Notice of Funding Opportunity: Collaborative Research Program – United States

The Collaborative Research program aims to advance humanistic knowledge through collaboration between two or more scholars. The program encourages projects that propose diverse approaches to topics, incorporate multiple points of view, explore new avenues of inquiry in the humanities, and lead to manuscripts for print publication or to scholarly digital products.

Areas of Interest

• American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future- is a wide– ranging special initiative at NEH that leverages the humanities to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of their time: strengthening the democracy, advancing equity for all, and addressing changing climate. The initiative encourages humanities projects that elevate the role of civics in schools and public programs, advance knowledge of the country’s history and political institutions, and examine threats to its democratic principles.
• United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture- In coordination with the White House “United We Stand” Summit in September 2022, NEH launched a new initiative titled United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture that uses the humanities to combat hate-motivated violence and promote civic engagement, social cohesion, and cross-cultural understanding.
• NEH’s Support for the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative- NEH encourages projects that further public understanding and knowledge of the Federal Indian boarding school system. From 1819 through the 1970s the government of the United States operated a system of schools for Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children premised on a policy of coerced cultural assimilation.
• Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence- In October 2023, NEH launched a new agency-wide initiative, to support research projects that seek to understand and address the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI. NEH is particularly interested in projects that explore the impacts of AI-related technologies on truth, trust, and democracy; safety and security; and privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.

Funding Categories

• The Collaborative Research program has four funding categories that support different types of collaborative projects and collaborative projects at different stages of development:
  • Planning International Collaboration: Planning International Collaboration supports initial meetings to brainstorm, plan, and establish new scholarly collaborations.
  • Convening: The Convening category supports a single scholarly conference, symposium, or seminar that is open to members of an intellectual community broader than the invited attendees, or up to two working group meetings that advance a single project and may be restricted to primary collaborators.
  • Manuscript Preparation: The Manuscript Preparation category supports the completion of collaborative manuscripts in preparation for print publication. Examples include, but are not limited to, co-authored monographs and edited volumes; a series of peer-reviewed articles; and themed issues of peer reviewed journals.
  • Scholarly Digital Projects: The Scholarly Digital Projects category supports the preparation of born-digital scholarly publications, resources, or tools designed to address explicitly stated humanities research questions.

Funding Information

• Planning International Collaboration
  • Period of Performance: Six to twelve months
  • Award Amounts: Up to $25,000
• Convening
  • Period of Performance: Six to twelve months
  • Award Amounts: Up to $50,000
• Manuscript Preparation
  • Period of Performance: One to three years
  • Award Amounts
    • Up to $250,000 (up to $100,000 per year for years one and two and up to $50,000 for year three).
    • Up to $300,00 for projects proposed by, or including a sub award to, a community college or certain minority-serving institutions.
• Scholarly Digital Projects
  • Period of Performance: One to three years
  • Award Amounts
    • Up to $250,000 (up to $100,000 per year for years one and two and up to $50,000 for year three).
    • Up to $300,000 for projects proposed by, or including a sub award to, a community college or certain minority-serving institutions.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible to apply, your organization must be established in the United States or its jurisdictions as one of the following:
  • A nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
  • AN accredited institution of higher education (public or nonprofit)
  • A state or local government or one of their agencies.
  • A federally recognized Native American Tribal government.
  • Individuals and other organizations, including foreign and for-profit entities, are ineligible.

For more information, visit NEH.