Call for Proposals

The Stanford Humanities Center (SHC) invites Stanford faculty and advanced graduate students from schools, institutes, departments, and programs within Stanford University to submit proposals for Research Workshops for the coming academic year. This unique program promotes and emphasizes collaborative engagement among scholars and development of networks across conventional borders, fields, and periods. While many humanities centers sponsor similar programs, the SHC Research Workshops are unusually interdisciplinary and often adventurous.

Research Workshop program successes have included:

• Fostering short- or long-term communities, as appropriate, around topics of interest
• Sharing and discussing work in progress in a collegial environment
• Encouraging graduate students to work closely with faculty in organizing and leading research discussions in a workshop setting
• Meeting in hybrid (in-person and online) format, welcoming colleagues outside Stanford to participate not only as speakers but as regular cohort members
• Curating collection of relevant work in various media for the Colloquies feature on the SHC's Arcade digital salon

The SHC will fund up to 15 workshop proposals in 2023-24. Each workshop team will receive an allocation of $14,500. Funded workshops will be notified via email no later than the week of June 19, 2023.

Eligibility:

• Faculty, scholars, and advanced graduate students from schools, institutes, departments, and programs within Stanford University are invited to submit proposals. Any organizing and leadership team must consist of at least one faculty member and one advanced graduate student who will together serve as the workshop's designated Co-Chairs.
• Each team should include a core group of faculty and advanced graduate students from any school who will collaborate outside their departmental boundaries and plan events pursuing interdisciplinary engagement focused on the central research theme.

Proposal Classifications:

• NEW: An application proposing a research theme not previously funded by the SHC.
  • Applicants proposing new workshop themes are encouraged to submit a draft application for review by SHC staff prior to their final submission. Drafts will be accepted until May 7, 2023.
• RENEWAL: Any current (AY 2022-2023) SHC Research Workshop applicant seeking an additional year of funding and not in its fourth year of continuous funding.
  • Workshops currently in their fourth year or more of continuous SHC funding are required to take a mandatory funding hiatus and may not apply for upcoming AY funds.
• RETURNING: An applicant proposing a previously funded research theme (prior to AY 2022-2023) and seeking additional funding. 

Research Workshop Commitments:

• Comply with SU policies and protocols, including policies pertaining to visitors, travel, purchasing, food and beverage, and reimbursements.
• Plan and organize at least nine workshop events to be held during the academic year, ideally three per quarter. Events should include at least one with in-person or hybrid engagement of participants.
• Invite scholars from the Stanford University community and elsewhere to present and discuss current research or publications relevant to the workshop's theme.
• Collaborate, if possible, with another institution, internal or external, to jointly sponsor an event or a series of events. The SHC has established relationships with internationally renowned institutes interested in exploring cross-institutional collaboration.
• Provide content, links, and relevant information on the research topic and for the workshop's page on the SHC's website.
• Invite a Digital Public Fellow to attend workshop events and explore opportunities for creating or contributing to Colloquies on Arcade. For examples of recent Research Workshops that have curated Colloquies, see Arts + Justice and Postcolonial Spatialities.

Research Workshop Co-Chair Responsibilities:

• Co-Chair responsibilities and tasks commence during the summer quarter of the academic year in which a Research Workshop is selected. Graduate Student Research Workshop Co-Chairs will be hired during the 12-week summer quarter as Contingent/Casual employees for up to 16 hours per week at an hourly wage rate of $25 per hour.
• Time spent planning the workshop series, including contacting desired speakers to collaborate on topics and dates, should occur during the summer quarter of the current academic year.
• The student Co-Chair will be responsible for coordinating with the Research Workshop Manager (Manager) to schedule and book rooms for planned events before summer ends.
• Student Co-Chairs must obtain and provide to the Manager, before summer ends, a brief speaker bio and the information necessary to register visitors as suppliers and to book travel.
• Each Research Workshop has its own page on the SHC website, and each student Co-Chair serves as the primary point of contact and source for material in the form of images, links to relevant sites, or materials for the webpage. All Workshop Co-Chairs shall review existing pages and content. Student Co-Chairs must review, refresh, and create content for the Workshop's page, and provide a headshot and brief bio of Co-Chairs and participants, including speakers. Information for posting on the Workshop's page should be provided to the Manager and to the SHC's Communication Manager by August 31.
• Obtain, where possible, permission from speakers to record events for posting and to post any written material provided by a speaker on the Workshop's page.
• Publicize events to the Stanford community and to collaborating external institutions. During the summer quarter create an announcement and registration template or document for each workshop event.
• Review existing mail lists and update or create new lists to be maintained and used to distribute flyers and announcements.
• Create attendance templates to capture registration and allow for actual attendance verification at events.
• Review and update the Research Workshop budget with the Manager. Throughout the academic year, student Co-Chairs should review and discuss budget status with the Manager.

Application and Instructions:

DEADLINE: May 15, 2023

• Download the application template, and save as a Microsoft Word document for your working application
• Enter a response to each question or prompt unless specified as optional
• Adhere to word and character limits. Text exceeding word or character limits will be disregarded
• Before 11:59 pm May 15, 2023, email your saved Word document to carolgh@stanford.edu with the following subject line: "CFP Entry - [Workshop title]"
• Enter the workshop title (limit 50 total characters and spaces)
• Enter the workshop proposal classification: New, Renewal, or Returning
  • Research Workshops currently receiving a fourth year or beyond of continuous SHC funding are required to take a mandatory funding hiatus and may not apply for upcoming academic year funds.
• Enter all personnel information for the Workshop Team. Incomplete information in this section will result in automatic dismissal of the proposal. The student Co-Chair must be able to commit for the entire academic year (Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters) and the preceding academic year summer quarter. The student Co-Chair will be accountable for event logistics, speaker arrangements, including administrative tasks to enable payment or reimbursement for honoraria or other expenses, publicizing events, and creating communications suitable for posting events on the SHC's website.

For more information, contact SHC Associate Director Helen Malko at malko26@stanford.edu, or Research Workshops Program Manager Carol Guthrie at  carolguthrie@stanford.edu or 650-724-8169.

Browse the Current Research Workshops