How the SSHRC / CGRS-D doctoral competition works and how to apply.
SSHRC is the Canadian federal agency that funds students in research-based social-science programs (and yes, even if you do almost exclusively mathematics, you are still in social sciences). It’s open to Canadian citizens and, new in 2025, international students. A closely related option is the FRQ (Fonds de Recherche du Québec) – a near-copy of the SSHRC application that few people apply to; if you’re a Quebecer, you should do it.
Procedural details change year to year, so this won’t go through every step. A comprehensive prep class is offered each year; it’s good but lengthy, and reading the notes and applying the core principles should be enough.
How it works
- The competition: As a University of Toronto student, you apply through the SSHRC online portal, and the school has a quota (at U of T this runs through the SGS doctoral award process). The application is routed through your graduate assistant but completed entirely on the portal.
- Time required: If you’ve done it before, maybe 2-4 hours, excluding the drafting of the main documents (letter of intent and research proposal). If not, it takes longer, and you’ll also need references, which takes time.
- Grading: It’s a competition with no participation prize. Each school does a first pass of its students, and only a portion (roughly 40% in a recent year) of the second “best tier” gets the award. It’s competitive but not impossible. They grade both your background (school, grades) and your application (research proposal, letter of intent), and you get no feedback either way.
- If you win: A nice CV line, an event where you shake hands and smile, and – while you don’t keep the full award – UofT lets you keep a portion (around $10k).
- If you lose: You re-apply next year.
Writing the proposal
- Make it credible. Get in touch with a potential supervisor and convince the committee you’ll actually carry out the project (have the skills, maybe a bit of preparatory work). Otherwise you risk the classic “too early, too vague” comment.
- Find the balance. The committee isn’t composed of PhD professors in your field, but they’re also far from naive. A good test is whether colleagues from other fields understand and value the idea.
- Every word counts. Space is very limited – no filler, only valuable information.
- Check the formatting. It would be a shame to lose points or get disqualified over formatting or word counts, so verify the application carefully.