Criteria:

1. The subject matter of the proposed project or activity must align with SSHRC’s subject matter eligibility requirements.
2. Eligibility is limited to tenure stream-faculty whose primary affiliation is with one of UBC Science’s academic units.
3. Only one proposal will be accepted for a project, and any individual may apply as principal applicant on only one project. There is no restriction on how many projects individuals can participate in as a co-applicant or collaborator.

Guidelines:

1. Grants have a project maximum of $10,000 over one year.
2. Allowable expenses are outlined in the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide.
3. Following the grant period, each recipient will be required to file a report (1-3 pages) pages outlining the results of their work, including research accomplishments, the number of students, postdocs, and other non-students supported by the grant or otherwise involved in the project, and a summary of other grant applications and pending grant applications that were facilitated by the funding.

Selection Process:

Eligible applications will be evaluated by a committee composed of UBC Science faculty and/or staff, chaired the Associate Dean, Research. Committee members will evaluate proposals according to the standard SSHRC evaluation criteria:

Challenge – the aim and importance of the endeavour, including its originality, expected contribution to knowledge, training and mentoring contributions, and potential to lead to the development of a future SSHRC research grant application.

Feasibility – the plan to achieve excellence, including the appropriateness of the proposed timeline and probability that objectives will be met, the appropriateness of the requested budget and justification of proposed costs, and potential to support future funding applications.

Capability – the expertise to succeed, including quality, quantity and significance of past experience and published and/or creative outputs of the applicant relative to the stage of their career, evidence of past knowledge mobilization activities and impacts on professional practice, policy, etc., and past contributions to training highly qualified personnel.

Application Instructions:

Applicants are asked to provide the following in a single PDF file:

1. 1-2 page project description following the attached application template, with the title, names of the lead PI and co-PIs, and then details of the proposed project with the following subsections:
   1. Brief background: give a brief background of the project
   2. Research questions and rationale: describe the questions to be addressed and why.
   3. Methodology: describe the methodology for the research activities
   4. Outcomes: state the expected outcomes and deliverables
   5. Student involvement: give how students will be involved in the research, and how it will develop their training or mentorship
   6. Advancement: describe how the proposed work will advance research within UBC Science and/or will help facilitate future grant applications, and details on which grants will be targeted.
2. A brief budget and budget justification (one page maximum, consistent with Tri-council requirements)
3. An up-to-date abridged CV (2 to 4 pages) of the lead PI.

Deadline:

Completed applications must be submitted via email with subject line “Explore Grants” to fosawards@science.ubc.ca (c.c. devin.lyons@science.ubc.ca) before midnight PST on Tuesday, September 30, 2025. Successful applicants will be required to submit a Research Project Information Form and associated paperwork to the Office of Research Services (ORS). 

For more information, please contact Devin Lyons, UBC Science Research Grants officer (devin.lyons@science.ubc.ca).