Richard Zach

SSHRC Grants in Philosophy for 2006

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada has posted a list of new Standard Research Grants for 2006. This year’s stats: 85 applications (2005: 96, 2004: 92), 32 grants, for a success rate of 37% (2005: 38%, 2004: 48%). This year, new scholars (≤ 5 years beyond PhD) had a 29% success rate (2005: 38%, 2004: 29%). Full stats here.

A list of successful proposals follows. I’ve included the dollar figure (in CAD), but these shouldn’t be taken as an indication of the quality of the project. The funding rate depends on the requirements of the project (travel, research support) and on the amount of graduate student funding, not just on the ranking of the proposal. I’ve certainly missed quite a few: I went by the titles in the full list (not broken down by subject area) and included grants that I guessed to be philosophy projects from the title and/or where I could ascertain that the applicant was in a philosophy department. Email me if you think I should include a grant not on here.

  1. Bartha, Paul , The University of British Columbia. Infinite Decision Theory. $31,500
  2. Campbell, Neil , Wilfrid Laurier University. Explanatory epiphenomenalism: at the crossroads of mental causation and consciousness. $57,106
  3. Davies, David A., McGill University. How making matters: provenance and the epistemology, ontology, and axiology of art. $49,469
  4. Duchesneau, François , Université de Montréal. Leibniz: système de la nature et organisation vitale. $78,948
  5. Joy, Morny M., University of Calgary. The confluence of head and heart: religion, ethics and the feminine in Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir and Edith Stein. $75,780
  6. Gauthier, Yvon , Université de Montréal. Logique arithmétique et philosophie de l’arithmétique. $49,542
  7. Griffin, Nicholas J., McMaster University. The collected letters of Bertrand Russell. $92,691
  8. Hacking, Ian , University of Toronto. Philosophical illustrations from the ultracold. $54,240
  9. Heath, Joseph M., University of Toronto. An adversarial approach to business ethics. $51,000
  10. Hudson, Robert G., University of Saskatchewan. The epistemology and metaphysics of dark matter research. $53,698
  11. Lin, Martin T., University of Toronto. Spinoza’s conatus doctrine. $38,621
  12. King, Peter , University of Toronto. Mediaeval souls and modern minds. $57,148
  13. Miller, Jon A., Queen’s University. Happiness in early modern philosophy. $48,423
  14. Norman, Wayne J., Université de Montréal. A skeptical business ethics. $41,381
  15. Moran, Brendan P., University of Calgary. Prose, myth, and time in late works of Walter Benjamin. $26,471
  16. Pickavé, Martin , University of Toronto. Medieval theories of the emotions (passions of the soul). $53,271
  17. Raffman, Diana , University of Toronto. Vagueness without paradox. $39,650
  18. Ripstein, Arthur S., University of Toronto. Authority and coercion: Kant’s doctrine of right. $49,813
  19. Russell, Paul , The University of British Columbia. The limits of free will. $37,502
  20. Schmitter, Amy M., University of Alberta, Representation in Early Modern philosophy: the 17th century. $62,540
  21. Seymour, Michel , Université de Montréal. Les droits collectifs linguistiques et le droit à l’autodétermination. $50,617
  22. Speaks, Jeffrey J., McGill University. The role of mental states in the philosophies of action and language. $54,506
  23. Sullivan, Arthur M., Memorial University of Newfoundland. The externalism/individualism debates. $55,093
  24. Sumner, Wayne L., University of Toronto. Matters of life and death. $41,503

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19 responses to “SSHRC Grants in Philosophy for 2006”

  1. Anonymous

    If I understand you correctly, at least 25 SSHRC awards were made to philosophers in Canada this year, with 8 going to a single institution (Toronto). From the perspective of your southern neighbors, this is just mind-boggling. For comparison the US National Endowment for the Humanities gave out a total of 155 awards across all disciplines in its regular fellowship competition last year, with just 6 going to philosophers (including HPS; my count may be slightly off). Taking into account relative population of the two countries (US just topped 300 million), a program as generous as SSHRC in the US would have to give out well over 200 fellowships a year to philosophers alone!Enviously yours, Michael Kremer Posted by Michael Kremer

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  2. Anonymous

    Jeff Speaks teaches at Notre Dame now – not McGill. Posted by Fritz

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  3. Anonymous

    You don’t have to be a Canadian citizen to hold a SSHRC Standard Research Grant. But you do have to be at a Canadian institution. So, unfortunately, one of the costs of moving to the US is forgoing SSHRC grants. I would be surprised if Jeff didn’t have to forgo his grant.  Posted by Ben Caplan

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  4. Anonymous

    Michael: The numbers for Toronto are not too surprising, since it is 3-4 times as big as any other department, afaik. I thought to suggest that you might find solace in the fact that the C$10,000-20,000 we get from a SSHRC grant are probably about the amount (or less) by which US salaries exceed Canadian salaries. But that’s not true anymore with the US$ being so low…Full prof in the US : US$82,030 Canada: C$104,377 = US$91,682.29 (CAUT Almanac 2006, p. 11)new Assistant Prof in the US: US$46,780, in Canada: C$61,415 = US$53,952.27. (The US$ is now at .88 C$, a few years ago it was at .62).Ok, take solace in the fact that we have higher taxes and longer winters.Fritz: I guess that means he can’t hold a SSHRC grant. Posted by Richard Zach

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  5. Anonymous

    Oh, and PS: SSHRC grants only pay for research expenses; they don’t pay stipends. (Unlike in the US, Canadian profs are hired and paid on a 12-month basis, so SSHRC and NSERC grants don’t pay “summer salary” the way NSF grants do). They do sometimes pay for release from teaching, but that is rare. Posted by Richard Zach

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  6. Anonymous

    Hi Richard,I think you missed one from University of British Columbia – John Beatty, who is in the philosophy department, got a grant – his title is “Darwinism, Science and History” Posted by Chris Stephens

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  7. Anonymous

    Ah, I understand this differently now. However, I am not quite sure on how awards of $30K to $75K (the numbers, roughly, displayed above) are spent (or what those figures have to do with getting $10K or $20K from a grant, as you mention). I suppose travel, hiring research assistants, and so on?  Posted by Michael Kremer

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  8. Anonymous

    SSHRC grants are three-year grants, so divide the numbers by three to get to about $10,000-$20,000 p.a. Expenses are for travel, computers, books, supplies, internet access from home, paying grad students (at set rates, I think about 16,000 p.a. for a PhD student), and sometimes Research Time Stipens (course buyout). People at non-graduate institutions will generally have lower grants because they won’t pay grad students, but because they usually have to teach more, their chances of getting a Research Time Stipend are higher. I’m not sure, but I suspect that if you hold a Canada Research Chair, your SSHRC grant pays for all the extra perks that come with that appointment. Posted by Richard Zach

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  9. Anonymous

    Michael: Yes, most of our SSHRC money goes to hiring research assistants and traveling. Posted by Pablo

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  10. Anonymous

    Maybe Jeff has multiple positions right now.  Posted by Fritz

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  11. Anonymous

    Diane Enns of Mcmaster University has also won an award. She is a member of both the philosophy and women’s studies departments.  Posted by Daniel

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  12. Anonymous

    On the subject of SSHRC grants, I would like to draw attention to a new policy at the University of Toronto barring sessionals (contract faculty) from applying for these grants. Although SSHRC has no rules against such applicants, and just requires that applicants have an affiliation with the university (not even requiring employment), UT has declared that sessionals are short term teachers only and must remain so. This has the effect of ghettoizing sessionals, who become even less able to build the research profile needed to get into the ever-diminishing tenure track stream. This has become a huge issue in bargaining between the sessionals’ Union (CUPE3902) and the University (I’m chair of the Union’s bargaining team), and we are looking for support from Canadian faculty members who oppose the University’s position. Please consider writing to the President of the University of Toronto to protest this decision. Posted by Iain Martel

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  13. Anonymous

    Richard:Having just moved to the US, my initial impression is that the percentage of my income that I am no longer paying in taxes I am now paying for pension and health care. I’m anticipating that my after-tax-pension-and-health-care income will be the same as it would be in Canada.You’re right about the winters, though. Posted by Ben Caplan

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  14. Anonymous

    The published list is not complete. I know because I was awarded a SSHRC, but it’s not there! My entry should read: Franks, Paul W., University of Toronto, Critique of Social Reason. $52,972.I wonder how many others are missing? Posted by Paul Franks

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  15. Anonymous

    Hi Richard–Yes, the list here is a bit incomplete. The official list for the philosophy committee should be available somewhere through SSHRC– once the decisions are all made, it’s public info. Larger grants also often involve other investigators– the names listed here would be those of the principle investigators; if others are involved, more grad students and annual workshops can really raise the budgets a lot. Limited stipends are paid, in the form of 50% support for course releases (up to a total of three per investigator) Funds are limited, so only the top 5+ applications requesting these receive them.  Posted by Bryson Brown

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  16. Anonymous

    I know the list is incomplete, I said so in the post. The list of grants is broken down by institution, not subject. The only by-subject info on the SSHRC website is a spreadsheet with statistics. I looked through the list of 1,014 titles and tried to identify the philosophy projects. Naturally, I missed a bunch. Please tell me if you notice an omission. Or tell me where I can find a list sorted by selection committee.  Posted by Richard Zach

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  17. Anonymous

    Seriously though, looking through the list myself a few years ago, I tought somebody would have to be crazy, infinitely erudite or with a perfect and continuously updated knowledge of Canadian departments to identify all and only the philosophy grants. The list is very long with no indication of disciplines, the titles are often not obviously “philosophical”, and there are new profs in Canada every year… I’m very very thankful that there is somebody willing to do this. For all of us, Richard, thank you very much for doing this. As always, it’s very instructive. Posted by Frédéric Bouchard

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  18. Anonymous

    It might also be pointed out to our southern neighbors that SSHRC grants have no “indirect costs” or “overhead” associated with them, at least not as part of the amount that a researcher is awarded. (There is a separate grant to each university [a “block grant”] that is based in some way on the total SSHRC funding for that university. I guess this pays for indirect costs; as well, it pays for some local-university-awarded grants.)  Posted by Jeff Pelletier

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