International Research Training Groups (IRTGs), a funding opportunity of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), are structured doctoral programs run by German universities in conjunction with institutions abroad. They promote systematic research cooperation through joint research and qualification programs, as well as cooperative, cross-border supervision of doctoral researchers from both partner groups and longer-term, coordinated and reciprocal research visits by doctoral researchers at the respective partner institutions.
The DFG and SSHRC are offering this joint initiative under the IRTG funding opportunity. An IRTG is run by two teams of participating researchers, one in Germany and one in Canada, respectively. German-Canadian IRTG applications must be prepared jointly before being submitted by the German host university to the DFG; they are not submitted to SSHRC. The two-stage assessment process consists of a draft proposal stage followed by a full proposal stage for those invited to proceed.
SSHRC will support one meritorious German-Canadian IRTG, covering costs related to Canada’s participation in the research training group. The Canadian host institution for the selected German-Canadian IRTG will be required to submit administrative documentation to SSHRC prior to the grant being awarded. SSHRC will issue two grants. The first will be for five years. If a renewal proposal, submitted to the DFG prior to the end of the first funding period, is successful, a second grant will be issued for four years. The maximum total funding duration is, therefore, nine years.
Interested faculty members are asked to notify the Office of Research Services (sshrc.research@lakeheadu.ca) of their interest in this program by November 1).
