SSHRC Postdoc 2024-2025

[Anki555]

5 hours ago, ArkyBarky said:

Thanks for checking in. I did! After multiple work around attempts haha. All to find out I didn't get it

I scored 14.83/18, in Committee 3. Last score recommended for funding 14.01. 17/78 fellowships offered. This seems low compared to data from previous years, I guess that's to be expected given the state of things, though.

Happy to all of you who got it! You're all deserving and will do great things with it I'm sure ❤️ 

Hi ArkyBarky - can you please tell mw about the work around attempts. I am in the similar boat and not sure how to login. Thanks.

[Anki555]

19 hours ago, ArkyBarky said:

Is anyone having problems signing on? I've never signed onto Extranet this is a different site than the one we applied for. Do not have a password that works, and my email is invalid when I click forgot password. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

someone please help me navigate this, I have exactly same issue and unsure what to do. Thanks.

[ArkyBarky]

1 hour ago, Anki555 said:

Hi ArkyBarky - can you please tell mw about the work around attempts. I am in the similar boat and not sure how to login. Thanks.

Hey, I can't remember exactly which approach resolved things in the fever dream that was last night, but I *think* i opened the link in Microsoft Edge (instead of the other browsers they say are compatible) and used the forgot password button with the email address they sent the notification to. For some reason it worked on Edge, give it a try!

[phon]

Well, based on posts here, I checked the extranet without having received an email, and I got funded at an institution abroad! Thanks to the people who posted. Who knows when the email will come...

I'll follow others in posting some details, just in case others can benefit in future years.

My profile: ABD (year 5). CGS-D award that ends in April + $50,000 in several other smaller awards (including OGS). At the time of application, I listed 5 refereed contributions out of 7 (four proceedings and one article), 4 conference presentations out of 28 (three conference presentations and one workshop given at a conference), 3 of 6 refereed contributions (two invited talks and one workshop at a summer school), and one forthcoming article that I submitted a few days before the application.

I got a 17/18 in committee 4B, the cutoff for being recommended for funding was 15.56, and they funded 15/68 proposals

 

 

 

Edited March 1 by phon

[ArkyBarky]

6 hours ago, phon said:

Well, based on posts here, I checked the extranet without having received an email, and I got funded at an institution abroad! Thanks to the people who posted. Who knows when the email will come...

I'll follow others in posting some details, just in case others can benefit in future years.

My profile: ABD (year 5). CGS-D award that ends in April + $50,000 in several other smaller awards (including OGS). At the time of application, I listed 5 refereed contributions out of 7 (four proceedings and one article), 4 conference presentations out of 28 (three conference presentations and one workshop given at a conference), 3 of 6 refereed contributions (two invited talks and one workshop at a summer school), and one forthcoming article that I submitted a few days before the application.

I got a 17/18 in committee 4B, the cutoff for being recommended for funding was 15.56, and they funded 15/68 proposals

 

 

 

Dang, Phon, you killed it! Well done!

[secretmongoose]

I'm trying to put a chart together for us on the "waitlist," so that we can gauge what our position on the list might be.  Are there any other communities sharing these results? I'm having a hard time getting enough data.

[jiko1]

Hello everyone,

I tried finding out what my position was on the waitlist but I only got this response: 

"SSHRC retains a pool of alternate candidates recommended for funding by committee members in the event that additional funds become available. In addition, the funding provided by SSHRC’s partners in the context of joint initiatives may occasionally allow us to offer awards to meritorious candidates who indicated interest at the time of application but who were not offered an award. SSHRC cannot predict if and when additional offers can be made, as these offers depend on a variety of factors which change from year to year. In the event that funding becomes available, offers will be made in such a way as to maintain the success rate across the selection committees."

 

What does that mean exactly? I have a hard time understanding. They wouldn't tell me my rank or position. 

 

Fyi I got 15.47/18 with committee 3, not granted obviously..

Edited March 2 by jiko1
.

[secretmongoose]

I assume your letter, at the the end of the second paragraph, said: "SSHRC will contact you if additional funds become available." My understanding is that it means we are on a waitlist; however, based on the information they provide us in the notice of decision, it's impossible to know where we are.

I tried contacting them to see if they would tell me my position and they refused.

They did tell me something puzzling, though. They said that the "selection committees often recommend a pool of candidates to whom funding cannot be offered due to program success rates." And they linked this page: https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/results-resultats/stats-statistiques/index-eng.aspx

What this suggests to me is that it might not be a simple numbers game, after all. If they are trying to meet certain metrics of distribution (across disciplines, across regions of Canada, across universities, across English and French languages, and between with attention to gender, visible minorities, and indigenous people.) I suspect that an application with a high enough score to be funded, might have been passed over if it didn't check enough of these boxes.

 

[JK3223]

18 hours ago, jiko1 said:

Hello everyone,

I tried finding out what my position was on the waitlist but I only got this response: 

"SSHRC retains a pool of alternate candidates recommended for funding by committee members in the event that additional funds become available. In addition, the funding provided by SSHRC’s partners in the context of joint initiatives may occasionally allow us to offer awards to meritorious candidates who indicated interest at the time of application but who were not offered an award. SSHRC cannot predict if and when additional offers can be made, as these offers depend on a variety of factors which change from year to year. In the event that funding becomes available, offers will be made in such a way as to maintain the success rate across the selection committees."

 

What does that mean exactly? I have a hard time understanding. They wouldn't tell me my rank or position. 

 

Fyi I got 15.47/18 with committee 3, not granted obviously..

What I do not understand is why SSHRC had a clear system for many years that every applicant knew and understood (x number of awards, given to the top y number of applicants, here is your rank out of the total applicants) into something more opaque. It's really disappointing. 

[jiko1]

14 minutes ago, JK3223 said:

What I do not understand is why SSHRC had a clear system for many years that every applicant knew and understood (x number of awards, given to the top y number of applicants, here is your rank out of the total applicants) into something more opaque. It's really disappointing. 

There is this one guy who sued them (and won) a few years ago for being so secretive and vague about their process.

It seems they are still vague and it got worse this year because we can't know our rank. What is the score of the last funded application? They dont even say. And Ive been pondering on what they mean by "flux", i think the alternate awards do not necessarily go to the next in line highest ranked.

Edited March 2 by jiko1
.

[secretmongoose]

I assume your letter, at the the end of the second paragraph, said: "SSHRC will contact you if additional funds become available." My understanding is that it means we are on a waitlist; however, based on the information they provide us in the notice of decision, it's impossible to know where we are.

I tried contacting them to see if they would tell me my position and they refused.

They did tell me something puzzling, though. They said that the "selection committees often recommend a pool of candidates to whom funding cannot be offered due to program success rates."
What this suggests to me is that it might not be a simple numbers game, after all. If they are trying to meet certain metrics of distribution (across disciplines, across regions of Canada, across universities, across English and French languages, and between with attention to gender, visible minorities, and indigenous people.) I suspect that an application with a high enough score to be funded, might have been passed over if it didn't check enough of these boxes.
 

[jiko1]

4 hours ago, secretmongoose said:

I assume your letter, at the the end of the second paragraph, said: "SSHRC will contact you if additional funds become available." My understanding is that it means we are on a waitlist; however, based on the information they provide us in the notice of decision, it's impossible to know where we are.

I tried contacting them to see if they would tell me my position and they refused.

They did tell me something puzzling, though. They said that the "selection committees often recommend a pool of candidates to whom funding cannot be offered due to program success rates."
What this suggests to me is that it might not be a simple numbers game, after all. If they are trying to meet certain metrics of distribution (across disciplines, across regions of Canada, across universities, across English and French languages, and between with attention to gender, visible minorities, and indigenous people.) I suspect that an application with a high enough score to be funded, might have been passed over if it didn't check enough of these boxes.
 

They flat out refused to answer me again today! I will stop trying. I just wanted to know what was the last funded score in my committee. Impossible to know. We can't even know our rank regardless of the awards... 

And yes I think you are correct. It is not only about score. There's a "flux" of things we can't really be sure of lol I looked for info about previous years on how alternates work, found nothing.

Edited March 4 by jiko1

[Kamzee]

On 2/29/2024 at 11:41 AM, ArkyBarky said:

For bookkeeping, what committee were you? Your score seems high

Committee 3… 

[jiko1]

Hello everyone,

Does anyone know if people in the previous years obtained an alternate award due to winners rejecting their awards? Does that ever happen?

[PolTheorist]

13 minutes ago, jiko1 said:

Hello everyone,

Does anyone know if people in the previous years obtained an alternate award due to winners rejecting their awards? Does that ever happen?

Yes, a colleague of mine got it last year. I believe he heard well into the following semester. 

[jiko1]

5 minutes ago, PolTheorist said:

Yes, a colleague of mine got it last year. I believe he heard well into the following semester. 

Interesting. Thanks!

[secretmongoose]

After some pestering they did tell me my rank today. If they keep funds within committees, it would mean I am second in line...

[jiko1]

17 minutes ago, secretmongoose said:

After some pestering they did tell me my rank today. If they keep funds within committees, it would mean I am second in line...

Oh they did! Maybe I was just unlucky to speak with someone who wouldn't tell me. There is something strange that they told me last time we spoke: they kept saying that "there is no waitlist" _ I am not sure what they mean by that. One of the message I posted here from them implied there is a waitlist, but then it got repeated twice that there is no waitlist. Maybe they are saying that so that we don't keep our hopes up? No idea.

 

Would you have an idea about the deadline the winners have to respond?

Edited March 5 by jiko1

[secretmongoose]

The timing of offers to alternates was my next question. I'll let you know if I hear anything else.

I think winners have something like 6 weeks to make a decision.

[jiko1]

30 minutes ago, secretmongoose said:

The timing of offers to alternates was my next question. I'll let you know if I hear anything else.

I think winners have something like 6 weeks to make a decision.

We have to wait and see what happens in the week after the deadline ends for the funded applicants.. I thought it was something like 21 days, not sure where I saw that number. Maybe its for the doctoral students. 

[jiko1]

2 hours ago, secretmongoose said:

The timing of offers to alternates was my next question. I'll let you know if I hear anything else.

I think winners have something like 6 weeks to make a decision.

Confirmed its 21 days by someone who got the award. So 21 March is the deadline.

[Psy22]

Hey everyone,

I see many people are hearing back from SSHRC this year and some are wondering about the waitlist. I wrote this post a few years ago about the waitlist based on several email exchanges I had with a SSHRC officer and I see it's been getting some traction. 

Well, unfortunately the post was wrong in some ways because that SSHRC officer provided me with inaccurate information. I know this because I was eventually forwarded to a more senior SSHRC official who corrected their colleague's statements. Specifically, this part was wrong: "In the event that funding becomes available, offers will be made on the basis of the rank of each application in the competition overall." The more senior SSHRC official clarified that offers are made to the next highest ranking application within the same committee. That was a huge difference for me, as I would've been the next highest ranked application overall, but because no one ahead of me in my committee declined the award, I never received an offer. It seems I can't go back and edit the post, so I wanted to correct the record here.

Now, I'll share the story of how the rest of my situation played out for anyone interested, especially those feeling down in the dumps about their rejections... Later that year, I managed to cobble together enough funding and sessional teaching gigs to tide me over for another year and apply to SSHRC again, with a similar proposal but a substantially improved CV and I ended up... scoring even lower! 

I was absolutely gutted. I was frustrated by the ranking process and the way things were handled administratively. I was upset at seeing proposals that clearly should've fallen under the umbrella of CIHR receive SSHRC funding. I was unhappy with seeing that some of the previous year's reviewers for my committee had fewer and less impactful research outputs in their 30+ years in academia than I had in my < 10 years... I felt a lot of stress, strain, and frustration over what is essentially peanuts in funding. 

But, as weird as this will sound, I'm now thankful for it! Just a couple months after the 2nd SSHRC rejection, a posting came up for a postdoc position that was a little outside of my core expertise,  but I thought I might be able to make it work. The supervisor was open to the position being fully remote and it paid about the same amount as a Banting award, plus benefits! I was surprised to get the position very soon after applying. With the livable wage, I haven't had to do any sessional teaching, which has been great. I've ended up loving the position and the work that I do... I've certainly become a better scientist because of the experience and I've also massively broadened my professional network. And I can honestly say my supervisor (a Canada Research Chair) has been impressed with my skillset and valued my work. I'm sure we'll keep collaborating for years to come. 

A few months after starting my new postdoc, I was interviewed for a sweet faculty position at a well-ranked school overseas. I ended up receiving an offer and deferring because my partner and I ended up having a baby. By virtue of being an internal postdoc, I was able to take parental leave while receiving a salary top-up...! (I don't believe SSHRC or even Banting award winners receive any support like that.) Additionally, working remotely has been hugely beneficial for raising a baby. In a few months, we'll be leaving Canada to start my new faculty position and we're really looking forward to our new life overseas. I never would've expected all this around the time of my SSHRC rejection, but things probably couldn't have worked out better for me.

Now, everyone's situation is different. But I share my story to illustrate that even if you feel absolutely devastated, life goes on. And sometimes, not getting such (minimal) funding leads to opportunities that set you down an even better path. Also, don't take SSHRC rankings too personally... they're comparing apples and oranges and pears and doing so quite superficially. For me, I put a lot more stock into feedback I've received from other experts in my field (e.g., those who've read my work, those who've hired me, those who seek me out for collaboration) than a SSHRC committee of "expert generalists". Not getting SSHRC certainly didn't spell the end of my academic career and it might not spell the end of yours either. 

I hope my story helps bring some of you a bit of needed hope and perspective. Wishing each of you, the very best. 

Edited March 6 by Psy22

[jiko1]

16 minutes ago, Psy22 said:

Hey everyone,

I see many people are hearing back from SSHRC this year and some are wondering about the waitlist. I wrote this post a few years ago about the waitlist based on several email exchanges I had with a SSHRC officer and I see it's been getting some traction. 

Well, unfortunately the post was wrong in some ways because that SSHRC officer provided me with inaccurate information. I know this because I was eventually forwarded to a more senior SSHRC official who corrected their colleague's statements. Specifically, this part was wrong: "In the event that funding becomes available, offers will be made on the basis of the rank of each application in the competition overall." The more senior SSHRC official clarified that offers are made to the next highest ranking application within the same committee. That was a huge difference for me, as I would've been the next highest ranked application overall, but because no one ahead of me in my committee declined the award, I never received an offer. It seems I can't go back and edit the post, so I wanted to correct the record here.

Now, I'll share the story of how the rest of my situation played out for anyone interested, especially those feeling down in the dumps about their rejections... Later that year, I managed to cobble together enough funding and sessional teaching gigs to tide me over for another year and apply to SSHRC again, with a similar proposal but a substantially improved CV and I ended up... scoring even lower! 

I was absolutely gutted. I was frustrated by the ranking process and the way things were handled administratively. I was upset at seeing proposals that clearly should've fallen under the umbrella of CIHR receive SSHRC funding. I was unhappy with seeing that some of the previous year's reviewers for my committee had fewer and less impactful research outputs in their 30+ years in academia than I had in my < 10 years... I felt a lot of stress, strain, and frustration over what is essentially peanuts in funding. 

But, as weird as this will sound, I'm now thankful for it! Just a couple months after the 2nd SSHRC rejection, a posting came up for a postdoc position that was a little outside of my core expertise,  but I thought I might be able to make it work. The supervisor was open to the position being fully remote and it paid about the same amount as a Banting award, plus benefits! I was surprised to get the position very soon after applying. With the livable wage, I haven't had to do any sessional teaching, which has been great. I've ended up loving the position and the work that I do... I've certainly become a better scientist because of the experience and I've also massively broadened my professional network. And I can honestly say my supervisor (a Canada Research Chair) has been impressed with my skillset and valued my work. I'm sure we'll keep collaborating for years to come. 

A few months after starting my new postdoc, I was interviewed for a sweet faculty position at a well-ranked school overseas. I ended up receiving an offer and deferring because my partner and I ended up having a baby. By virtue of being an internal postdoc, I was able to take parental leave while receiving a salary top-up...! (I don't believe SSHRC or even Banting award winners receive any support like that.) Additionally, working remotely has been hugely beneficial for raising a baby. In a few months, we'll be leaving Canada to start my new faculty position and we're really looking forward to our new life overseas. I never would've expected all this around the time of my SSHRC rejection, but things probably couldn't have worked out better for me.

Now, everyone's situation is different. But I share my story to illustrate that even if you feel absolutely devastated, life goes on. And sometimes, not getting such (minimal) funding leads to opportunities that set you down an even better path. Also, don't take SSHRC rankings too personally... they're comparing apples and oranges and pears and doing so quite superficially. For me, I put a lot more stock into feedback I've received from other experts in my field (e.g., those who've read my work, those who've hired me, those who seek me out for collaboration) than a SSHRC committee of "expert generalists". Not getting SSHRC certainly didn't spell the end of my academic career and it might not spell the end of yours either. 

I hope my story helps bring some of you a bit of needed hope and perspective. Wishing each of you, the very best. 

Super inspiring! Thanks so much for sharing. Their process is definitely flawed and unfair in many ways... 

[ArkyBarky]

On 3/5/2024 at 10:23 PM, Psy22 said:

Hey everyone,

I see many people are hearing back from SSHRC this year and some are wondering about the waitlist. I wrote this post a few years ago about the waitlist based on several email exchanges I had with a SSHRC officer and I see it's been getting some traction. 

Well, unfortunately the post was wrong in some ways because that SSHRC officer provided me with inaccurate information. I know this because I was eventually forwarded to a more senior SSHRC official who corrected their colleague's statements. Specifically, this part was wrong: "In the event that funding becomes available, offers will be made on the basis of the rank of each application in the competition overall." The more senior SSHRC official clarified that offers are made to the next highest ranking application within the same committee. That was a huge difference for me, as I would've been the next highest ranked application overall, but because no one ahead of me in my committee declined the award, I never received an offer. It seems I can't go back and edit the post, so I wanted to correct the record here.

Now, I'll share the story of how the rest of my situation played out for anyone interested, especially those feeling down in the dumps about their rejections... Later that year, I managed to cobble together enough funding and sessional teaching gigs to tide me over for another year and apply to SSHRC again, with a similar proposal but a substantially improved CV and I ended up... scoring even lower! 

I was absolutely gutted. I was frustrated by the ranking process and the way things were handled administratively. I was upset at seeing proposals that clearly should've fallen under the umbrella of CIHR receive SSHRC funding. I was unhappy with seeing that some of the previous year's reviewers for my committee had fewer and less impactful research outputs in their 30+ years in academia than I had in my < 10 years... I felt a lot of stress, strain, and frustration over what is essentially peanuts in funding. 

But, as weird as this will sound, I'm now thankful for it! Just a couple months after the 2nd SSHRC rejection, a posting came up for a postdoc position that was a little outside of my core expertise,  but I thought I might be able to make it work. The supervisor was open to the position being fully remote and it paid about the same amount as a Banting award, plus benefits! I was surprised to get the position very soon after applying. With the livable wage, I haven't had to do any sessional teaching, which has been great. I've ended up loving the position and the work that I do... I've certainly become a better scientist because of the experience and I've also massively broadened my professional network. And I can honestly say my supervisor (a Canada Research Chair) has been impressed with my skillset and valued my work. I'm sure we'll keep collaborating for years to come. 

A few months after starting my new postdoc, I was interviewed for a sweet faculty position at a well-ranked school overseas. I ended up receiving an offer and deferring because my partner and I ended up having a baby. By virtue of being an internal postdoc, I was able to take parental leave while receiving a salary top-up...! (I don't believe SSHRC or even Banting award winners receive any support like that.) Additionally, working remotely has been hugely beneficial for raising a baby. In a few months, we'll be leaving Canada to start my new faculty position and we're really looking forward to our new life overseas. I never would've expected all this around the time of my SSHRC rejection, but things probably couldn't have worked out better for me.

Now, everyone's situation is different. But I share my story to illustrate that even if you feel absolutely devastated, life goes on. And sometimes, not getting such (minimal) funding leads to opportunities that set you down an even better path. Also, don't take SSHRC rankings too personally... they're comparing apples and oranges and pears and doing so quite superficially. For me, I put a lot more stock into feedback I've received from other experts in my field (e.g., those who've read my work, those who've hired me, those who seek me out for collaboration) than a SSHRC committee of "expert generalists". Not getting SSHRC certainly didn't spell the end of my academic career and it might not spell the end of yours either. 

I hope my story helps bring some of you a bit of needed hope and perspective. Wishing each of you, the very best. 

This is very inspiring thank you! It can definitely feel like the end of the world when you get the rejection, but I agree it isn't the clearest reflection of your research impact. The only specialist in my field on the sshrc committee I applied to this year is currently an adjunct at a university that I have just been shortlisted for a tt position at....with a cover letter and research statement based on the same project, and with very similar prose, to the sshrc app. It can be difficult being ranked by generalists but also by others in your field with very different ideas of what makes "good research".

[slc4a3]

I had to decline the grant so if there is a waitlist there might still be some hope for someone in 4b!