UW/SSHRC Exchange Grant: Knowledge Mobilization

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Updates to the UW/SSHRC Grant Evaluation Criteria (October 2026)

The evaluation criteria and application forms for the UW/SSHRC Explore Grant, Exchange Grant, and Bob Harding and Lois Claxton Humanities and Social Sciences Endowment Fund have been revised for the December 1, 2026 competition. The updated criteria align more closely with SSHRC's Challenge, Feasibility, and Capability framework while retaining assessment of the project's connection to a future SSHRC application. These changes are intended to provide clearer guidance to applicants and better prepare researchers for external SSHRC competitions.

Introduction

The program is funded by an annual block grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Proposals are reviewed and approved by the UW/SSHRC Grants Review Committee, a sub-committee of the University Senate Research and Innovation Council, and are administered through the Office of the Vice President, Research. Funds will be available for one year with no automatic extension. Funds not spent by the end of the grant period will be recalled.

The UW/SSHRC Exchange Grant Program is meant to stimulate exchange and transfer of knowledge as well as support outreach initiatives such as conference travel, conference/workshop organization, publications, digital resource creation, exhibitions, and other knowledge mobilization activities (subject to the approval of the UW/SSHRC Committee). See information below in relation to Exchange Grants 1, 2, 3. The subject matter of the project or activity must be consistent with SSHRC’s mandate (see Subject Matter Eligibility for more information).

This program uses SSHRC’s definition of Knowledge Mobilization as an “umbrella term encompassing a wide range of activities relating to the production and use of research results, including knowledge synthesis, dissemination, transfer, exchange, and co-creation or co-production by researchers and knowledge users” (see SSHRC Guidelines for Effective Knowledge Mobilization).

The Exchange program (through Exchange Grants 1, 2, 3) is available to assist with the following Knowledge Mobilization Activities:

  • Exchange Grant 1: costs associated with disseminating current research findings at a conference. Eligible expenses include the cost of return travel from the participant's residence to the conference location, cancellation insurance, accommodation costs including meals, and registration costs. Air travel must be claimed at the lowest rate available, not to exceed full economy fare. Invitations to present new research results will be given priority. There is no restriction on the location of travel, (i.e. it may be in Canada or abroad) but maximum funding levels apply (see table below).
    • Conference attendance will not be funded unless scholarly or creative work will be presented at the conference1
    • Exchange Grant 1 funding cannot be used retroactively for conferences already attended. Applications for conference travel support must be submitted in advance of the conference date. Changes in conference venue will necessitate a reapplication to the next UW/SSHRC Exchange grant competition and will void the currently awarded travel activity.
    • All budget requests must be justified based on the principle of minimum essential funding.

1If funding permits, consideration will be given to regular faculty members applying to attend a conference in order to learn more about an emerging area of research or to be a discussant. A compelling argument must be made in the application addressing the importance of the meeting to the applicant’s research trajectory and the impact that attendance will have.

Conference Travel (Exchange Grant 1) maximums used by UW/SSHRC committee:

Destination area Maximum allocation (per location)*

Destination area

North America (including Central America and Caribbean)

Maximum allocation 

Up to $1,700.00 CAD

Destination area

Europe, South America

Maximum allocation

Up to $3,200.00 CAD

Destination area

Africa, Asia, Oceania (includes Hawaiʻi)

Maximum allocation

Up to $3,700.00 CAD

*Limited exceptions are allowed for travel within Canada to northern/remote/Indigenous communities
  • Exchange Grant 2: costs associated with organizing a small-scale research conference or workshop (up to $5,000)
    • The event must be hosted by University of Waterloo.
    • Preference will be given to events held on campus or in the Waterloo region. If outside the region, provide a clear justification for the choice.
    • A conference is defined as a scholarly event usually lasting one day or longer that focuses on one or more distinct themes, is open to all interested and qualified researchers via a call for papers (although keynote speakers may be invited) – definition adapted from SSHRC.
    • A workshop is defined as a small, invitational event, the object of which is to develop a research agenda or delineate specific research questions, produce a concrete deliverable (such as a paper, report or policy document) – definition adapted from SSHRC.
    • The conference/workshop must include defined research themes and require no registration fees for attendance. Eligible costs include speaker travel and accommodations, space rental, meals and refreshments (alcoholic beverages not eligible), student salaries, technical services. If applicable, please be aware of the recommended salary and benefits rates for students and non-student assistants paid from research grants. All budget requests must be justified based on the principle of minimum essential funding.
  • Exchange Grant 3: costs associated with preparing knowledge mobilization outputs associated with research projects (up to $10,000)
    • For example:
      • digital resource creation (websites, databases, digital resources)
      • book preparation costs such as subventions, translation fees, indexing fees, copyright and image fees (as long as there is no personal gain); be as clear as possible about the status of the publication
      • open access fees
      • adaptation (including translation, e.g., into French, English or Indigenous languages) of texts or presentations for the purpose of broader knowledge mobilization to different audiences
      • development of policy briefs, knowledge syntheses, and scoping reviews
      • development of articles for print or online publication in newspapers or weekly or monthly magazines—whether specialized or general interest
      • media events (such as television/radio presentations)
      • summer schools/institutes
      • speaker series
      • public debates
      • artistic exhibits, performances or festivals
      • development/use of interactive technologies, audio-visual products or software
    • All budget requests must be justified based on the principle of minimum essential funding. If applicable, please be aware of the recommended salary and benefits rates for students and non-student assistants paid from research grants.

Exchange funds cannot be used as matching for any SSHRC grant because they are awarded through the SSHRC Institutional Grant (and SSHRC funds cannot be used as required contributions for any SSHRC program). Funds cannot be transferred to another institution. All expenses must be eligible as per the terms of the Tri-Agency Guide for Financial Administration.

Eligibility

Applicants must be tenured or tenure-track SSHRC-eligible faculty who have applied to an external SSHRC competition or held an external SSHRC grant2 as a Principal Investigator within the previous three years, and indicate their intention to apply again for external SSHRC funding. An exception to this is new faculty: those in their first three years of appointment are eligible to receive UW/SSHRC Exchange grant funding without having first sought external SSHRC funds. 

Faculty with a 3-year definite term appointment that includes research duties will be given consideration to apply so long as they have the support of their Department Chair/School Director and Faculty Dean, or Affiliated and Federated Institution of Waterloo (AFIW) equivalents. The same external SSHRC application criteria apply as outlined above for regular faculty.

Further exceptions are possible in limited circumstances (e.g., special circumstances and career interruptions such as a leave of absence). Contact the UW/SSHRC secretary for details.

Exchange Grant funding cannot be used retroactively for work completed prior to application or for conferences attended or organized prior to application.

All UW/SSHRC Exchange grant recipients are required to apply to an external SSHRC competition2 within two years of their UW/SSHRC Exchange grant start date.

2New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) grants do not qualify as SSHRC grants for the purposes of the UW/SSHRC Exchange program.

Multiple applications and concurrent funding

  • Researchers holding an external SSHRC grant are not eligible to apply unless the grant is in its final year. Final year means either instalment year or extension year.

  • If a researcher is in the final year of a SSHRC grant and requires funding for a new activity then they may apply for a UW/SSHRC Exchange Grant, however preference will be given to applicants who do not currently hold SSHRC funding. 
    • If sufficient funding is available, the committee will adjudicate these applications separately after considering applications from those who do not hold SSHRC funding.
    • If a researcher in the final year of their SSHRC grant applies for the Exchange Grant, they must justify their need for these funds based on two things:
      • How the proposed activity builds upon or differs from their funded research program
      • How the proposed activity will enhance the chances of success on a subsequent external SSHRC grant  
  • Applicants may only apply for one Exchange Grant per round. In other words, if they apply for an Exchange Grant 1, they may not also apply for an Exchange Grant 2. Normally, no more than one Exchange grant of each type per two fiscal years (April 1 to March 31) will be awarded to the same individual. In other words, if a researcher successfully applies for an Exchange Grant 1 in 2026, they may not apply again for an Exchange Grant 1 until 2028. However, they may apply for an Exchange Grant 2 or 3 earlier, if applicable.
  • If a researcher successfully applies for a UW/SSHRC Exchange Grant and is also awaiting the results of an external SSHRC application, funds may not be released until the SSHRC results are available.  If the researcher has been successful on the external SSHRC grant, they may not be eligible to also receive the internal UW/SSHRC funding. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
  • Applicants cannot apply to the UW/SSHRC Exchange Grant and Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Fund for the same research project or activity
  • Applicants can apply for both the Explore and Exchange Grants with the stipulation that:
    • Each application shall be judged on its own merit
    • When there is a shortage of funding, both grants might not be awarded and priority will be given to awarding Explore grants over Exchange grants in such cases
    • Preference for funding both applications will be given to emerging scholars

Applications must include the following:

  1. Office of Research Electronic Cover Sheet for Sponsored Research Activities
  2. One electronic copy (PDF) of the appropriate application form (and required appendices must be submitted via e-mail to the Secretary, UW/SSHRC Grants Committee. All files must be combined into one PDF (except the cover sheet). Applications not submitted in this format will be rejected. Include the following in the PDF:
  • Application form – choose the appropriate version for the type of Exchange Grant
    • Exchange 1 application form, with 
      • Confirmation of invitation/acceptance of presentation
      • Information on sponsoring organization (if no conference website is available)
      • Applicant’s CV in one of SSHRC’s formats: SSHRC CV with research contributions document, Canadian Common CV (CCV), or Tri-agency CV
    • Exchange 2 application form, with
      • Detailed Description (3 pages) and, if applicable, List of References (1 page)
      • Budget justification (1 page)
      • Applicant’s CV in one of SSHRC’s formats: SSHRC CV with research contributions document, Canadian Common CV (CCV), or Tri-agency CV
    • Exchange 3 application form, with
      • Detailed Description (3 pages) and, if applicable, List of References (1 page)
      • Budget justification (1 page)
      • Applicant’s CV in one of SSHRC’s formats: SSHRC CV with research contributions document, Canadian Common CV (CCV), or Tri-agency CV

All questions should be directed to the Secretary, UW/SSHRC Grants Committee at uwsshrc@uwaterloo.ca.

Deadlines: June 1 and December 1 at 11:59pm

  • If the deadline falls on a weekend, the deadline is extended to the next business day.
  • Please note that off-cycle Conference Travel grants (Exchange Grant 1) will only be accepted for adjudication if the applicant can prove that they received confirmation of acceptance after one of the two internal deadlines (June 1 or Dec 1) and therefore they were not able to apply in a regular round. Otherwise, off-cycle Exchange Grants will not be accepted.

Notification: For the June 1 deadline, the grant term will be July 1 to June 30 and decisions will be e-mailed to applicants by the end of August. For the December 1 deadline, the grant term will be January 1 to December 31 and decisions will be emailed to applicants by the end of February.

Requirements

Ethics: Successful applicants whose research involves human participants/data and/or live, non-human vertebrate animals must submit a research ethics application via Research Ethics for review and clearance before a research account can be activated.  More information on the ethics applications process can be found on the Research Ethics webpage.

Acknowledgement

Please acknowledge the support provided through the University of Waterloo SSHRC Institutional Grant (SIG) in any publication, conference presentation, event, or other knowledge mobilization output resulting from the grant.

Evaluation of applications

Funding decisions for this program will be made by the UW/SSHRC Grant Review Committee. When the Committee requires further input to arrive at a decision, the applicant’s Department Chair/School Director and Faculty Dean (or AFIW equivalent) will be asked for a confidential evaluation of the proposal. For applications involving Indigenous Research, as defined by SSHRC, an appropriate reviewer knowledgeable about SSHRC's Indigenous Research merit review process may be asked to provide a confidential assessment of the application.

Depending on the number of high-quality applications received the UW/SSHRC Grant Review Committee may be unable to fund all applications at the level requested and there is no guarantee of funding for each application submitted.

The following criteria and scoring framework will be used to evaluate Exchange Grant applications. The criteria are closely aligned with those of the SSHRC Connection Grant program, however the weighting has been adjusted to include an additional category related to the project’s potential to support a future SSHRC grant application.  Criteria identified as "For Exchange 2 and 3 applications only" do not apply to Exchange 1 applications.

Challenge – The aim and importance of the endeavour (30%):

  • Expected contribution to the preservation of, access to and/or mobilization of research knowledge

           For Exchange 2 and 3 applications only:

  • Quality and significance of the research being mobilized
  • Quality of training and mentoring to be provided to students and highly qualified personnel, and opportunities for them to contribute, if applicable
  • Potential for the activity to have influence and impact within and/or beyond the social sciences and humanities research community
  • Potential for the activity to enhance the visibility of research at Waterloo

Feasibility – The plan to achieve excellence (30%):

  • Appropriateness of the proposed timeline and probability that the objectives will be met
  • Appropriateness of the requested budget and justification of proposed costs in accordance with the principle of minimum essential funding

Capability – The expertise to succeed (20%):

Relative to career stage:

  • Quality, quantity and significance of past experience and published and/or creative outputs
  • Evidence of past knowledge mobilization activities
  • For Exchange 2 and 3 applications only: Quality and quantity of past contributions to the training and mentoring of students and highly qualified personnel, as appropriate

Linkage to Future SSHRC Application (20%):

  • Indications of how the proposed activity will contribute to the development of a future application to an external SSHRC competition
  • Indications of how the activity and the future SSHRC grant tie into the applicant’s ongoing and planned research-related activities
  • Need for funding, considering the applicant's access to other sources of research support
  • If in final year of SSHRC grant: Justification of how the proposed activity builds upon or differs from the funded research program

Revised: October 2026