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Harrison McCain Knowledge Mobilization Grant

Harrison McCain Knowledge Mobilization Grants are available to STU faculty members, through a generous donation by the Harrison McCain Foundation, to support knowledge exchange and/or mobilization activities, for the purpose of encouraging the flow and exchange of social science and humanities knowledge within and beyond academia. Harrison McCain Knowledge Mobilization Grants are designed to support the organization of small-scale knowledge exchange, knowledge mobilization, and knowledge synthesis activities, in line with SSHRC’s Connection and Knowledge Synthesis programs.

 

Harrison McCain Knowledge Mobilization Grants support collaborations and scholarly exchanges between researchers, students, and non-academic partners.

  • Activities may include community engagement events, small workshops, organized forums, policy briefs, knowledge synthesis, and performances/artistic exhibits.
  • Stakeholders may include academic institutions, research partners or participants, community or non-profit organizations, Indigenous communities, private sector partners, or government departments and agencies.

Harrison McCain Knowledge Mobilization Grants are intended to provide valuable seed funding for faculty members to develop their research and position it to be impactful and competitive at a national scale. Therefore, Harrison McCain Knowledge Mobilization grantees are strongly encouraged to consider applying for grants under SSHRC’s national competitions.

 

Funding: In the 2023-24 academic year, the Senate Research Committee anticipates funding four grants from our SSHRC internal funding (SSHRC Explore or SSHRC Exchange grants), eight grants from our Harrison McCain Foundation internal funding (Harrison McCain Research or Harrison McCain Knowledge Mobilization grants). Depending on the number and quality of applications, the SRC may make adjustments to these allocations, or may decide to hold additional competitions. Unsuccessful SSHRC Explore and Harrison McCain Research Grant applicants may be added to the pool of applicants for a General Research Grant, of which the SRC anticipates funding up to ten in 2023-24, depending on demand.

 

Deadline: TBD

 

Duration: Maximum two years.

 

Application

 

Applicant eligibility: All full-time and part-time faculty members, with a preference given to emerging scholars (those who have completed less than eight years of service at STU by the submission deadline) and faculty holding regular part-time appointments. Any applicant who has previously received an internal research grant must have submitted their final report. Applicants may not hold more than one grant (internal or external) for the same project at the same time. Applicants may not hold more than one internal knowledge mobilization grant at a time. Subject matter must be consistent with SSHRC’s subject matter eligibility.

 

Expenses: Proposed expenses must be specific and well-justified, and must be used in accordance with the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration. All funds must be used effectively, economically, and must be essential for the activity.

 

Eligible expenses pertaining to knowledge mobilization activities include:

  • Costs of event hosting (catering, tech support, etc.)
  • Salaries for research assistants and highly-qualified personnel directly related to organizing the activity or event
  • Honoraria for participants who are essential for the activity (i.e., keynote speakers)
  • Travel costs for participants who are essential for the activity
  • Knowledge mobilization tools (software, website hosting, etc.)
  • Equipment and venue rentals
  • Graphic design and printing costs
  • Other hosting or communications costs

Ineligible expenses:

  • Preparation of materials primarily intended for teaching or classroom use
  • Purchase of equipment
  • Direct costs of research
  • Book launches or report dissemination
  • Annual general meetings or similar activities related to an association or organization

Adjudication criteria:

 

Challenge: Aim, importance of, and need for the endeavour (40%)

  • Clarity of stated purpose and objectives
  • Rationale for proposed activity
  • Evidence of quality and significance of research results to be disseminated, and expected contribution to mobilization of and access to research knowledge
  • Quality of proposed activity and the appropriateness of the approach
  • Quality of engagement with research and/or community partners
  • Potential for influence and impact within and beyond the scholarly community

 

Feasibility: Plan to achieve excellence (30%)

  • Probability that objectives will be met within proposed timelines
  • Appropriateness and justification of the proposed budget

 

Capability: Expertise to succeed (30%)

  • Quality of the knowledge mobilization team
  • Applicant’s research record and past experience relative to career stage
  • Applicant’s record of knowledge mobilization relative to career stage
  • Potential of the applicant to make future contributions and secure external grants

 

To apply:

  • Submit a completed online application form along with all requested documentation by noon on the deadline date.
  • Applicants must use the official Senate Research Committee application form found at the top of this page. Other formats will not be accepted and incomplete applications will be disadvantaged. Late applications will not be considered.

A complete application consists of:

  • A 500-word report summarizing the dissemination results of your two (if applicable) most recent Internal Research Grants (SSHRC Explore, Harrison McCain, MRG, GRG). 
  • A 2000-word, double-spaced, rationale written for an interdisciplinary, educated, non-specialist audience, which explains the significance of the current project, including:
    • Objectives/goals of the knowledge mobilization activities
    • Clear explanation of knowledge mobilization activities (including timelines) and delineation of knowledge mobilization team member roles
    • Expected contribution to mobilization of and access to research knowledge
    • Nature of engagement with research/community partners
    • Budget Rationale (half page) with supporting documentation (see Budget section below)
  • A full curriculum vitae.

Budget:

  • The Senate Research Committee requires a fully detailed and itemized budget with the application. The onus is on the applicant to explicitly demonstrate that the monies applied for will be used only for the research project detailed in the current application, and to implement the budget as submitted.
  • Submissions must make a connection between budget items and proposal.
  • Supporting documentation for budget items MUST be included.
  • Previously incurred expenses (i.e. incurred before competition deadline) will not be considered eligible for reimbursement.
  • Budgets cannot include funds used to pay wages to the applicant or co-applicant.

Research Assistant Funding:
Applications may include requests for Research Assistant funding, as part of the grant application. The criteria for adjudicating applications which include requests for RA funding will be as follows:

  • The quality of the knowledge dissemination project
  • The demonstrated need for an RA in accomplishing this project
  • A training plan for the RA (this could be done by the faculty member or by another resource, such as HIL workshops)
  • If you are hiring a STU undergraduate student you must follow the university's student hiring guidelines
  • The SRC strongly encourages faculty to apply to the STU JOBS and Harrison McCain Student Research Internships competitions before requesting undergraduate RAs in SSHRC Exchange Grant and McCain Knowledge Mobilization Grant applications

Post Award: 

  • Research grants are to be used by the deadline date specified in the letter of award, unless a request for an extension is approved by the Associate Vice-President (Research).
  • Approval from the St. Thomas Research Ethics Board is required before funds for research involving human participants are released. Ethics application forms are available on the REB section of our website.
  • Recipients’ names and project titles may be placed on the research web site and in the ORS Annual Report.
  • Applicants wishing to make post-award changes to their budgets/expenditure plans must seek the permission of the Associate Vice-President (Research).
  • Faculty securing internal research grants must complete the Final Report Form on their research activities/outcomes to the ORS within 30 days of the end date of their award.

Adjudication Grid