About

Broadly speaking, graduate training in the humanities has implicitly privileged the production of peer-reviewed research. With the PhD program culminating in the writing and defense of a dissertation that reflects original research, the expectation is that the PhD student will eventually publish this dissertation either as several peer-reviewed journal articles, or a monograph. Tied to this, a career trajectory in higher education will also include applying for grants and fellowships in order to fund one’s research. They may include grants for foreign language study, conference participation, dissertation writing, travel grants to do archival research or fieldwork, or being in residence at another institution. Such grants often reinforce the university as the locus of original humanistic research, as well as the professional goal of obtaining and maintaining a faculty position within a research university or 4-year college.

The Humanities Center at UCI supports graduate students’ research through external research (information sessions and workshops, grant-writing skills, and 1-on-1 feedback on application materials), internal research and community grants (supported by the Office of Research and the UC Humanities Network), and other opportunities.

Alongside such grants are other opportunities that allow for humanities scholars to participate in broader interdisciplinary conversations, communicate their research to broader audiences, and explore careers outside of faculty positions. The Humanities Center, in collaboration with the Humanities Dean's Office, has been able to fund a number of students to attend external research and professional development opportunities for the past few years. These include the Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop, HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory), the Colby Summer Institute for Environmental Humanities, the National Humanities Center Virtual Podcasting Institute, and Marxist Institute for Interdisciplinary Research. Students must be accepted to these programs prior to requesting funding through the Humanities Center.

Humanities Center Internal Grants

All Humanities Center internal grant and funding opportunities use InfoReady for applications. To access InfoReady, visit: https://ucihumanities.infoready4.com/.

If this is your first time using InfoReady, login with your UCI Net ID, and edit your profile (top right navigation bar) to include your primary department.

The deadline for Building Intellectual Community grants and "Care and Repair" co-sponsorship applications is November 5, 2023.

The following guidelines are for reference only.

Open grant calls and current application guidelines are available on the Humanities Center InfoReady website: https://ucihumanities.infoready4.com/

Faculty and/or graduate collaborations may apply for up to $2,000. Centers and research clusters already supported by the Humanities Center may apply for up to $1,500.

The Humanities Center supports collaborations that foster vibrant intellectual communities. The new Building Intellectual Community grants provide funding for limited-term sets of activities that bring together colleagues on the UCI campus, in the Southern California region, or from elsewhere to engage in discussion and collaborative activities around a shared intellectual interest. These grants replace the previous Collaborative Conference grants by expanding the range of activities that can be funded and clarifying the purpose of the funding.

These collaborations should engage faculty and graduate students across disciplines. Building Intellectual Community grants may be used to support:

  • academic conferences, symposia or colloquia;
  • a series of events, such as speakers or film screenings, with a unifying theme during a quarter or the academic year;
  • academic trainings (such as new methodologies across disciplines);
  • work groups for fields that cross disciplines.

Building Intellectual Community grants may also be used for limited-term activities that bring humanities research to public spaces or community knowledge creation into academic research spaces.

 

The following guidelines are for reference only.

Open grant calls and current application guidelines are available on the Humanities Center InfoReady website: https://ucihumanities.infoready4.com/.

Graduate students in the UCI School of Humanities who have achieved PhD candidacy are eligible to apply for Individual Research grants (max award $3,000) through the Humanities Center.  Graduate students may receive only ONE Individual Research during their graduate studies. 

Grant funds may be used for research travel, such as flights, ground transportation, and lodging; archival and copying fees; and other research expenses, such as translation or transcription.  Grant funds may not be used to pay for summer living expenses, language study, travel to a conference, food or per diem while traveling, or equipment.

Submission

Narrative Description (two page maximum):

  • Please provide a description of your dissertation project, what you plan to accomplish with the grant funds and how these activities are necessary to your dissertation project.

Project Budget (one page maximum):

  • Please provide a list of all project expenses, identifying which expenses will be paid by the grant and which expenses will be paid by other funds. 
  • Please list other funds – both received and pending – that will be used for this project.

Letter of Support from Dissertation Advisor or Faculty Supervisor:

  • In addition to your application, your dissertation advisor or chair must send a brief email to Anat Schwartz (anats@uci.edu) indicating support for the application, including why these activities are necessary to complete your dissertation.

On occasion, the Humanities Center (or centers/clusters supported by the Humanities Center) may offer other grant or funding opportunities. Information regarding these opportunities will be sent out via the UCI humanities graduate student mailing list or the related-center's mailing list. 

Open grant calls and current application guidelines are available on the Humanities Center InfoReady website: https://ucihumanities.infoready4.com/.

External Grants and Finding Funding

The Humanities Center helps graduate students in the School of Humanities find and apply for external fellowships and grants to support their graduate studies. Our Ph.D. students have been awarded Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Abroad fellowships for China, Japan and Brazil; Fulbright Student awards for Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and India; the Luce/ACLS Fellowship in American Art; the American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship; and other national and international prestigious awards.

The Humanities Center does not maintain a grant database. However, we have collected several prominent External Dissertation Fellowships and Postdoctoral Opportunities. If you have a resource to add to this list, please email Anat Schwartz, Research Development Coordinator, at anats@uci.edu.

The Humanities Center holds a four-part grant-writing workshop series in the fall and spring quarters. The workshops include identifying and applying for external funding opportunities, how to write successful applications for grants and fellowships, and developing and communicating your research to different funders and reviewers. Graduate students in their first and second years, as well as advanced students, are encouraged to attend. Announcements are made through the humanities graduate student email listserv.

Below is a sample flyer from Fall 2023:

Fall 2023 UCI Humanities Center Grant-Writing Workshops

In partnership with UCI’s Graduate Division, the Humanities Center ran the Grant-Writing & Research Development Institute in 2022 and 2023 funded by a grant from the Council for Graduate Schools. The Grant-Writing & Research Development Institute was designed to expand PhD students’ capacities in grant-writing, research development, and project development. Grant-writing is a conceptual capacity and a collaborative practice, along with a set of skills. Whether in faculty, academic administration or nonprofit careers, grant-writing takes place in the broader context of staff team roles, project development, organizational goals, fundraising plans, and institutional partnerships. The institute approached grant-writing holistically with sessions that focused on technical skills, on understanding the collaborative process from a variety of perspectives, and on understanding the role of grant-writing in the broader process of research planning and project development.

Anat Schwartz, Humanities Center’s Research Development Coordinator, can assist with finding funding opportunities, planning when to apply for external funding, and preparing proposal materials. The Humanities Center also collects successful applications by previous grant recipients for reference. Contact Anat at anats@uci.edu to set up an appointment.

UCI Grants for Humanities PhD Students

Grad Division Grants - Most grants require ABD status. Check the Funding Timeline PDF for their general deadlines. For questions about Grad Division grants, email Graduate Division Associate Dean Jaymi Smith (jaymis@uci.edu).

* Please note these grants are internal to UCI but not managed by the Humanities Center

School of Humanities Grants - Conference travel, summer dissertation writing support, summer language study, and outstanding TA awards. For questions about SOH grants, email Geneva Lopez-Sandoval, Director, Office of Graduate Study (lopezg@uci.edu).

* Please note these grants are internal to UCI but not managed by the Humanities Center

Associated Graduate Students - AGS offers conference travel grants (by lottery), project event funding, and paid staff positions (may be announced via email). For questions, email Daniel C. Tracht, AGS Vice President of Administrative Affairs (vpadmin@ags.uci.edu).

* Please note these grants are internal to UCI but not managed by the Humanities Center

Previous External Professional Development Funding Recipients

2021

Megan Cole (English)

Anna Pederneschi (Philosophy)

2022

Natalia Affonso (Comparative Literature)

Sarah Hoenicke Flores (Comparative Literature)

2023

Jose Maria Urdaneta (Spanish)

The next LARB Publishing Workshop will take place virtually from June 24- July 26, 2024. Information about applying to the workshop will become available in December 2023.

Jan. 2020

Megan Cole (English)

Karem Delgado (Spanish)

Wu Jun Ke (Comparative Literature)

Christine Mugnolo (Visual Studies)

Michelle Robertson (English)

Juan Rubio (History)

Dec. 2020

LaShonda Carter (Culture & Theory)

Kathie Foley-Meyer (Visual Studies)

Kristina Horn (East Asian Studies)

Rong Kong (History)

Ella Turenne (Visual Studies)

Isabelle Williams (Culture & Theory)

2022

Anannya Mukherjee  (Comparative Literature)

Maria Carina Saiidi Padilla  (Spanish)

Serkan Ogul Tuna  (History)

 

2022

Nikita Olegovich Prokhorov (Comparative Literature)

2023

Aaron Katzeman (Visual Studies)

Sophie Mariko Wheeler (East Asian Studies)

Applications for the 2024 institute will open on November 17, 2023. More information can be found at their website.

2023

Megan Cole

Information about HASTAC can be found here.

2023

Chenglin Lee (Comparative Literature)