Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative

Context

While violence can affect all people, certain populations are more likely to experience gender-based violence (GBV), or face increased barriers in accessing justice and services, including women and specifically, young women and girls; Indigenous women and girls; women living in Northern, rural and remote communities; newcomer women to Canada; women living with disabilities; and, LGBTQ2+ communities. The intersection of any two or more of the above-mentioned characteristics may increase a person’s risk and vulnerability to violence.

Research in the social sciences and humanities is essential to understanding and tackling the negative effects of gender-based violence (GBV), which can impact all areas of health and have social and economic effects that can span generations and lead to cycles of abuse within families and sometimes whole communities. GBV is not limited to physical violence and can include any word, action, or attempt to degrade, control, humiliate, intimidate, coerce, deprive, threaten, or harm another person. GBV can take many forms including physical, sexual, societal, psychological, cyber, emotional, and economic. Neglect, discrimination, and harassment can also be forms of GBV.

Goal

The Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative is a joint initiative between Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). WAGE will invest up to $2,500,000 and SSHRC up to $1,000,000 over four years to co-fund research projects that address Gender-based violence (GBV). The goal of this initiative is to support academic researchers, in partnership with other research-focused and community-based organizations, to advance knowledge on, and analyze the causes and persistence of GBV in Canada. This research could include methods of prevention, access to justice, and support services for victims and survivors.

Research on the unique experiences of GBV victims and survivors, and individual and societal impacts of GBV should be grounded in the lived experience of affected communities and include the co-construction of knowledge with community-based organizations. Researchers are expected to conduct their research with an intersectional lens, resulting in a more robust understanding of how GBV is experienced by different communities and populations on the basis of (but not limited to): gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, Indigenous identity, age, disability, and/or geographic location. In keeping with the principles and strategic directions established in SSHRC’s Indigenous Research Statement of Principles and in the strategic plan of the federal granting agencies Setting new directions to support Indigenous research and research training in Canada 2019 – 2022, this initiative encourages research projects led by Métis, Inuit and First Nations researchers to respond to community priorities.

Objectives

The Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative will award approximately five grants for four-year formal research partnerships between a post-secondary institution and at least one or more partner organizations from the not-for-profit, public and/or private sectors, to foster the co-creation of new knowledge, capacity-building and knowledge mobilization on critical issues relating to gender-based violence in Canada. The partnership grants will serve as hubs for challenge-oriented, collaborative and intersectional research and knowledge mobilization activities, as well as the incubation of new research partnerships.

Value and Duration

Grants offered under the Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative are valued at up to $100,000 for the first year and up to $200,000 annually for the following three years, for an overall total maximum of up to $700,000 over four years. A one-year automatic grant extension without additional funding is also available under this joint initiative.

Learn more at Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative – Women and Gender Equality Canada

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How to Apply:

Apply: Application and Instructions

Applicants must complete the application form in accordance with accompanying instructions. Applications must be submitted electronically by an authorized research grants officer, or equivalent, from the host institution.

Applicants needing help while preparing their application should communicate with SSHRC well in advance of the application deadline.