SSHRC Insight Grants fund social sciences and humanities research by emerging and established scholars for two to five years. Stream A covers requests of $10,000 to $125,000 and Stream B requests of $125,001 to $500,000, with no more than $125,000 in any one year. The October 2026 competition closed October 1, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. eastern, and SSHRC announces results in April 2027. For research in its early stages, Insight Development Grants offer $10,000 to $100,000 over one to two years; the next deadline is February 2, 2027.
Facts checked against sshrc-crsh.canada.ca on November 13, 2026.
Insight Grants support research excellence in the social sciences and humanities. They belong to SSHRC's Insight Research program, which supports research intended to deepen, widen and increase our collective understanding of individuals and societies, and to inform the search for solutions to societal challenges. Funding is available to both emerging and established scholars for research initiatives of two to five years, carried out by one researcher or by a team working in collaboration.
Insight Grants are valued at up to $500,000 over two to five years. Applicants choose one of two streams based on the amount they need: Stream A for requests of $10,000 to $125,000, or Stream B for requests of $125,001 to $500,000. A request must include at least $10,000 in at least one year, and no more than $125,000 is available in a single year. Both streams share the same deadline, application process and merit review committees, but SSHRC targets a higher success rate for Stream A. SSHRC raised the values of both streams for the October 2025 competition.
There is one Insight Grant competition a year. The October 2026 competition closed October 1, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. eastern, and SSHRC announces its results in April 2027. When we checked on November 13, 2026, SSHRC had not yet posted the 2027 competition.
Insight Grants and Insight Development Grants are the two Insight Research funding opportunities for individuals and teams; Partnership Grants are a separate opportunity for formal partnerships. Values are the SSHRC contribution, and all deadlines are 8:00 p.m. eastern.
Emerging and established scholars, alone or in teams
Emerging scholars, and established scholars exploring questions distinct from their previous research
Formal partnerships between postsecondary institutions and partner organizations
Building a formal partnership with community, government or industry partners? See the SSHRC Partnership Grants guide
Rules for the October 2026 competition. An application comes from one applicant (the principal investigator), alone or with co-applicants and/or collaborators.
Dates and steps SSHRC published for the October 2026 Insight Grants competition.
SSHRC presented the competition in French (10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. eastern) and in English (1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern). The presentations are posted on the competition page.
An authorized research grants officer at the applicant's institution submits the application electronically; eligible PhD students and postdoctoral fellows submit directly to SSHRC.
SSHRC seeks, but cannot guarantee, at least two external assessments per application. Merit review committees read their whole cohort of applications with those assessments, then evaluate and rank the proposals. Applications ranked by consensus in the lowest 35% are normally not discussed at the final stage.
Applicants receive the notice of decision through the SSHRC Extranet for Applicants, together with any external assessments and, where applicable, a summary of the committee evaluation. Institutions see results in the Grants and Scholarships Administration Portal.
Grant holders report on the use of funds, funded activities and outcomes, as set out in the notice of award. The Insight achievement report is due within six months of the end of the grant period, including any extension; until it is submitted, the holder cannot receive further SSHRC grants or awards.
Insight Grants and Insight Development Grants use the same three criteria with different weights.
| Criterion | Insight Grants (October 2026) | Insight Development Grants (February 2027) |
|---|---|---|
| Challenge: the aim and importance of the endeavour | 40% | 50% |
| Feasibility: the plan to achieve excellence (includes the knowledge mobilization plan) | 20% | 20% |
| Capability: the expertise to succeed | 40% | 30% |
For Insight Grants, each criterion is scored out of 6 and an application needs at least 3.0 on every criterion to be recommended for funding. Insight Development Grants use a 1.00 to 6.00 scale on which 1.00 is the best score, and an application needs a score in the Moderate range (4.34 to 5.16) or better on each criterion. Reviewers consider only the last six years of research contributions and take career interruptions into account, and committee discussions follow the principle of minimum essential funding.
Every Insight Grant application includes a mandatory knowledge mobilization plan of up to one page. It is not a separate criterion: reviewers assess it under Feasibility, worth 20% of the score, looking at the “quality and appropriateness of knowledge mobilization plans, including effective dissemination, exchange and engagement with stakeholders within and/or beyond the research community, where applicable.” The plan should set out how the project will engage its target audiences (for example researchers, policy-makers, business leaders, community groups, educators, media, practitioners, decision-makers or the general public), a schedule for the activities, and why those choices fit the project's knowledge mobilization objectives. The Capability criterion separately considers evidence of past knowledge mobilization, and SSHRC encourages dissemination in both official languages whenever feasible.
Main parts of an October 2026 application and their page limits, from SSHRC's applicant instructions.
For the October 2026 Insight Grants competition, the applicant and each co-applicant complete the SSHRC online CV; co-applicants attach theirs when they accept the invitation. SSHRC's CV instructions state that only the SSHRC online CV is accepted: other CVs, including the Canadian Common CV, are not accepted, and their information is not transferred. The February 2027 Insight Development Grants competition runs on SSHRC's Research Portal and instead requires applicants and co-applicants to complete the Canadian Common CV, so check the CV requirement in each competition's instructions.
Proposals can involve any discipline, theme, approach or subject area eligible for SSHRC funding. SSHRC applies two tests: the research must be primarily in the social sciences and humanities, and its intended outcome must primarily be to add to our understanding of individuals, groups and societies; using social sciences or humanities methods is not enough on its own. Research primarily intended to improve health, clinical research, therapy, and epidemiology and public health are listed as ineligible for SSHRC support, and SSHRC does not accept applications that NSERC or CIHR would more appropriately evaluate. In psychology, SSHRC considers social, developmental, personality and educational psychology. Research that spans more than one agency can go to the Tri-Agency Interdisciplinary Peer Review Committee, provided its dominant component is in the social sciences and humanities.
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Every figure on this page comes from these official SSHRC pages and competition statistics, read on November 13, 2026. SSHRC updates its funding pages without notice; confirm the details on the official page before you apply.
Questions about Insight Grants go to SSHRC: insightgrants@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca or 1-855-275-2861 (toll free).
Related research-grant guides
NSERC Discovery Grants
Operating funding for natural sciences and engineering research
CIHR Project Grants
Health-research funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
SSHRC Partnership Grants
Stage 1, Stage 2, Partnership Development and Partnership Engage Grants
Research grants hub
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