Collaborative Research Seed Grants

The Collaborative Research Seed Grant (CRSG) is intended to encourage tenured and tenure-track faculty in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences at Washington University to establish research partnerships and conduct preliminary work that will lay the foundation for original, expanded collaborative research projects capable of attracting external funding or the publication of new co-authored research. The grant will fund humanities and humanistic social sciences research teams of a project coordinator and at least one collaborator. A maximum of three grants will be awarded.

Important dates & details

For faculty applying during the 2024–25 academic year

Application deadline: Friday, October 25, 5 pm CDT

Award notification: By December 6

Grant amount: Up to $15,000

Grant period: January 1–December 31, 2025

Eligibility: All grant proposals must be a joint research project that involves the actual partnership of faculty in departments and/or programs in the humanities/humanistic social sciences at Washington University with colleagues at Washington University, or colleagues at other institutions. The Project Coordinator must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

    How to Apply

    Application requirements: Submit your application as a single pdf to: cenhumapp@wustl.edu using the following naming convention for your application PDF: Last Name First Initial CRSG

    Applications must include:

    1.   Completed CRSG Application (see link below), which includes the following pages:
           o   Project Coordinator Application Cover Sheet
           o   Collaborator(s) Application Cover Sheet (one for each collaborator)
           o   Budget Sheet: The budget may include the following:
                -   Funding to support graduate assistants
                -   Dissemination at conferences, including collaborative, co-authored publications that are more than the sum of individual publications by the project members
                -   Summer stipends that continue research activities (considered taxable income)
                -   Travel
                -   Research materials
    2.   External Funding Sheet
    3.   Short CV for the Project Coordinator and each Collaborator (no more than 2 pages each)
    4.   Narrative: No more than three single-spaced pages using a font size no smaller than 11 point. 
           o   Within the narrative, applicants should provide an intellectual justification for their projects, conveying the ideas, objectives, methods and work plan.  A simple need or intent is insufficient.
           o   The narrative should not assume specialized knowledge, should be free of technical terms and jargon, and should include the following sections:

    • Research and contribution: Describe the intellectual significance of the proposed project. Provide an overview of the project and explain the basic ideas, problems or questions examined by the study. Explain how the project will complement, challenge or expand relevant studies in the field.
    • Methods and work plan: Describe your method(s) and clarify the part or stage of the project that will be supported by the award(s). Provide a work plan, describing what you will accomplish during the award period. For a book project, explain how the final project will be organized.
    • Final product and dissemination: Describe the intended audience and the intended results of the project. If relevant, explain how the results will be disseminated and why these means are appropriate to the subject matter and audience.

    Application download: (link to application form)

    Application requirements: Submit your application as a single pdf to: cenhumapp@wustl.edu using the following naming convention for your application pdf: Last Name First Initial CRSG

    Evaluation criteria: Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee convened by the Center for the Humanities.

    Preference will be given to applicants who are submitting a collaborative grant application to one of the following funding opportunities:

    In addition, proposals will be judged along the following three criteria:

    1. Intellectual significance of the project, including its ambition and scope, and its potential contribution to scholarship in the humanities.
    2. Degree to which the proposed collaboration represents innovative practice in the applicants’ disciplines and sub-fields.
    3. Potential for success, including the likelihood that the work proposed will be completed and lead to external funding or publication.

    Grant administration: The CRSG is administered through the awardee’s home department.

    • Funds will be made available in an appropriate account by January 1, 2025.
    • Grantees are expected to adhere to the administrative and financial policies of the University and those specified in the Center for the Humanities’ “Guidelines for Center Grants.”
    • All funds must be used within the grant period.
    • Any remaining funds as of January 1, 2026, will revert back to the Center for the Humanities.
    • A report of project accomplishments and a separate detailed report of expenditures is due no later than March 1, 2026.
    • Publications resulting from CRSG activities must contain an acknowledgment of support by the Center for the Humanities and the following sentence: “Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Center for the Humanities.”

    Learn about awards made in previous funding cycles.