SSHRC - 2009 Budget Impact -


February 13, 2009

Dear Colleague:

We are writing to summarize the results for SSHRC of the recent federal budget.

1) In Budget 2009, the Government of Canada allocated $17.5 million over
three years to SSHRC for Canada Graduate Scholarships to fund an additional
400 master’s and 100 doctoral scholarships “focused on business-related
degrees. ” Subsequent to this Budget decision by the Government of Canada,
our responsibility here at SSHRC is the administration of these additional
scholarships in keeping with our mandate to support excellence in research
and research training in the social sciences and humanities.

As demonstrated over SSHRC's thirty-year history, students pursuing research-based graduate degrees across the social sciences and humanities significantly enrich understanding of topics important to our society. Moreover, SSHRC award-winners
from all research degree programs go on to benefit all sectors, including the
business world. Directly, and indirectly, the results continue to make significant contributions to addressing the world's most pressing challenges, as illustrated
in the current financial crisis by the central role of business historians focused
on the 1930s; philosophers focused on business ethics; political scientists focused
on regulatory frameworks; economists focused on stimulus strategies; management researchers focused on corporate operations; sociologists focused on labour markets; literary scholars focused on the new digital economy; musicologists focused on the creative industries; and so on.

At the origins of such diverse contributions is SSHRC's hallmark commitment
to excellence; every student who receives a SSHRC award has been selected
through a rigorous expert adjudication process involving top scholars in the
social sciences and humanities. It is with this principle of adhering to the highest
levels of international excellence that SSHRC fulfills its mandate and thereby
enables the "best and brightest" to contribute so significantly to Canada
and the world.

2) The Budget also included the results of Strategic Review, a process which
requires all government departments and agencies, on a four-year cycle,
to review all program spending, and to assess how and whether these programs
are aligned with core mandates, and how they are effective, efficient and meet
the priorities of Canadians. SSHRC was one of 16 organizations, along with NSERC
and CIHR, that participated in the process this past year. The outcome of Strategic
Review for SSHRC is as follows:

a) SSHRC funding is reduced for health-related research that is eligible under
the mandate of CIHR. Out of approximately $20 million currently invested
by SSHRC in health research, a reduction of $5.59 million will be phased in
over three years: approximately $1.05 million in fiscal year 2009-10, $2.65 million
in fiscal year 2010-11 and $1.89 million in fiscal year 2011-12. SSHRC will
continue to fund research and training for which the intended outcomes add
to our understanding and knowledge in the social sciences and humanities.
A set of guiding principles has been developed to assist applicants in determining
whether their applications are suitable for SSHRC consideration. These guidelines
will be made publicly available as soon as possible. In the meantime, SSHRC
has begun working with CIHR to ensure a coordinated approach to the
implementation of this decision.

b) SSHRC funding is eliminated for Research Time Stipends (RTS)—funds that help
to provide adequate time for faculty to conduct research. SSHRC recognizes the
central importance of time for research in the social sciences and humanities but
also recognizes that universities have the responsibility to provide university
grant award-holders with adequate time for research.

For the past decade, SSHRC has awarded RTS on a cost-shared basis with institutions
to only a small number of scholars (in 2008-09, for example, 132 RTS were included
in the total of 904 successful standard research grants). We will no longer fund
this cost-sharing, and we will continue to require that universities confirm that all
grant-holders have appropriate time to conduct their research. This decision does not affect salary replacements for non-academic participants in SSHRC-funded research projects (for staff in community organizations participating in CURA projects,
for example).

As of April 1, 2009, grant applications may no longer include requests for RTS.
However, forward commitments for RTS made before March 31, 2009, will be
respected. Funding will be phased out over a three-year period: approximately
$300,000 in fiscal year 2009-10, $1.2 million in fiscal year 2010-11 and $2.1 million
in fiscal year 2011-12.

These two changes represent a total of $8.19 million in SSHRC budget reductions,
phased in over three years.

Funding under the Indirect Costs Program is being reduced in proportion to
reductions in eligible direct costs programs that are administered by each of the
funding agencies. As such, the relative ratio of funding for the direct and indirect
costs of research will remain essentially the same as prior to Strategic Review.
The 2008-09 Indirect Costs budget of $330 million will see a total reduction
of $14.652 million over the next three fiscal years. The Indirect Costs Program
grant budget will be $325.379 million in fiscal year 2009-10, $322.080 million
in fiscal year 2010-11, and $314.403 million in fiscal year 2011-12.

We welcome the opportunity to work with you in promoting a supportive
environment for research, training and knowledge mobilization in the
social sciences and humanities and in sharing more broadly the successes
and impacts of research in our fields. Please do not hesitate to contact us
if you have any questions.

Yours in research,

Thomas Kierans
Vice President and Chair of Council

Chad Gaffield, PhD, FRSC
President