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SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship/CGS Doctoral Scholarship 2014-2015


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Posted

Take a look at the link provided by wtncffts, it provides a bunch of information on successful SSHRC applications in years past. You can look at total applications vs successful, A-list vs B-list, and university specific information like total applications vs successful applications. In years past, the general success rate has been between 40-50%.

Posted

*CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS*

 

A Student Guide to Writing SSHRC Proposals

 

Editor: Caitlin Forsey, Sociology, University of British Columbia

Editorial Assistant: Lauren Menzie

 

The purpose of this project is to produce a guide that offers advice on how to write a successful SSHRC proposal. The content will include: 1) a review of the literature on successful grant writing techniques 2) a description of “best practices” used by prior applicants; 3) a wide selection of unedited proposals to be used as templates for future applicants; and 4) a list of common issues and mistakes from the perspective of those who evaluate SSHRC proposals. The project aims to support students in applying for graduate funding and to offer SSHRC award holders with an opportunity to publish their proposal at an important time in their career. 

 

Submission Themes

 

The book will be used as a resource guide for students who are applying for SSHRC funding. The goal is to include a wide variety of proposals that reflect each discipline currently funded by SSHRC:

 

Anthropology                                                                                     Interdisciplinary Studies/Women’s Studies

Archaeology                                                                                        Law

Archival Science                                                                                 Library and Information Science

Classics                                                                                                Linguistics

Communication and Media Studies                                               Literature and Modern Language

Criminology                                                                                       Philosophy

Demography                                                                                      Management/Business/Admin

Economics                                                                                           Medieval Studies

Education                                                                                            Political Science

Fine Arts                                                                                              Psychology

Folklore                                                                                                Religious Studies

Geography                                                                                          Social Work

History                                                                                                 Sociology

Industrial Relations                                                                            Urban and Regional Studies

 

Submission Guidelines

 

We are inviting voluntary submissions of unedited SSHRC proposals that were successful at the MA and PhD-level competitions. The deadline for submission is Friday January 24th, 2014. Submissions and questions regarding the book can be directed to Caitlin Forsey at c.forsey@alumni.ubc.ca

Posted

This morning I received an email from SSHRC acknowledging receipt of my application. Has anyone else received the email?

Posted (edited)

I also received this email. Extremely generic with little to no information...not even an estimated notification date.

Edited by bentharbour
Posted

I also received this email. Extremely generic with little to no information...not even an estimated notification date.

 

I recall that last year's competition results were released at the end of April (I checked SSHRC's twitter feed). I wouldn't be surprised if this will also be the case this time around.

Posted

Take a look at the link provided by wtncffts, it provides a bunch of information on successful SSHRC applications in years past. You can look at total applications vs successful, A-list vs B-list, and university specific information like total applications vs successful applications. In years past, the general success rate has been between 40-50%.

Ah, I see. I was looking at the CGS statistics, which doesn't include those.

 

Unless I'm understanding it wrong, some of these statistics look pretty dismal. In the 2013-2014 competition, for example, McGill sent 111 A-list applications and only 23.4% of those were successful (26 candidates). And the overall success rate of Canadian A-list applications was 27.9%. That's a fair deal lower than 40-50%.

 

This morning I too received notification that SSHRC had received my application. Now the fun begins.

Posted (edited)

Not sure where you are looking, but I see that McGill sent 96 A-List Applicants. 22 Received Fellowships and 28 received a CGS.

 

That is 50/96, so 52%.

 

The CGS is super-SSHRC (35x3), if you look at the fellowships you will see how many A-list were sent and how many fellowships were received (in addition to the super-SSHRC).

Edited by bentharbour
Posted

Not sure where you are looking, but I see that McGill sent 96 A-List Applicants. 22 Received Fellowships and 28 received a CGS.

 

That is 50/96, so 52%.

 

The CGS is super-SSHRC (35x3), if you look at the fellowships you will see how many A-list were sent and how many fellowships were received (in addition to the super-SSHRC).

 

 

Ah, I see. I was looking at the CGS statistics, which doesn't include those.

 

Unless I'm understanding it wrong, some of these statistics look pretty dismal. In the 2013-2014 competition, for example, McGill sent 111 A-list applications and only 23.4% of those were successful (26 candidates). And the overall success rate of Canadian A-list applications was 27.9%. That's a fair deal lower than 40-50%.

 

This morning I too received notification that SSHRC had received my application. Now the fun begins.

 

bentharbour's calculation is for the success rate by institution at the time of application, and a similar calculation can be done for institutions to award the doctorate: (number of successful CGS award + number of successful fellowships) divided by (A-list applicants forwarded by the university).

 

One thing though: I am not entirely certain that CGSs and Fellowships can simply be added together and then divided over the total number of A-list applications to determine the success rate. Could it be that the CGS category is completely separate from Fellowships? The Doctoral Fellowship Excel sheet does say that the national average is 28.2%, which makes me wonder why CGS numbers aren't included in the calculation.

Posted (edited)

You could be entirely correct, but the two are separate awards from the same pool. For example, school sends 60 a-list applications and all 60 are considered for both...however you cannot receive both so I am indeed assuming that the CGS and Fellowships can be added together to find a total number of SSHRC awards given per institution. That being said, I have no way to verify this claim.

Edit: the total number of awards to applicants was something around 950:1900. I do not have the info in front of me right now so those numbers are not correct.

Edited by bentharbour
Posted

I think you're right, and that probably is the most logical explanation. Adding Fellowships and CGSs together will yield the total number of scholarships that are awarded from the pool of A-list applicants. I guess what put me off was that the CGS Excel sheet really doesn't give us any information on the success rate other than indicating the total number of CGSs that are issued, therefore leading us to infer that CGSs are "extra" to the Fellowships.

Posted

This morning I received an email from SSHRC acknowledging receipt of my application. Has anyone else received the email?

 

My school has informed us that they will only let us know if we have been forwarded in FEBRUARY! Those of you who got email confirmation from SSHRC, are you direct applicants or being sent through your school?

Posted

My school has informed us that they will only let us know if we have been forwarded in FEBRUARY! Those of you who got email confirmation from SSHRC, are you direct applicants or being sent through your school?

That is quite late! My school notified me in late December. Usually February notifications are for direct applicants and universities without a quota, according to SSHRC.

Posted

My school has informed us that they will only let us know if we have been forwarded in FEBRUARY! Those of you who got email confirmation from SSHRC, are you direct applicants or being sent through your school?

I have also applied through my University this year and I will also not hear until February (sad face!) if I have been forwarded (though I have already unofficially been told that my application has be A-listed). Last year I was at a different university and I found out in December, but I guess there are different timelines and a pretty big window for Universities to forward the applications to SSHRC

Posted

I have also applied through my University this year and I will also not hear until February (sad face!) if I have been forwarded (though I have already unofficially been told that my application has be A-listed). Last year I was at a different university and I found out in December, but I guess there are different timelines and a pretty big window for Universities to forward the applications to SSHRC

 

What I find interesting is that according to SSHRC, the deadline for university applications (applicants who apply via universities) is January 9, 2014, meaning that all the universities with a quota must have submitted their nominees to SSHRC by this time. This still doesn't explain why some universities don't inform their applicants until as late as February.

Posted

My school informed me that I was forwarded (before Christmas), but I have yet to receive the confirmation email from SSHRC. Is anyone else in the same situation?

Posted

Hi Zz7, I also heard from my school before Christmas but yet to receive a confirmation email from SSHRC.

Posted (edited)

What I find interesting is that according to SSHRC, the deadline for university applications (applicants who apply via universities) is January 9, 2014, meaning that all the universities with a quota must have submitted their nominees to SSHRC by this time. This still doesn't explain why some universities don't inform their applicants until as late as February.

 

One of life's great mysteries? The GDP of my program is looking into getting a timeline since myself and the other students keep bugging her about out applications and she also wants to make sure they are forwarded

 

Edit: I'll post an update when I know more!

Edited by Nerd_For_Life
Posted

One of life's great mysteries? The GDP of my program is looking into getting a timeline since myself and the other students keep bugging her about out applications and she also wants to make sure they are forwarded

 

Edit: I'll post an update when I know more!

 

Good luck! It might also be a good idea to contact someone in grad studies at your university, since usually they are the ones who determine the rankings and forward the applications to SSHRC.

Posted

This may or may not be helpful, but the status of my SSHRC was updated in the 'student centre' well before graduate studies actually notified me. Might want to check if there's some sort of information on whatever your online student portal is.

Posted

I received notification from SSHRC today that they had received my application  - never did receive notification from the graduate department at my University. But yey! Good to have the formal acknowledgement :)

Posted

I received notification from SSHRC today that they had received my application  - never did receive notification from the graduate department at my University. But yey! Good to have the formal acknowledgement :)

 

Yah! I got my notification from SSHRC today that they have received my application! I got official word from my SGS in mid-December. It's definitely good to have the formal word and reference number. I'm working on a brutal presentation for tomorrow, so it was kind of nice to have the brief moment of: "Oh that's right, I have successfully shanghaiied some SSHRC-minded people into thinking this is interesting and do-able, I can totes convince a random room full of friendlies tomorrow". Now to do the only sanity-preserving thing and try to FORGET ABOUT SSHRC for a few months. Good luck all!

Posted

Yah! I got my notification from SSHRC today that they have received my application! I got official word from my SGS in mid-December. It's definitely good to have the formal word and reference number. I'm working on a brutal presentation for tomorrow, so it was kind of nice to have the brief moment of: "Oh that's right, I have successfully shanghaiied some SSHRC-minded people into thinking this is interesting and do-able, I can totes convince a random room full of friendlies tomorrow". Now to do the only sanity-preserving thing and try to FORGET ABOUT SSHRC for a few months. Good luck all!

 

Congrats surefire! Keeping my finders crossed for all the applicants until the results are released.

Posted (edited)

Well, since we're in for a long wait, I might as well ask a question :)

 

Does anyone know what the rules are if you end up doing a different research project than what you proposed? Say, for example, it's a project in the same discipline, but in a different area (but still clearly not health-related and in SSHRC's mandate)?

 

Would you have to fill out that request to change research study form? I ask because I've known people who have done different projects and not notified SSHRC because they say that SSHRC funds the person, not the project. But others say that you have to notify if you change anything. Anyone know?

 

On the SSHRC website it says you have to fill it out if there is 'substantial' change, but what constitutes substantial?

Edited by randomness
Posted

Well, since we're in for a long wait, I might as well ask a question :)

 

Does anyone know what the rules are if you end up doing a different research project than what you proposed? Say, for example, it's a project in the same discipline, but in a different area (but still clearly not health-related and in SSHRC's mandate)?

 

Would you have to fill out that request to change research study form? I ask because I've known people who have done different projects and not notified SSHRC because they say that SSHRC funds the person, not the project. But others say that you have to notify if you change anything. Anyone know?

 

On the SSHRC website it says you have to fill it out if there is 'substantial' change, but what constitutes substantial?

 

I would speculate that substantial changes include those that would render your proposed project at the time of application almost unrecognizable vis-a-vis your "new" project. I think that changes to methodology, theory, etc. don't count as substantial. If your topic changes completely, then so does your proposal, so that's pretty substantial in my view. Of course, I'd say that it is better first to consult with your supervisor and grad chair before filling out the form and sending it to SSHRC.

 

But I also think that if the subject matter of your "new" research project is still eligible for funding under SSHRC's mandate, there's no reason for concern even if it has been substantially revised. I guess SSHRC doesn't want any surprises when your final product is completely different from your proposed research. They just want to be notified of changes is all.

 

Having said that, I don't really know about the consequences of not reporting substantial changes, but I'm positive that everyone who wants to keep their SSHRC funding would not want to find out the hard way  :)

Posted

My school has informed us that they will only let us know if we have been forwarded in FEBRUARY! Those of you who got email confirmation from SSHRC, are you direct applicants or being sent through your school?

I was notified by my university by email, perhaps a week ago. 

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