Deadline updated!

The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute seeks proposals from graduate student-led working groups organized around topics of cross-disciplinary concern in the humanities, arts, and interpretive social sciences. We are especially interested in projects that relate to the themes of The Entanglement Project, a new initiative at the FHI that interrogates the complex intertwinings of race, health, and the environment. But proposals on any topics will be happily considered.

To be eligible for an award, a group needs to be convened by two or more PhD students in the humanities, arts, and interpretive social sciences. Conveners may also include MFA (e.g. in Experimental and Documentary Arts, Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis) and MA students (e.g. in Critical Asian Humanities, Digital Art History). Group members may include faculty, staff, and other constituencies, but conveners should be graduate students.

There is no prescribed format for FHI Grad Working Groups. One recent group organized a virtual conversation series with authors of recent books in the group’s area of focus. Another group chose to work together on a longer-term research project, applying for additional funding along the way. Many operated primarily as reading groups, sometimes with a culminating speaker visit. You may find it generative to have working group members present their own work to each other. We are open to support any format that suits your collective intellectual interests.

If selected, working groups will receive up to $2,000 in financial support. Funds may be used for meeting expenses (including meals), guest speaker travel and honoraria, books/media/other shared materials. Working Group funds will be available from Spring 2023 (i.e. as soon as applications have been reviewed and selected for approval) through June 30 2024. Groups are welcome to apply for supplemental funding from the FHI, if members decide, for example, to stage an event that exceeds the standard $2,000 budget – please note however that additional financial support cannot be guaranteed.

To apply, please complete this form by Monday, March 20, 2023 (deadline updated 3/6; link fixed 2/23). You will be asked to provide the following:

• Basic information and CV (1-2 pages) for each co-convener
• A brief description (maximum 3000 characters or ~500 words) of the Working Group’s intellectual project. In addition to describing the WG topic, please include brief discussions of the group’s likely format (e.g. reading group meetings, viewing/listening sessions, speaker visits, etc.) as well as your sense of who will likely be interested in participating.
• A simple, preliminary budget proposal: note that you are not required to ask for the maximum $2,000 if that is not necessary

Questions? Email FHI Associate Director christina.chia@duke.edu