College and Community Social Innovation Fund grants

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Overview

CCSIF grants are intended to foster community innovation by connecting the talent, facilities and capabilities of Canada’s colleges and polytechnics with the research needs of community organizations. CCSIF proposals should facilitate collaborative and innovative research that brings together researchers, students and partners to address challenges in community innovation in the social sciences, humanities, health sciences, natural sciences and engineering research fields.

CCSIF grants enable colleges to increase their capacity to work with communities, with the goal of developing partnerships that foster community innovation in areas such as the integration of vulnerable populations, community development, education and training, climate change, environmental degradation, and health and well-being. Canada’s colleges and polytechnics are well-equipped to contribute to community innovation initiatives by tapping into their departments’ and programs’ knowledge, experience, facilities and community connections.

CCSIF grants are managed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). CCSIF research proposals can be multidisciplinary and may fall under the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and/or health sciences. Applications exclusively in the social sciences and humanities, health sciences, or the natural sciences and engineering will be funded by SSHRC, CIHR, or NSERC, as appropriate. Multidisciplinary grants containing a natural sciences and engineering research component will be funded by NSERC. All applications must be submitted to NSERC.

Who can apply?

CCSIF grants are institutional grants. The applicant must hold a remunerated position at an eligible Canadian college, create and complete the application in the Convergence Portal and be responsible for administering the grant on behalf of the institution.

Canadian colleges declared eligible to administer grants according to the eligibility requirements for colleges of at least one of the three federal granting agencies (NSERC, CIHR or SSHRC) may apply. If the proposed research and knowledge or technology transfer activities lie entirely within the mandate of a single granting agency, the college must be declared eligible to receive funding from that granting agency.

The college must offer programs in the humanities and social sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and/or health sciences, in line with the applied research areas proposed.

• The college’s faculty members involved in CCSIF grants must be engaged in applied research in the humanities and social sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and/or health sciences.
• The college must provide the space, facilities and services to enable its faculty members in humanities and social sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and/or health sciences to conduct applied research.

In addition, the research proposal should identify a principal investigator responsible for the intellectual direction of the research and research-related activities. The principal investigator must be affiliated with the administering institution (the college) when they apply and must be qualified to undertake the research independently. The principal investigator may be listed as the applicant or a co-applicant.

A maximum of five applications can be submitted per college to each competition in any research area covered by the Tri-agency, but a different principal investigator should lead each proposal.

For a list of Canadian colleges currently eligible to apply, see the list of eligible institutions for the agency you are applying to (NSERC, CIHR or SSHRC). To become an eligible institution, see the Institutional eligibility requirements and the Frequently asked questions on institutional eligibility web pages.

What's next?
Activities supported