Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

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The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS), known as the Federation, is a membership-based organization that is made up of 66 scholarly associations and 69 universities and colleges, comprising more than 50,000 scholars, students and practitioners across Canada.

Through its activities, the Federation strives to support and advance Canada's research in the humanities and social science, fields which are intrinsically important to the development of social, cultural and economic understanding, thus giving our society necessary tools to address the most complex of questions.

Research in the humanities and social sciences allows innovation in all areas to flourish without disruption. A better understanding of social, cultural and political issues ensures more effective technological innovation, medical discovery and economic growth.

The Federation:

- acts as representative and convenor of the largest research community in Canada;

- hosts the largest multidisciplinary gathering of scholars in North America;

- administers a program that supports the publication of 150 scholarly books per year;

- awards scholarly book prizes each year;

- runs a series of lectures on Parliament Hill to bring humanities and social science research to policy makers;

- addresses professional matters, including equity issues;

- undertakes research projects to help advance Canada's humanities and social science fields.

The Federation is a non-profit, charitable organization, governed by an Executive Committee and Board of Directors made up of scholars from its member groups with a permanent secretariat based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The Federation's work is sustained by membership fees, revenue from its annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, project funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and other government bodies, and through the support of colleagues, institutional donors and other individuals through the Canadian Endowment for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

[edit] Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences

Organized by the Canadian Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences, the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is the largest annual academic gathering in Canada; its multidisciplinary character marks it as unique in the world.

Begun in 1931, it is an important meeting place for new and established academics and researchers working in such diverse areas as anthropology, bibliotherapy, communication and disability studies, English language and literature, francophone 19th-century literature, geography, the history and philosophy of science, international development, Jacques Maritain studies, political science, social work, theatre research, Ukranian and women studies and many more.

In 2007 approximately 5,600 delegates representing over 68 learned societies came to the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon from all over North America, Europe, Africa and Asia to present their research and to debate some of the most important social and cultural questions of the day.