Thanks a lot for the help guys!
To "Required Information", I do have some sense of what I would like to research, but at the opening of the section SSHRC writes: "The information provided in this section refers to your own research expertise, not a research proposal." So what I'm worried about is representing my 'expertise'. In what sense could I say that I have such 'expertise'? If I were already a doctoral student, or if I had already completed a master's thesis, or done some (formal) research on the subject, I wouldn't be too worried. But for me, that's not really the case. Am I being ridiculous? Do you think I should just write down what I just take my expertise to be? Or do I have to have some formal mark on my record to point to demonstrate that I have the expertise that I'm claiming to have (such as a completed thesis, formal research already underway, etc.)?
I'm also not totally sure by what you mean when you suggest that I look at the faculty listing of my department to take a look at their research interests. Generally, philosophy faculty listings, at least, only mention general areas of research interest (such as "Philosophy of Law"). But these general areas correspond to the disciplines of the 'Disciplines' section immediately below the section I'm asking about. And I'm guessing (though I'm not sure) that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to simply repeat the disciplines of interest to me there? (or perhaps it would be, since the section I'm asking about asks for "areas of expertise" and the 'Disciplines' section asks for: "Indicate and rank up to 5 disciplines that best correspond to your research interests").
To NicoleMC: Do you think mentioning areas of expertise that correspond to disciplines for the keywords (expertise) section would be appropriate (such as, "Philosophy of Law")? I worry that anything more specific might be too abstruse (to the point where it would be entirely unrecognizable to those outside of philosophy).
Thanks again!