Carleton University

Three Carleton University-led research initiatives have been awarded Partnership Grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), bringing $7.5 million in federal funding to support collaborative research on cybersecurity, democratic governance and international trade.

The funding marks a record year for Carleton, with the university leading three of the 17 SSHRC Partnership Grants awarded nationally in 2026 — the highest number of grants it has ever received in a single competition.

Together, the projects will connect researchers, policymakers, industry leaders and community organizations across Canada and around the world to address complex societal challenges. The projects will also create new opportunities for student training, knowledge mobilization and public engagement.

SSHRC Partnership Grants support large-scale collaborations between post-secondary institutions and partner organizations to advance research, research training and knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities.

Carleton researchers Alex Wilner and Leah West will lead the Canadian Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (3CE), a national network designed to strengthen Canada’s cybersecurity capacity through interdisciplinary education, research and training.

Based at Carleton’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), 3CE brings together researchers from four Canadian universities and partners from government, industry and the non-profit sector. The initiative will help train more than 160 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers while providing professional development and experiential learning opportunities across the cybersecurity ecosystem.

The network will focus on six key areas including emerging technologies, critical infrastructure protection, national security, foreign interference, research security, democracy, privacy and human rights. Through applied research projects, cybersecurity exercises, training institutes and knowledge-sharing initiatives, 3CE aims to prepare the next generation of cybersecurity professionals to respond to increasingly complex digital threats.

A key objective of the initiative is to broaden participation in cybersecurity and strengthen communication and collaboration across disciplines, sectors and communities.