CCMS Funding
The CCMS is proud to support faculty and students who endeavour to organize Centre-related activities, research, and events. We hope this will facilitate research collaboration and networking to help build a community of scholars across campus.
Visit our past events page and CCMS funded research page to see events and projects we have funded in the past.
Evaluation criteria (Applicable to Small and Major grants)
For Events:
- Alignment with CCMS mission
- Evidence or plans of cost sharing with departments or other funding sources
- Promise of high impact, measured by audience and engagement
- Sensibility of the budget
- Public access or other form of community engagement
For Research and Projects:
- Alignment with CCMS mission
- Evidence or plans of application to other funding sources (e.g., SSHRC Insight, Connection, or Partnership grants, etc.)
- Promise of high-impact scholarly publications, or other high-impact resource
- CCMS members with previously funded projects will have lower priority
Additional Notes:
- Graduate student research support is primarily intended for MA and PhD-level fieldwork and conference travel.
- Graduate students may apply for major grants with the explicit support of a faculty supervisor/advisor. A letter of support from the faculty member(s) should accompany the application demonstrating the value of the work, anticipated contribution, and how they intend to support the student research.
- SFU Faculty may work in conjunction with individuals without SFU affiliation. However, the SFU faculty member must be the lead researcher, and they assume full responsibility for the project’s compliance with SFU policies, including those of SFU Finance, human subjects review, and other relevant policies.
- Research funding for faculty is not intended as a substitute for pursuing other funding sources.
Small Grants
The CCMS offers small grants of up to $2,000, which are ideal for organizing small events or smaller research projects. Along with funding, we can provide logistical support, such as assisting with expense claims. Given adequate lead time, we can coordinate events by booking rooms, preparing publicity, and announcing the event to our networks.
Application Details
Proposals for small grants are offered on a rolling basis. Please send your CV, a proposal that includes the prospective budget, and an abstract, if you are applying for funds to present at a conference. These can be sent to ccms@sfu.ca. We aim to make funding decisions within two weeks.
Major Grants
Large awards of up to $7,000 are offered twice an academic year every year, pursuant to evaluation by the Steering Committee of CCMS. The fall semester grant is open on October 1 and will close October 15. The spring semester grant is open on March 1 and will close March 15. Like the small grants, we can also offer logistical support for events. Applicants must fill our the application form linked below in order to be considered eligible.
Application Details
Please email your complete application (linked to download below) to ccms@sfu.ca. Please also send a copy of your CV. If an acknowledgment email is not received within 5 business days, contact ccms@sfu.ca.
Download application form.
Past Winners of the CCMS Large Grant
Academic Year 2025 - 2026
Dr. Nazanin Shahrokni
Associate Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University.
Project: "On the Global Pitch: Soccer, Islam, and Cultural Politics"
Accademic Year 2024 - 2025
Dr. Alnoor Gova
CCMS Scholar-in-Residence
Project: "Bridging Colonialism: At the Crossroads of Indigenous and Muslim Experiences in Canada"
This research aims to explore how Indigenous Peoples and Muslim newcomers with lived experiences of colonialism, perceive and relate to each other within the context of ongoing settler colonialism on Coast Salish territories. Many Muslims arrive from regions with histories of colonization but may not immediately recognize Canada as a settler-colonial state. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities hold diverse perspectives on the arrival of Muslim guests and newcomers, shaped by historical, social, and political contexts.
The study examines how experiences of settler colonialism influence cultural, social, and political dimensions of understanding, interactions, and relationships between the two communities. It seeks to uncover areas of similarity, misunderstanding and tension while identifying opportunities for dialogue and pathways to solidarity.
Dr. Serena Canaan
Associate Professor in Economics Department and Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Applied Microeconomics at Simon Fraser University.
Project: "The Role of the American University of Beirut in Disseminating Arab Nationalism"
The aim of this project is to understand the role of universities in fostering and spreading political ideologies. I focus on the American University of Beirut (AUB) and its influence on Arab nationalism among students who attended it between the 1920s and 1950s. During this period, AUB drew students from across the Arab world and became a center for pan-Arab thought through student societies, faculty lectures, and publications. Many of its graduates went on to play leading political and intellectual roles in the Arab nationalist movement, shaping politics in Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. Using quantitative methods, this project investigates how time spent at AUB affected students’ careers and political trajectories, offering new evidence on the universities’ role in the spread of political ideologies.
Past Winners of the CCMS Small Grant
Academic Year 2025 - 2026
Bassam Abun-Nadi
M.A. Student, SFU School of Communication
CCMS supported Bassam in conducting research for his M.A. project exploring how both local and diasporic actors in the Palestinian community commemorate martyrs by combining Indigenous methods with the rapidly changing new-media landscape.
Ali Alsharhanee
M.A., SFU Program for Liberal Studies
CCMS supported Ali in convening a small community gathering for LGBTQ+ Arab and Muslim newcomers to be held during the week of the Vancouver Pride Parade 2025.
Romila Barryman
M.Ed. Student, SFU Program on Contemplative Inquiry & Approaches to Education
CCMS supported Romila for developing a contemplative death curriculum for queer Muslims.
Tahmina Inoyatova
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Communication
CCMS supported Tahmina for presenting her Ph.D. research on "Arab Gulf Futurism: Mapping the terrain" to the Middle East Studies Association annual conference.
Aso Javaheri
Ph.D. Student, SFU Department of History
CCMS supported Aso in conducting exploratory research in pursuit of the completion of her doctoral project on the Mukriyan peasants' revolt.
Hoornaz Keshavarzian
Ph.D. Candidate, SFU School of Communication
CCMS supported Hoornaz for travelling to a workshop to support the production of her forthcoming co-edited manuscript.
Nastaran Saremy
Ph.D. Candidate, SFU School of Communication
CCMS supported Nastaran's travel to do critical archival work related to her doctoral project on studying the memories and traces of the 1979 Revolution in Iran.
Naz Vardar
PhD Candidate, SFU Department of History
CCMS supported Naz in support of traveling to conduct research for her doctoral project on intercommunal relations in the late Ottoman Empire.
Academic Year 2024 - 2025
Sadreddin Berk Metin
Ph.D. Candidate, SFU Department of History
CCMS supported Berk's travel to conduct archival for his Ph.D. dissertation focusing on 19th century Ottoman history.
Dr. Qiu Lin
Assistant Professor, SFU Department of Philosophy
CCMS supported Dr. Lin's travel travel to a conference in Berkeley. The Presents and Futures of Islamic Philosophy, to present a paper entitled, "'Life is Also Not Life, Death is Also Not Death': A Chinese Islamic Perspective by Wang Daiyu."
Joseph Methuselah
M.A., School of Communication
CCMS supported Joseph's completion of his M.A. research film project, Silent Treatment.
Ismail Noyan
Ph.D. Candidate, SFU Department of History
CCMS supported Ismail's conference travel to present his research on 19th-century global Muslim intellectual connections within and beyond the Ottoman Empire.
Paola Sawaya
M.A. Candidate, SFU School of Communication
CCMS supported Paola's conference travel to present her research on narrative representations of Arab women and queers in the podcasts Hamam Radio, JINS Podcast, and Lisan al-Hal.
Academic Year 2023 - 2024
Parsa Alirezaei
B.A. Student, SFU Department Political Science
CCMS supported Parsa's travel to Algeria for a film festival, FiSahara, in the Sahara in support of his research project involving the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf.
Mozhgan Fazli
M.A. Student, SFU School of Communication
CCMS supported Mozhgan's travel to the annual Middle East Studies Association's annual conference in order to present her M.A. project regarding the so-called Green Movement of 2009 Iran.
Tahmina Inoyatova
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Communication
CCMS funded Tahmina's travel to the annual conference for the Association for Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Research to present research entitled, "Russian “relocants” in Central Asia: Media Discourses, Shifting Attitudes and Power Dynamics During Russia’s invasion of Ukraine."
Aya Sharabi
Ph.D. Student, SFU School of Communication
CCMS supported Aya's travel to the 2024 COP conference held in the United Arab Emirates in pursuit of completing her Ph.D. project.