Updated August 2015
COLLABORATIVE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES for FACULTY
IN THE HUMANITIES and HUMANITIES-ORIENTED SOCIAL SCIENCES
This list is intended for your planning purposes. It is our hope that you will be able to use it to determine which
agencies might fund your collaborative research, find more information by visiting their websites, and use what
you learn to develop a personal funding list that will help you stay on task as you prepare your applications.
To navigate, keep this document in layout view, scroll to the table of contents, then click on the page number of
the agency or program in which you’re interested. This will take you directly to that entry. If you then wish to
learn more, click on the agency’s website address (URL). If clicking doesn’t work, copy the URL, paste it into
the address line of your web browser, and type return. Some agencies had not updated their websites at the time
this document was compiled, so do check the agency websites and read application instructions carefully.
Although this document focuses largely on fellowships for individual work, it includes a few instances of
institutional grants and fellowships. You can submit individual fellowship and grant applications entirely on
your own or though the Humanities Grant Development Office (HGDO). Institutional proposals (those requiring
submission by a 501(c)3 non profit organization) must be submitted on your behalf by the University of Kansas
Center for Research, Inc. (KUCR).
Applicants must make a firm commitment of their time and focus in order to develop competitive grant and
fellowship proposals. Because most agencies have deadlines only once each year and take from three to eight
months to announce awards, this requires long-term planning. A simple individual fellowship or small grant
application can be prepared in four to six weeks. That is not the case for institutional grant proposals. Because of
the complexity of such applications, the frequent need to interface with agency program officers, and the
necessity for institutional approval and submission it is critical to begin working on them a minimum of four
months and preferably six months prior to the agency's deadline in order to compete successfully. If you have
collaborators, especially at other institutions, extend your grant proposal development timeline to accommodate
the interfaces and required agreements between institutions and among collaborators. Federal agencies typically
post guidelines only six to eight weeks before the deadline. In such cases, you can work from the previous year's
guidelines and aim for the last known deadline, then tweak materials as may be necessary after the agency posts
new instructions. HGDO staff will be glad to talk with you about your research funding strategies and help you
create your proposal development timeline, as well as work with you to develop and submit your external
applications, whether directly or through KUCR.
As you plan, please keep in mind that the internal deadline to submit all final materials to the HGDO is five
(5) working days prior to the agency’s deadline. If requesting a full review and comments, the deadline to
submit final drafts is ten (10) working days prior to the agency's deadline. To take full advantage our services,
you need to begin working with us on fellowships a minimum of four weeks prior to the agency's deadline. The
timeline for institutional grants is much longer, as noted above. KUCR also has an internal deadline of five (5)
working days for all final application materials. HGDO can serve as your interface with KUCR, if you begin
working with us early enough to allow us to provide this service.
This list is not exhaustive. If you know of other sources, please let us know. If you find nothing here that might
help you, go to http://pivot.cos.com and conduct a search specific to your needs. Access to this online database
is free to KU scholars (including students) courtesy of KUCR and offers the most comprehensive and
dependable compilation of funding opportunities currently available. You can access it from any KU computer
or, if KU is your service provider, from your computer at home.
Humanities Grant Development Office
Kathy Porsch, Research Development Officer: kporsch@ku.edu • 785/864-7834
Bobbi Rahder, Research Development Specialist: brahder@ku.edu • 785/864-7833
Graduate Assistant Research Development Specialists: hgdo@ku.edu • 785/864-7887
http://hallcenter.ku.edu/humanities-grant-development-office
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXTERNAL COLLABORATIVE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES: INSTITUTIONAL
GRANTS, CONTRACTS, AND FELLOWSHIPS .............................................................................. 1
AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES (ACLS) ...................................................................................... 1
Collaborative Research Fellowships .............................................................................................................. 1
FORD FOUNDATION ............................................................................................................................................. 1
KANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL (KHC) .............................................................................................................. 1
Heritage Grants and Humanities Grants ........................................................................................................ 1
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES (NEH) ..................................................................................... 2
Bridging Cultures Through Film: International Topics.................................................................................. 2
Collaborative Research Grants ....................................................................................................................... 2
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants ............................................................................................................... 2
Enduring Questions ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Humanities Collections and Reference Resources .......................................................................................... 3
Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities .............................................................................. 3
National Digital Newspaper Program ............................................................................................................ 3
Preservation and Access: Education and Training ......................................................................................... 4
Scholarly Editions and Translations Grants ................................................................................................... 4
Summer Seminars and Institutes ..................................................................................................................... 4
THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION................................................................................................... 5
THE JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATION ................................................................................................................. 5
THE LUMINA FOUNDATION ................................................................................................................................. 5
EXTERNAL COLLABORATIVE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES: INDIVIDUAL GRANTS
AND FELLOWSHIPS............................................................................................................................ 5
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT FOUNDATION ...................................................................................................... 5
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION (AAR) ....................................................................................................... 6
AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES (ACLS) ...................................................................................... 6
Comparative Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society ........................................................................... 6
Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation/ACLS Collaborative Research Grants in Buddhist Studies ................. 6
PROGRAM FOR CULTURAL COOPERATION BETWEEN SPAIN’S MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND US UNIVERSITIES 6
RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION .............................................................................................................................. 7
INTERNAL COLLABORATIVE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES (KU) ......................................... 7
HALL CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES.................................................................................................................. 7
Collaborative Research Seed Grant ................................................................................................................ 7
Scholars on Site Grant .................................................................................................................................... 7
PROVOST’S OFFICE RESEARCH INVESTMENT COUNCIL (RIC)............................................................................ 7
THE COMMONS .................................................................................................................................................... 8
1
External Collaborative Funding Opportunities: Institutional Grants, Contracts, and
Fellowships
Note: All institutional proposals must be submitted through the University of Kansas Center for
Research, Inc. (KUCR). Both KUCR and HGDO require submission of all final materials at least
five (5) working days before the application deadline. If you would like the HGDO staff to review
and provide comments on your proposal components prior to submission to KUCR, please submit
your final draft documents at least ten (10) working days before the agency deadline.
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
Collaborative Research Fellowships
The aim of this institutional program is to offer two scholars the opportunity to collaborate intensively on
a single, substantive project. The fellowship supports projects that produce a tangible research product
(such as joint print or web publications) for which two or more collaborators will take credit. The award
is for a total period of up to 24 months. The award includes stipends to allow up to an academic year’s
leave from teaching for participants, as well as up to $20,000 in collaboration costs to facilitate face-toface virtual interactions. Awards amounts will range from up to $60,000 based on academic rank in salary
replacement for each collaborator, depending on the nature and duration of the collaboration, the kinds of
expenses projected to carry out the research, and the number of participants.
URL: http://www.acls.org/grants/Default.aspx?id=3154&linkidentifier=id&itemid=3154
Deadline: September 23
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation offers grants to institutions in the following areas of interest: Democratic and
Accountable Government, Human Rights, Social Justice and Philanthropy, Economic Fairness,
Metropolitan Opportunity, Sustainable Development, Educational Opportunity and Scholarship, Freedom
of Expression, and Sexuality and Reproductive Health Rights. Interested applicants are asked to submit an
online grant inquiry. Large-scale, sustainable, collaborative projects are encouraged by the foundation.
The Foundation also offers the Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs to increase the diversity of the
nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the
educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity
as a resource to enriching the education of all students.
URL: http://www.fordfoundation.org/
Deadline: Rolling
Kansas Humanities Council (KHC)
Heritage Grants and Humanities Grants
The Kansas Humanities Council is looking for partners across the state that have creative ideas for
sharing the humanities with their own community. This could be projects like a short film, museum
exhibition, a plan to preserve a collection of historic photographs or quilts, a series of podcasts, or even an
oral history project to capture the voices from a community's past. Heritage Grants of up to $3,500
support preservation and interpretive projects. Humanities Grants of up to $10,000 fund projects such as
humanities public programs, museum exhibitions, film and book discussion, the creation of short
documentary films, full-length film documentaries, media projects, and other creative activities
URL: http://kansashumanities.org/kansas-grants/
Deadline: Rolling deadline for Heritage Grants, Humanities Grants of over $3,500 are due
February, May, and September.
1
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Bridging Cultures Through Film: International Topics
This grant supports documentary films that examine international and transnational themes in the
humanities. These projects are meant to spark Americans’ engagement with the broader world by
exploring one or more countries and cultures outside of the United States. Proposed documentaries
must be analytical and deeply grounded in humanities scholarship. The Division of Public Programs
encourages the exploration of innovative nonfiction storytelling that presents multiple points of view
in creative formats. The proposed film should range in length from a standard broadcast length of
thirty minutes to a feature-length documentary. A wide range of topics are welcome as long as they
transcend the boundaries of the United States. Awards are for 1-3 years and for up to $75,000
(development) and up to $650,000 (for production).
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/bridging-cultures-through-film-international-topics
Deadline: June 10
Collaborative Research Grants
Collaborative Research Grants support interpretive humanities research undertaken by a team of two
or more scholars, for full-time or part-time activities for periods of up to one to three years. Support is
available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related
travel; fieldwork; applications of information technology; and technical support and services. All
grantees are expected to communicate the results of their work to the appropriate scholarly and public
audiences. Awards are made for 1-3 years and normally range from $25,000 to $100,000 per year.
Awards for conferences are typically made for a minimum of one year and normally range from
$15,000 to $65,000 per grant.
URL: http://neh.gov/grants/guidelines/collaborative.html
Deadline: December 9
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants
The Digital Humanities Start-up Grants program awards relatively small grants to support the
planning stages of digital projects that promise to benefit the humanities. The program supports both
new projects in early stages of development and efforts to reinvigorate existing or dormant projects in
innovative ways. Proposals should be for the planning or initial stages of digital initiatives in any area
of the humanities. Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants may involve creating or enhancing
experimental, computationally-based methods or techniques for humanities research, teaching,
preservation, or public programming; pursuing scholarly work that examines the history, criticism
and philosophy of digital culture and its impact on society, or explores the philosophical or practical
implications and impact of digital humanities in specific fields or disciplines; or revitalizing and/or
recovering existing digital projects that promise to contribute substantively to scholarship, teaching,
or public knowledge of the humanities. Experimentation, reuse, and extensibility are hallmarks of this
grant category, which incorporates the “high risk/high reward” paradigm often used by funding
agencies in the sciences. NEH is requesting proposals for projects that take some risks in the pursuit
of innovation and excellence. Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants should result in plans, prototypes,
or proofs of concept for long-term digital humanities projects prior to implementation. They can also
be used to revitalize or recover projects in innovative ways that will allow greater access, reuse, and
extensibility. Two levels of awards are made in this program.
1) Level I awards are small grants of up to $40,000 designed to fund brainstorming sessions,
workshops, early alpha-level prototypes, and initial planning.
2) Level II awards are larger grants that can be used for more fully formed projects that are ready to
start the first stage of implementation or demonstrate proofs of concept.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/digitalhumanitiesstartup.html
Deadline: September 16
2
Enduring Questions
The NEH Enduring Questions grant program supports faculty members in the preparation of a new
course on a fundamental concern of human life as addressed by the humanities. This question-driven
course would encourage undergraduates and teachers to join together in a deep and sustained program
of reading in order to encounter influential ideas, works, and thinkers over the centuries. The course is
to be developed by one or more (up to four) faculty members at a single institution, but not teamtaught. Enduring Questions courses must be taught from a common syllabus and must be offered
during the grant period at least twice by each faculty member involved in developing the course. The
grant supports the work of faculty members in designing, preparing, and assessing the new course.
The award amount depends on the number of faculty collaborating. Please see guidelines.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/EnduringQuestions.html
Deadline: September 10
Humanities Collections and Reference Resources
The Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program supports projects that provide an
essential foundation for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities.
Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain
important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images,
archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture, and digital objects. Funding from
this program strengthens efforts to extend the life of such materials and make their intellectual content
widely accessible, often through the use of digital technology. Awards are also made to create various
reference resources that facilitate use of cultural materials, from works that provide basic information
quickly to tools that synthesize and codify knowledge of a subject for in-depth investigation. HCRR
offers two kinds of awards: 1) implementation--the maximum award for implementation grants is
$350,000 for up to 3 years. and 2) planning, assessment, and pilot efforts (HCRR Foundation grants).
The maximum award for Foundation projects is $40,000 for up to 2 years.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/humanities-collections-and-reference-resources
Deadline: July 21
Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities
This grant supports national or regional (multistate) training programs for scholars and advanced
graduate students to broaden and extend their knowledge of digital humanities. The projects may be a
single opportunity or offered multiple times to different audiences. Institutes may be as short as a few
days and held at multiple locations or as long as six weeks at a single site. NEH strongly encourages
applicants to develop proposals for multidisciplinary teams of collaborators that will offer the
necessary range of intellectual, technical, and practical expertise. This program is designed to bring
together humanities scholars, advanced graduate students, librarians, archivists, museum staff,
computer scientists, information specialists, and others to learn new tools, approaches, and
technologies and to foster relationships for future collaborations in the humanities. Institutes may be
hosted by colleges, universities, learned societies, centers for advanced study, libraries, other
repositories, and cultural or professional organizations. The host site(s) must be appropriate for the
project, providing facilities for scholarship and collegial interaction. Projects that will be held more
than once at different locations are permissible. Awards normally range from 1-3 years and from
$50,000 to a maximum of $250,000 in outright funds.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/IATDH.html
Deadline: March 15
National Digital Newspaper Program
The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) funds efforts to create a national, digital resource
of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, from all US states and
territories. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress (LC)
and be freely accessible via the Internet. NEH will support projects in all US states and territories, if
3
sufficient funds are available. One applicant organization within each US state or territory will
receive an award to collaborate with relevant state partners in this effort. Previously funded projects
will be eligible for continued support, but the NEH will give priority to new projects. Applications
that involve collaboration between previously funded and new projects are welcome. Successful
applicants will select newspapers—published in their state or territory in English between 1836 and
1922—and convert, primarily from microfilm, over a period of two years, approximately 100,000
pages into digital files according to the technical guidelines outlined by the Library of Congress. NEH
expects to award cooperative agreements of up to $325,000 each for a 2-year period
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/ndnp.html
Deadline: January 14
Preservation and Access: Education and Training
These Education and Training grants are awarded to organizations that offer national or regional
(multistate) education and training programs. Grants aim to help the staff of cultural institutions, large
and small, obtain the knowledge and skills needed to serve as effective stewards of humanities
collections. Grants also support educational programs that prepare the next generation of conservators
and preservation professionals, as well as projects that introduce the staff of cultural institutions to
new information and advances in preservation and access practices. Research and Development
grants support projects that address major challenges in preserving or providing access to humanities
collections and resources, including the need to find better ways to preserve materials of critical
importance to the nation’s cultural heritage–from fragile artifacts and manuscripts to analog
recordings and digital assets subject to technological obsolescence–and to develop advanced modes
of searching, discovering, and using such materials. Awards normally are for 2 years. Grants to
preservation field service organizations may not exceed $175,000 per year. For all other applicants,
the maximum award is $100,000 per year.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/pet.html
Deadline: May 3
Scholarly Editions and Translations Grants
This grant program supports the preparation of editions and translations of pre-existing texts and
documents of value to the humanities that are currently inaccessible or available in inadequate
editions. Typically, the texts and documents are significant literary, philosophical, and historical
materials; but other types of work, such as musical notation, are also eligible. Projects must be
undertaken by a team of at least one editor or translator and one other staff member. These grants
support full-time or part-time activities for periods of one to three years. Applicants should
demonstrate familiarity with the best practices recommended by the Association for Documentary
Editing or the Modern Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions. Awards range from
$50,000 to $100,000 per year.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/research/scholarly-editions-and-translations-grants
Deadline: December 9
Summer Seminars and Institutes
These grants support faculty development programs in the humanities for K-12 schoolteachers and
college and university teachers. NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes may be as short as two weeks
or as long as five weeks. An NEH Summer Seminar or Institute may be hosted by a college,
university, learned society, center for advanced study, library or other repository, cultural or
professional organization, or school or school system. Awards for seminars range between $75,000
and $150,000 for a grant period of 12 months. Awards for institutes range from $90,000 to $200,000
for a grant period of 15 months.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/seminars.html
Deadline: February 25
4
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation offers grants in three major program areas: Global Development,
Global Health, and the United States. Each program area lists the current funding priorities; please check
website for details. The Foundation encourages large-scale, sustainable, collaborative projects.
URL: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/programs/Pages/overview.aspx
Deadline: Varies, please see website
The John Templeton Foundation
The Templeton Foundation offers grants in the core area of “Science and the Big Questions,” including
Human Sciences (anthropology, sociology, political science and psychology) and Philosophy and
Theology.
URL: http://www.templeton.org/
Deadline: Not currently accepting online funding inquiries, full proposals are by invitation only.
The Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation’s grantmaking is primarily proactive in nature. A large majority of grants are
awarded to partners solicited by the Foundation based on unique capacity or position to leverage largescale systemic change. A modest amount of grant monies is allocated for unsolicited inquiries to
encourage innovative ideas that relate to our strategic portfolio. Open challenges are funded through
http://www.innocentive.com to engage create individuals through open innovation in areas that would
transform higher education in America. Please visit website for award amounts.
URL: http://www.luminafoundation.org/grants.html
Deadline: Letters of Inquiry may be submitted at any time
External Collaborative Funding Opportunities: Individual Grants and Fellowships
Note:
You can submit individual fellowship on your own or though the Hall Center Humanities Grant
Development Office (HGDO). HGDO requires submission of all final materials at least five (5)
working days before the application deadline. If you would like review and comment on your
proposal prior to submission, please submit your final draft documents ten (10) working days
before the agency deadline.
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Nominations for the Anneliese Maier Research Award can be made for humanities and social sciences
researchers from abroad whose scientific achievements have been internationally recognized and from
whose research collaboration with specialist colleagues in Germany a sustainable contribution is expected
towards the further internationalization of the humanities and social sciences in Germany. In addition to
researchers who already number among the established leaders in their subject, the award is also aimed at
researchers who are not yet so advanced in their scientific careers but who are already internationally
established researchers from whom a sustainable shaping of the humanities and social sciences in
Germany can be expected through the prospects of long-term collaboration. Particular importance is
attached to the nomination of qualified female researchers. Award winners are expected to spend a period
of up to five years cooperating on a long-term research project with the nominator and / or specialist
colleagues at a research institution in Germany. Nominations may be submitted by established academics
in Germany. Direct applications are not accepted. Amount: 250,000 EUR.
URL: http://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/anneliese-maier-award.html
Deadline: The agency is not accepting nominations at the time of this update. Check the website if
interested in funding from this source.
5
American Academy of Religion (AAR)
The AAR's Collaborative International Research Grants support generative research collaborations
between and among scholars located in different geographical regions who wish to pursue focused joint
projects in any area of the study of religion. Aawards range from $500 to $5,000. Creative projects must
be grounded in international research relationships that bring together scholars from disparate
backgrounds and methodological approaches to advance critical research into and understanding of
religious traditions, practices, and issues. Awards may be used for project expenses, including to enhance
communication and to enable travel. Open to junior, more established scholars, and independent scholars.
URL: https://www.aarweb.org/programs-services/collaborative-international-research-grants
Deadline: October 1
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
Comparative Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society
This program's current focus is on cross-cultural or comparative perspectives, for example,
projects that compare aspects of Chinese history and culture with those of other nations and
civilizations, explore the interaction of these nations and civilizations, or engage in cross-cultural
research on the relations among the
diverse and shifting populations of China. Research is
expected to be empirically grounded, theoretically informed, and methodologically explicit. The
program supports collaborative work of three types: 1) Planning Meetings: Grants up to $6,000
will be offered for one-day meetings to plan conferences or workshops, or for less structured
explorations, e.g., brainstorming sessions; 2) Workshops: Grants up to $15,000 will be offered
for workshops designed to facilitate ongoing research on newly available or inadequately
researched data or texts. Workshops are understood to last three to four days and provide an
opportunity for participants to discuss and analyze new approaches and/or new sources in a
seminar-like setting; 3) Conferences: Grants up to $25,000 are offered for research conferences
intended to produce significant new research that will be published in a conference volume.
URL: http://www.acls.org/programs/chinese-culture/
Deadline: October 1
Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation/ACLS Collaborative Research Grants in Buddhist Studies
This program supports work that may be interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary. International and
multilingual projects are encouraged. Especially welcome are projects that relate different Buddhist
traditions to each other or that relate scholarship on the broad Buddhist tradition to contemporary
concerns in other academic fields. Applications must propose a clear plan for the collaboration with a
jointly authored, research-based scholarly product. Workshops and conferences may be proposed, but
these must include public events for presentation of the work accomplished during the project.
Applications for such events must be submitted separately and require detailed budgets. Requests for
up to $5,000 for workshops and up to $15,000 for conferences are accepted. The total amount of a
request cannot exceed $200,000.
URL: http://www.acls.org/programs/buddhist-studies/#collab
Deadline: October 22
Program for Cultural Cooperation Between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and US Universities
The Symposia and Seminars program promotes closer ties between scholarly Hispanicism in the US in
the areas of humanities, social sciences, and the cultural and academic developments of Spain. Projects
oriented toward the dissemination of Spanish culture throughout the academic systems of the US are
eligible. Priority is given to those proposals of high scholarly quality which will have an important impact
upon the field of Hispanicism, both regionally and nationwide. Priority will be given to those proposals of
an interdisciplinary nature involving collaborative research with individuals, Spanish scholars, and
academic institutions. This program is now being run out of the Ministry of Culture in Madrid.
6
URL: http://www.mecd.gob.es/servicios-al-ciudadano-mecd/catalogo/cultura/becas-ayudas-ysubvenciones/ayudas-y-subvenciones/cooperacion/programa-hispanex-2013.html
Deadline: April 17 (last known deadline)
Russell Sage Foundation
The Visiting Scholars program annually awards up to 19 residential fellowships to selected scholars in the
social sciences who are at least several years beyond the PhD. The award allows these Visiting Scholars
to pursue their research and writing at the Foundation for periods of up to 10 months. Visiting Scholar
positions begin September 1 and ordinarily run through June 30th. Each scholar is provided with an office
at the Foundation, research assistance, computer and library facilities, salary support for the academic
year of up to $110,00 when unavailable from other sources and, for scholars outside the greater New
York City area, a subsidized apartment near the Foundation offices.
URL: http://www.russellsage.org/how-to-apply/apply-visiting-scholar
Deadline: Applications are accepted between April 15 and June 30
Internal Collaborative Funding Opportunities (KU)
Hall Center for the Humanities
Collaborative Research Seed Grant
This grant program encourages KU humanities scholars to establish partnerships and conduct
preliminary work that will lay the foundation for original expanded collaborative research projects
capable of attracting external funding. Collaborative research--the joint conceptualization, execution,
and dissemination of research by teams of two or more scholars--has the potential to bring a new depth
and breadth to humanities scholarship. Teams should propose original research projects designed to
produce results neither investigator could easily accomplish alone. Seed grants will fund $15,000 for
one year to humanities research teams of two or more investigators for a substantive original
humanities research project.
URL: http://hallcenter.ku.edu/funding/competition/collaborative-research-seed-grant2016
Deadline: April 4
Scholars on Site Grant
The Scholars on Site program supports collaborative research projects that engage community partners
and KU humanities scholars. Both the community partner and the humanities scholar should make
intellectual contributions to the project, with a community partner playing an integral role in the
project. Grants are made to KU faculty members who wish to establish or sustain research-oriented
collaborations with members of community organizations. Community partners may be located
anywhere in the world, as long as the research component is within the humanities, humanitiesoriented social sciences, or arts. The final product should be a project that contributes both to
humanities scholarship and meets a community need. An award of $10,000 for one year may be used
to cover a course release, summer salary for KU faculty members, consultant fees, travel expenses,
supplies and materials, and other research expenses.
URL: http://hallcenter.ku.edu/funding/competition/scholars-on-site2016
Deadline: April 4
Provost’s Office Research Investment Council (RIC)
The RIC program provides funding at two levels to advance KU’s four strategic initiative themes:
Sustaining the Planet, Powering the World; Promoting Well-Being Finding Cures; Building
Communities, Expanding Opportunities; and Harnessing Information, Multiplying Knowledge. Only
Level II grants of between $5,000 and $50,000 are available for academic year 2015-2016. Level II funds
cannot be used for pilot studies, but may be used to prepare external grant proposals for application
7
deadlines three months to one year away. Initial efforts to seek external support and efforts to increase
external funding for established projects aimed at generating a major increase in sustained external
funding are supported. Funds may be used for course releases, equipment purchases, the hiring of external
consultants, and other means of strengthening external applications. Evaluation criteria include evidence
that the proposal builds upon and enhances existing research success/productivity or curricular programs
of high quality, develops research network capacity to respond to a new or emerging research area;
demonstrates collaboration of multiple departments/schools related to strategic initiative themes, clarity of
the goal, specifications of how funding will help to achieve that goal, and likelihood of a successful
external funding submission within the timeframe proposed in the application.
URL: http://provost.ku.edu/strategic-plan/ric-sigp
Deadlines: Level 1: Sept. 15 and Feb. 16 (currently suspended)
Level II: Rolling
The Commons
The Commons' Starter Grants support research endeavors that bring together the sciences, arts, and
humanities to explore the reciprocal relationship between natural and cultural systems. These grants are
intended to nurture and develop interdisciplinary, collaborative research ideas at the conceptual stage.
Starter Grants support the initial stages of the development of research and creative ideas that may be
overlooked by more conventional disciplinary funding sources. They provide funds for collaborative,
interdisciplinary research teams who seek to find their common language and methodological approach.
Starter Grants take into consideration projects with potential to develop into proposals for Research
Investment Council (RIC) applications through the KU Provost’s Office. Grants may be requested for up
to $10,000 for 12-month projects.
URL: http://www.thecommons.ku.edu/startergrants.shtml
Deadline: April (last known deadline, check the website)
8