Sleep research- NSERC, SSHRC, or CIHR?

[Clinpsyc01]

Are there any Canadians out there who know which tri-council funding agency is most appropriate for sleep research? I'm not actually doing this research, I'm just curious because I've been reading papers on sleep for one of my classes. I've never applied for funding and I'm completely clueless. 

To be more specific, I'm talking about research that does not include physiological measurement (polysomnography, EEG, etc.) but does include experimental manipulation of sleep. So, for example, a study where participants would be sleep restricted, and then their performance on a certain task, or score on a symptom measure would be examined. Apparently, research involving chronobiological modulation of behaviour falls under NSERC; however, this hypothetical study would not be using objective measures of sleep. Although I suppose this study could still involve hypothesizing about the underlying neural mechanisms or processes. Or would studies like this be considered health-related, even if they do not involve treatments and are only looking at the effect of the sleep manipulation? I'm really confused about the differences between SSHRC and CIHR... I know people who have gotten funding for their masters/PhD from SSHRC even though their proposals involved disorders like OCD and anxiety, and I would've thought that that would fall under CIHR. 

Thanks in advance if anyone wants to help out an undergrad who is thinking way too much into course material  

[PeppermintMocha]

It sounds like SSHRC or CIHR could be a good fit for your research interest. Honestly it really depends on how closely you adhere to the mandate of each funding branch when you apply. Most psychology students get funding from SSHRC, some from CIHR, and few from NSERC. If you want to get funding from SSHRC, you could emphasize the social science aspect, and if you want to get funding from CIHR, emphasize the health aspect of your proposed research. Most schools have more funding allocations for SSHRC than CIHR, so the former is less competitive. It helps to search up some sleep researchers (e.g., Dr. Colleen Carney at Ryerson) to see who their research is funded by to get a better idea on this. 

It's great that you are thinking ahead for graduate funding =) Good luck!

Edited March 17, 2016 by PeppermintMocha