SSHRC IDG deadline is closer than it appears

February seems ages away. Maybe you are looking at the SSHRC Insight Development Grant and thinking “Hmmm, maybe I should apply.”

If that’s the stage you’re at. It’s already too late.

If you have been working on it and have pieces lying around, you need to stop procrastinating and make good use of the time you’ve got.

What the next 8 weeks really look like

The deadline is really late January, because that’s when your Research Office is going to need it. That’s 2 months away.

You MUST take some downtime in late December. If you think you are tired now, imagine what you’ll feel like in March if you don’t.

You will have social obligations over the holiday season. Those are stressful enough without resenting the time you have to spend there even more.

In early-mid December a large stack of exams or essays are going to appear on your desk that are going to need grading. In the week before that stack appears, a string of anxious students are going to knock on your door.

You need to get your syllabi and first few classes planned for January.

Be realistic

If you’ve already started working on the IDG proposal, then block off time to keep going. I suggest 30-60 minutes every day. Put it in your calendar and treat it like a scheduled class. Don’t miss it.

If you haven’t even started, your sanity, health, and the quality of your application demand that you wait until next year. Book an appointment to talk to me in the next week or so. We can make a plan. A sane plan.

You’ll have something to tell your head of department/dean/research office. You’ll know what you need to work on and be able to block off time to do that work. You’ll either know what to apply for internal money for or know how to figure that out.