Digital Citizen Research Program - Joint Initiative for Digital Citizen Research

• Connection Grants for events: $7,000 to $25,000 over 1 year.
• Connection Grants for outreach activities: $7,000 to $50,000 over 1 year; higher amounts may be considered if justified and the full award can be managed within 1 year.
• Applicants must request a minimum of $7,000.
• Applicants are required to secure eligible cash and/or in-kind contributions from sponsoring organizations equal to at least 50% of the grant amount requested (excluding registration fees).
• All funded activities must be completed within 12 months of the project start date.

• Applications may be submitted by institutions, individual applicants, or teams (including one applicant or project director and one or more co-applicants and/or collaborators).
• The project must align with the objectives of developing understanding and countering online disinformation or related online harms within the Canadian context.
• The proposed activities must focus on one or more of the following areas: creators and propagators of online disinformation, digital techniques used in spreading disinformation, impacts on vulnerable or marginalized groups, effects on beliefs and mental health, impacts on democratic institutions, or government responses.
• All activities must be completed within 12 months from the indicated start date.
• Applicants must secure additional eligible cash and/or in-kind contributions from sponsoring organizations equivalent to at least 50% of the amount requested.

Who is eligible?

• Research institutions
• Individual researchers
• Research teams

Eligible expenses

• Expenses associated with the organization of events (workshops, symposiums, conferences, forums, summer institutes, or other outreach activities) aimed at the short-term mobilization of knowledge.

Eligible geographic areas

• Canada

• Alignment with the broad objectives of the Joint Initiative for Digital Citizen Research, including promoting research on online disinformation, building research capacity, and fostering a research community in digital citizenship.
• Relevance to one or more specific areas such as creators and propagators of online disinformation, digital techniques for spreading disinformation, impacts on vulnerable or marginalized groups, effects on beliefs and mental health, impacts on democratic institutions, or government responses.
• Ability to justify the requested funding amount and demonstrate management capacity for the proposed activities within a one-year timeframe.
• Inclusion of eligible cash and/or in-kind contributions from sponsoring organizations that meet the minimum co-funding requirement of 50% of the requested amount.
• Commitment to prepare a summary report addressing the Joint Initiative's policy objectives and practitioner community.

• Applicants must prepare a short paper summarizing findings and targeting policy and practitioner communities after project completion.
• Proposals must specifically address one or more focus areas such as disinformation impact on marginalized, minority, and Indigenous communities, or effects on democracy.
• The exact application deadline will be announced at a later date; applicants should monitor the official webpage for updates.
• Applications will be evaluated by SSHRC peer review and Digital Citizen Initiative governance committees for relevance and quality.