Call for Proposals: Just Humanities Grants Initiative
Spring 2026
The Just Humanities Grants Initiative will continue in 2025-26. Proposals will be accepted beginning in September 2025 and continue until funds have been utilized.
Description
At universities across the globe no less than at Columbia University, we hear constantly about the importance of defining the impact of what we do on the society we live in. But this question can and perhaps should be put the other way around, insofar as we make sense of society only through the forms, ideas, and structures that we in the humanities also happen to take as the subject-matter of our teaching and research. Whether literary, artistic, religious, or philosophical, these are the embodied forms of the reality in which we live. In this sense, rather than justifying the humanities from the outside, there is an argument to be made for “just humanities” in the double sense of the expression, as a unique contribution to thinking through matters of social justice from a space that is none other than the humanities.
The Just Humanities Initiative in the Arts & Sciences invites proposals that connect members of our community of scholars, teachers, and students while at the same time reflecting upon the role of the humanities at the university today.
The Just Humanities Initiative is led by Humanities Dean Bruno Bosteels. Decisions about accepted proposals will be made in collaboration with Humanities Department Chairs.
Applications are sought for projects that feature a partnership between two or more Departments within the Humanities, as this initiative hopes to encourage Humanities faculty at all levels to come together for conversation and collaboration.
Projects may include:
- Reading groups of new or relevant work. Funds might cover books or copies, refreshments, room rental.
- Writing retreats for small groups. Funds might cover room rental and dinner.
- Talks, guest speakers, small public or semi-public events. Funds might cover a small honorarium for a guest who is local or already in town, or enable a group to host a reception or post-event dinner meeting.
- Working groups and other discussion groups. These may be limited to faculty only, or bring in graduate and/or undergraduate students.
- Roundtable discussions or teach-ins.
These grants are designed to be flexible, to allow recipients to act quickly when an opportunity arises. The audience for these projects, events, and gatherings may be public or Columbia-facing, for faculty, graduate or undergraduate students, and/or alumni.
Funding amounts are modest - likely no more than $1,500 per application - and are meant to cover logistics (such as room rental), supplies (books, copies), small honorariums, and other meeting considerations (coffee, lunch). Funding must be spent in accordance with Columbia University business expense policies and procedures as outlined here: policylibrary.columbia.edu.
Proposals should come from Columbia Humanities faculty (including full-time lecturers) and should be associated with at least two Humanities departments.
Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis until funds for 2025-26 have been utilized. We hope to sponsor 3-4 projects in the fall, and another 3-4 projects in the spring.
Please submit a short (no more than 2 pages) proposal, including a description of your project and its contribution to rethinking the future of the humanities at Columbia, potential members and audience, and a brief budget. Awards will be in the range of $500 to $1,500 per project.
Proposals should be sent to Jessica Lilien ([email protected]) with the email subject line: “Just Humanities Proposal.” Upon the project’s completion, the organizers will be expected to submit a short (1-page) description of the activity’s impact for reimagining the role of the humanities today that can be shared with the public.