News

The following information is provided by SSHRC on a new funding opportunity on Knowledge Synthesis Grants on Environmental Impact Assessments. The Office of Research Services encourages CUE Faculty members in Social Sciences, as well as those in the Natural Sciences and Engineering with interest in Knowledge Synthesis, to participate.

If you are considering applying to this funding opportunity, please contact research@concordia.ab.ca to discuss.

Deadline: July 10th, 2019.

Funding up to $30,000.

Reports due (End of Grant): March 2020.

Knowledge Synthesis Grants

Informing Best Practices in Environmental and Impact Assessments

SSHRC and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) have launched this Knowledge Synthesis Grants (KSG) competition to stimulate social sciences and humanities research that will help inform best practices related to environmental and impact assessments. Environmental assessment and impact assessment (which take into consideration a broader range of factors, such as socio-economic) are planning and decision-making tools to minimize or avoid the potential adverse environmental effects of a project and to maximize positive impacts and incorporate environmental and other factors into decision-making.

These grants aim to increase the understanding of existing knowledge in the social sciences and humanities and its application to environmental and impact assessments.

Description

This funding opportunity will support researchers, teams of researchers and knowledge users in producing knowledge syntheses and scoping reviews that:

• support the use of evidence in decision-making, and the application of best practices; and
• assist in developing future research agendas.

Applicants must address the following three objectives of the funding opportunity in their proposals:

State of knowledge, strengths and gaps:

• critically assess the state of knowledge of the theme under consideration from a variety of sources, as appropriate;
• identify knowledge strengths and gaps within the theme; and
• identify the most promising policies and practices related to the theme.

Research data:

• assess the quality, accuracy and rigour (i.e., methodological approaches) of current work in the field; and
• identify strengths and gaps in the quantitative and qualitative data available.

Knowledge mobilization:

• engage cross-sectoral stakeholders, including government policy-makers, throughout the project to mobilize knowledge related to promising policies and practices; and
• use effective knowledge mobilization methods to facilitate the sharing of research findings with multisectoral stakeholders (academic, public, private and not-for-profit sectors).

Expected outcomes

Knowledge Synthesis Grants are not intended to support original research. Rather, they are intended to support the synthesis of existing research knowledge and the identification of knowledge gaps. This call is particularly focused on the state of research knowledge emerging over the past 10 years.

In support of the objectives below, Knowledge Synthesis Grants will help in identifying roles the academic, public, private and not-for-profit sectors may play in developing robust policies, best practices, and tools.

Successful applicants will be expected to:

• Complete a synthesis report and two-page evidence brief within six months of receiving the award.
• Attend a kick-off webinar.
• Attend or send a delegate to a knowledge mobilization forum in Ottawa, attended by multisector stakeholders and CEAA representatives, to discuss the knowledge syntheses. Travel costs for the forum should be included in the budget submitted as part of the application. Details on the meetings (tentatively scheduled for March 2020) will be provided to successful applicants.
• Identify and invite a cross-sectoral knowledge or policy user to the knowledge mobilization forum, and include them in the travel costs in the budget submitted as part of the application.

Successful applicants will also be provided with guidelines for completing their synthesis report and a two-page evidence brief.

For examples of previously funded Knowledge Synthesis Grants projects, see the webpage dedicated to each future challenge area.