Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program 2026-2027

[quenzar]

Not offered, but i was recommended for funding... So close but not far enough

Committee 4b (field, education): 5.15 in both categories -> 10.3/12.

 

Edited March 4 by quenzar

[relinerd]

Funding decision: not offered ☹️

Congratulations to everyone who got it. 

[dandanbenboerba93]

I got an offer!!! Hope everyone will receive good news in the end!!

Committee Name: 4B - Education; Linguistics; Psychology; Social Work Applications: 143 Awards Offered: 27 Awards Not Offered: 116

Your scores within committee: Research potential and experience (50%): 5.66 / 6 Quality of proposed research program (50%): 5.44 / 6 Total Score (weighted): 11.10 / 12

 

[committee6a]

Congrats to everyone who was successful! 

I was not offered funding.

Committee 6A: Applications 113 - Awards 21, Not offered 93

My scores: Research potential and experience: 4.84/6; Quality of proposed research program: 4.41/6. Total 9.25/12.

[FoxFeet]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone ever done an appeal? 

My score was wildly bad this year despite a frankly objectively improved proposal. Went from being recommended for funding last year, to a weirdly even and low *8.00* and while I know it's totally possible a ton of amazing outstanding applications flooded my committee, the difference in scores from last year seems a little absurd. I have emailed asking for my rank this year--waiting for that. 

But the SSHRC's mandatory "evidence of error" seems practically impossible to provide if we have 0 insight into how our applications were reviewed! 

Thanks - congrats to the successes, and sympathies to the others like me who were disappointed today. 

[bluetopaz]

Recommended, but not offered. 

Committee 4B: Research potential and experience (50%): 5.05 / 6 Quality of proposed research program (50%): 5.23 / 6 Total Score (weighted): 10.28 / 12

I'm super disappointed but kind of mixed feelings as I feel like my scores are decent. I thought my first score would have been higher than my second so trying to get my head around that. Wondering what the odds of getting funding are for people in my position.

[etiennelj]

Hello all,

I just can’t sleep tonight, so I thought I might as well post here.

I failed miserably. I still can’t believe nor understand how my research proposal could score so low.

 

Expérience et potentiel de recherche (50%) : 4.75 / 6

Qualité du programme de recherche proposé (50%) : 2.86 / 6

Note finale (pondérée) : 7.61 / 12

 

I guess it’s a relief I wasn’t even close? But at the same time, this is telling me that what I care about in research is not valued, or at least, not understood. This gives me little hope for future attempts.

I’m just shocked, and at a loss…

Congratulations to successful applicants, and to the unsuccessful ones, I understand the pain.

[CSAC]

Hi everyone, congrats on those who got funded (tough year) and I really feel for those who were not. This year was the last year I could apply, and after two refusals, I finally got funded. It's a huge relief, I couldn't believe my eyes!

For reference: 

Committee 5A: 

Expérience et potentiel de recherche (50%) : 5.47 / 6 Qualité du programme de recherche proposé (50%) : 5.85 / 6 Note finale (pondérée) : 11.32 / 12

In the committee, 110 got funded,  89 did not.

My experience was improved, more published pubs, but also a provincial postdoc fellowship and a supporting fund from a research centre if the SSHRC was tu fund my research. The research program was new, and better articulated as a whole.

[genderboi]

Hi everyone, 

Congrats to all those successful! You worked hard and deserve it!! 
 

Last night I wrote to the SSHRC officer who told me 400 awards would be offered this competition asking her to clarify the discrepancy. She replied to me saying I was confused and that her estimate was for total awards across the tri-council agencies. I’ve followed up with the email thread where she did indeed say 400 specifically for SSHRC and asked for some accountability and transparency. 
 

I’ve heard others were quoted 400 awards too. If you were I’d consider writing to SSHRC to ask for clarification. It’s not clear to me what happened with the influx of funding from the 2024 budget - on the bottom of the decision letter it says more awards were given out that align with the research Impact+ areas without context or numbers. 

Edited March 4 by genderboi

[emerald_hedgehog]

Got rejected as well. This is my second time applying and I was once again recommended but not funded, according to the decision letter.

 

Committee 1A (Literature and Fine Arts)

Research potential and experience (50%): 5.15 / 6

Quality of proposed research program (50%): 4.91 / 6

Total Score (weighted): 10.06 / 12

 

I applied with fundamentally the same project, except more fine-tuned, made the focus more on Canada than Europe, and applied to work with someone who's a way more logical fit. I also had my PhD conferred in September, so I applied this time as someone who finished, whereas last year I was in the last year of my PhD. The grading last year was different but my project still scored lower than I did as an individual, although my evaluation as an individual is only 0.04 better thn last year, so not even much of an improvement. Looks like they don't see the project itself as valuable.

 

I saw someone post saying there were more applicants for this committee this year, so I thought I'd pull up my results from last year and I can say that that is not true. In fact, last year, 1A received 148 applicants, of which 31 were funded (20.95% success rate), whereas this year, there were 108 applications, with 20 being funded (18.512% success rate). It looks like the situation this year is that less people were funded across the board.  Just mentioning this in case it helps shine some perspective.

 

Like a few people have pointed out, I also assumed there would be more grants given because of the emphasis that more money was being put into research. Either the PhDs will see more of that and the postdocs are seen more as time to work on making your dissertation into a manuscript, or the priority aligns more with the Impact+ program, which really does not favour the humanities.

 

Either way, feeling pretty defeated and evaluating my next steps and whether I want to use my last attempt and apply this September or give up on the postdoc entirely. 

[thunderbaby]

28 minutes ago, emerald_hedgehog said:

I saw someone post saying there were more applicants for this committee this year, so I thought I'd pull up my results from last year and I can say that that is not true. In fact, last year, 1A received 148 applicants, of which 31 were funded (20.95% success rate), whereas this year, there were 108 applications, with 20 being funded (18.512% success rate). It looks like the situation this year is that less people were funded across the board.  Just mentioning this in case it helps shine some perspective.

 

Like a few people have pointed out, I also assumed there would be more grants given because of the emphasis that more money was being put into research. Either the PhDs will see more of that and the postdocs are seen more as time to work on making your dissertation into a manuscript, or the priority aligns more with the Impact+ program, which really does not favour the humanities.

I think that there WERE more applications in all committees actually - it sounds like each committee was split into two, most likely due to the increased number of applications: 1A and 1B, 2A and 2B, etc. I am not sure how they decided to split the committees - by subject, by applicant surname, or by some other logic. 

 

For comparison, these are the statistics for the overall competition this year (2026) and last year (2025):

Overall Competition Results (2026)
Applications: 1322
Awards Offered: 247 (18.7%)
Awards Not Offered: 1075 (81.3%)
 

Overall Competition Results (2025)
Applications: 828
Awards Offered: 174 (21.0%)
Awards Not Offered: 654 (79.0%)

I also did a deep dive into the SSHRC postdoc stats when I was waiting for the results. You can find details here on the percentage of awarded projects, the number of applicants each year, etc., here:
https://sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/competition-results/statistics.aspx

If you look at the interactive dashboard and filter for the postdoc fellowships, you can see some graphs with info. It's interesting to note that this year's success rate is the lowest it's been since 2018. In 2024, the success rate was 22%, and in 2023 it was a whopping 28.1% (this was the final year before the grants were raised from $40,000 per year to $70,000). But a decade ago, the success rate was only 18.5% (2016), 17.2% (2017), and 17.7 (2018). 

[emerald_hedgehog]

43 minutes ago, thunderbaby said:

I think that there WERE more applications in all committees actually - it sounds like each committee was split into two, most likely due to the increased number of applications: 1A and 1B, 2A and 2B, etc. I am not sure how they decided to split the committees - by subject, by applicant surname, or by some other logic. 

 

For comparison, these are the statistics for the overall competition this year (2026) and last year (2025):

Overall Competition Results (2026)
Applications: 1322
Awards Offered: 247 (18.7%)
Awards Not Offered: 1075 (81.3%)
 

Overall Competition Results (2025)
Applications: 828
Awards Offered: 174 (21.0%)
Awards Not Offered: 654 (79.0%)

I also did a deep dive into the SSHRC postdoc stats when I was waiting for the results. You can find details here on the percentage of awarded projects, the number of applicants each year, etc., here:
https://sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/competition-results/statistics.aspx

If you look at the interactive dashboard and filter for the postdoc fellowships, you can see some graphs with info. It's interesting to note that this year's success rate is the lowest it's been since 2018. In 2024, the success rate was 22%, and in 2023 it was a whopping 28.1% (this was the final year before the grants were raised from $40,000 per year to $70,000). But a decade ago, the success rate was only 18.5% (2016), 17.2% (2017), and 17.7 (2018). 

Ah I see. I was going purely off of the number of applicants in 1A, not overall. I did see the sharp increase in overall applicants, which had been discussed in major Canadian outlets in the fall, which kept repeating how there's a "record number of applicants for postdocs this year". I didn't realize the split might have to do with more people applying to committee 1 overall and so that's why they divided them.

 

Someone else posted saying committee 5B got 110 applications funded??? Is that a typo or did they really decided to fund those more heavily that other committees? Again, I think there's a lot of factors in this year's competition that are out of our control as applicants, including government priorities.

[CSAC]

4 hours ago, CSAC said:

Hi everyone, congrats on those who got funded (tough year) and I really feel for those who were not. This year was the last year I could apply, and after two refusals, I finally got funded. It's a huge relief, I couldn't believe my eyes!

For reference: 

Committee 5A: 

Expérience et potentiel de recherche (50%) : 5.47 / 6 Qualité du programme de recherche proposé (50%) : 5.85 / 6 Note finale (pondérée) : 11.32 / 12

In the committee, 110 got funded,  89 did not.

My experience was improved, more published pubs, but also a provincial postdoc fellowship and a supporting fund from a research centre if the SSHRC was tu fund my research. The research program was new, and better articulated as a whole.

Oh, I just realized that my pre-caffeineted self got mistaken: 110 application, 21 of which were funded...

[thunderbaby]

SSHRC has posted the Merit Review Committees (who was on each committee doing the evaluations) for this year's competition, which may be of interest to people here:

https://sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/funding/how-applications-are-reviewed/merit-review-committees/2025/canada-postdoctoral-research-award-program.aspx

[abbygael]

Is anyone still waiting on a decision? I haven't heard anything and am starting to freak out after reading all the comments here...

 

Thanks in advance!

[FoxFeet]

BTW: On Tuesday I had emailed asking for my rank-----still no reply!

Last year while unhelpful, I was met with prompt replies.

[MazeKeen]

Is anyone waiting on CIHR?

[committee6a]

On 3/9/2026 at 9:43 PM, FoxFeet said:

BTW: On Tuesday I had emailed asking for my rank-----still no reply!

Last year while unhelpful, I was met with prompt replies.

I hope they replied to you. I emailed recently for my rank and they got back to me within a couple of days. 

[FoxFeet]

7 hours ago, committee6a said:

I hope they replied to you. I emailed recently for my rank and they got back to me within a couple of days. 

I did get replies--the first one came the following week. I asked a follow up (about lacking information to appeal in the postdoc program) and also had to wait another week to get an acknowledgement. Sigh. Last year I was replied to within 2 days!

[theanimalwelfarist]

Offered a SSHRC CPRA with a score of 10.86/12 (5.66/6 for Research Potential & Experience; 5.20/6 for Quality of Proposed Research Program). Couldn't believe it. I was waitlisted last year for the SSHRC postdoc with the same project. Committee 6A, 113 applications, 21 awards offered, 92 not offered. This year my application had more publications to my name, a more refined proposal, the same supporting references and primary supervisor/institution, added a secondary institution/supervisor in the field work host country. Good luck to everyone!

Edited March 29 by theanimalwelfarist

[bluetopaz]

On 3/26/2026 at 7:43 PM, FoxFeet said:

I did get replies--the first one came the following week. I asked a follow up (about lacking information to appeal in the postdoc program) and also had to wait another week to get an acknowledgement. Sigh. Last year I was replied to within 2 days!

 

Did they provide a ranking? If so, why didn't they provide it in the first place? I would really like to know how close I was to getting funding although that might make me feel worse. A month later and I still feel crushed.

[FoxFeet]

6 hours ago, bluetopaz said:

Did they provide a ranking? If so, why didn't they provide it in the first place? I would really like to know how close I was to getting funding although that might make me feel worse. A month later and I still feel crushed.

Only if you ask. 

However, the results are so random year-to-year that you can't really use the rank much to your benefit (neither the score!), and if you feel like it could make you feel worse, I honestly wouldn't bother. I have strange feelings right now about the optimism I was given last year based on score, rank, recommendation for funding, and conversations with SSHRC officers and recipients, which led me to really focus on improving my application, doing exactly that........only to fare much worse. 

I actually wrote an appeal letter that has been received. I am sure it will be dismissed, but my appeal is based in the absence of any information for postdocs and claims by SSHRC officers that no records or notes are kept regarding the review of our applications (thus denying us any ability to look for errors, conflicts, or violations of rules AND denying us the right to a review that would actually help us understand our reviews). If I get any reply, I will try to share any useful feedback here. 
(Also adding: my place of tenure was University of Cambridge; my proposal passed internal review there twice and received feedback from 4 different professors of history, political philosophy, and philosophy.......and it all amounted to nothing in the eyes of the review committee!).

Edited April 2 by FoxFeet

[bluetopaz]

Thanks for all this information. I doubt I'll ask for the reasons you've provided. I plan to try again but will certainly be keeping my hopes in check and exploring other options in the meantime. Curious to hear back if you learn anything helpful - I appreciate your advocacy.

[DominicEllsworth]

On 3/4/2026 at 10:05 AM, emerald_hedgehog said:

Got rejected as well. This is my second time applying and I was once again recommended but not funded, according to the decision letter.

 

Committee 1A (Literature and Fine Arts)

Research potential and experience (50%): 5.15 / 6

Quality of proposed research program (50%): 4.91 / 6

Total Score (weighted): 10.06 / 12

 

I applied with fundamentally the same project, except more fine-tuned, made the focus more on Canada than Europe, and applied to work with someone who's a way more logical fit. I also had my PhD conferred in September, so I applied this time as someone who finished, whereas last year I was in the last year of my PhD. The grading last year was different but my project still scored lower than I did as an individual, although my evaluation as an individual is only 0.04 better thn last year, so not even much of an improvement. Looks like they don't see the project itself as valuable.

 

I saw someone post saying there were more applicants for this committee this year, so I thought I'd pull up my results from last year and I can say that that is not true. In fact, last year, 1A received 148 applicants, of which 31 were funded (20.95% success rate), whereas this year, there were 108 applications, with 20 being funded (18.512% success rate). It looks like the situation this year is that less people were funded across the board.  Just mentioning this in case it helps shine some perspective.

 

Like a few people have pointed out, I also assumed there would be more grants given because of the emphasis that more money was being put into research. Either the PhDs will see more of that and the postdocs are seen more as time to work on making your dissertation into a manuscript, or the priority aligns more with the Impact+ program, which really does not favour the humanities.

 

Either way, feeling pretty defeated and evaluating my next steps and whether I want to use my last attempt and apply this September or give up on the postdoc entirely.  win casino лучшее онлайн казино

Those scores are genuinely strong, so this feels more like a funding bottleneck than a reflection of your project’s quality

[DominicEllsworth]

On 3/4/2026 at 4:05 PM, emerald_hedgehog said:

Got rejected as well. This is my second time applying and I was once again recommended but not funded, according to the decision letter.

 

Committee 1A (Literature and Fine Arts)

Research potential and experience (50%): 5.15 / 6

Quality of proposed research program (50%): 4.91 / 6

Total Score (weighted): 10.06 / 12

 

I applied with fundamentally the same project, except more fine-tuned, made the focus more on Canada than Europe, and applied to work with someone who's a way more logical fit. I also had my PhD conferred in September, so I applied this time as someone who finished, whereas last year I was in the last year of my PhD. The grading last year was different but my project still scored lower than I did as an individual, although my evaluation as an individual is only 0.04 better thn last year, so not even much of an improvement. Looks like they don't see the project itself as valuable.

 

I saw someone post saying there were more applicants for this committee this year, so I thought I'd pull up my results from last year and I can say that that is not true. In fact, last year, 1A received 148 applicants, of which 31 were funded (20.95% success rate), whereas this year, there were 108 applications, with 20 being funded (18.512% success rate). It looks like the situation this year is that less people were funded across the board.  Just mentioning this in case it helps shine some perspective.

 

Like a few people have pointed out, I also assumed there would be more grants given because of the emphasis that more money was being put into research. Either the PhDs will see more of that and the postdocs are seen more as time to work on making your dissertation into a manuscript, or the priority aligns more with the Impact+ program, which really does not favour the humanities.

 

Either way, feeling pretty defeated and evaluating my next steps and whether I want to use my last attempt and apply this September or give up on the postdoc entirely.  win casino лучшее онлайн казино:  https://win.casino/

Did you happen to find out how close you were to the cutoff or your rank?

Edited May 21 by DominicEllsworth