Priority Thematic Public Humanities Research Incubator Grants

  • Deadline: January 20, 2025 (Monday)  
  • Value: $20,000/grant. Up to 3  grants awarded.
  • Application Procedures + Form provided below   
  • Eligibility: Must include 2+ UBC-V Faculty members (tenured/track) in the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Education, and Allard School of Law, appointed to a minimum of two different departments. Can include additional faculty members from other faculties or universities as appropriate.
  • Interdisciplinary Themes:   
    • Global Race, Anti-Racism & Social Justice Humanities  
    • Environmental/Climate, Land & Place-Based Humanities 
    • Health, Body, & Dis/Ability Humanities 
    • Critical Digital Humanities, Multiple Materialities & New Publics 
    • Justice, Public Memory, & Narrative Humanities  
  • Supports new, interdisciplinary and collaborative public humanities research projects in initial stages proposed by small (2) or larger (3+) teams with the intent subsequently to apply for Tri-Council funding. This grant was a pilot project in 2023-2024.   
  • For queries related to this grant, please contact the Public Humanities Hub manager, Heather Tam, phh.manager@ubc.ca. 

 

Terms of Reference

Introduction

Priority Thematic Public Humanities Research Incubator Grants support new, interdisciplinary and collaborative public humanities research projects in initial stages proposed by small (2) or larger (3+) teams with the intent subsequently to apply for Tri-Council funding. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new Humanities methods, theoretical approaches and/or ideas.  

 

The Incubator Grants provide funds to support early stage interdisciplinary and collaborative research activities that will maintain or strengthen research capacity and research excellence and, importantly, advance knowledge in the humanities. 

 

Applicants to the Thematic Incubator Grants will propose interdisciplinary, collaborative research projects that are located within, and aim to advance knowledge concerning, one or more of these themes. These Themes represent substantive academic priorities for the Public Humanities Hub, and link up with one or more of our thematic Humanities Hub networks 

 

  • Global Race, Anti-Racism & Social Justice Humanities  
  • Environmental/Climate, Land & Place-Based Humanities  
  • Health, Body, & Dis/Ability Humanities  
  • Critical Digital Humanities, Multiple Materialities & New Publics  
  • Justice, Public Memory, & Narrative Humanities   

 

Teams: 

Include a Principal Investigator from the UBC-V Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Education, or Allard School of Law;

 

The Public Humanities Hub Thematic Incubator Grants will provide funding to research teams made up of at least two full-time, tenured or tenure-track UBC faculty members, appointed to a minimum of two different departments, plus graduate students and staff in Arts, Law, and Education to work on Humanities-oriented research projects that include public-facing components.  

The Public Humanities Hub Thematic Incubator Grants support teams to carry out new research activities and cementing the research group by means of collaborative gatherings and/or events. The applicant team must not have been awarded funding to carry out research in this particular area previously. This research activity is in the emergent stages for all team members. Team members may have an extensive trajectory of funding and publications pertinent to the broad theme to which a given application is directed. It is expected, however, that the particular research project proposed in the application represents new research for all team members. This particular research should not have previously been awarded Tri-Agency or other major funding, apart from a Seed Grant or other funding < $5,000.  

 

Adjudication Criteria

The project proposal will be assessed by an adjudication team made up of public humanities faculty members who are members of the Public Humanities Hub Advisory Board. The proposal will be assessed in terms of the following criteria:

  1. Humanities? Framed and designed through Public Humanities methods and scholarship. Applicant/s’ academic trajectory provides evidence of sustained academic contributions to the public humanities;  
  2. Public Humanities? Project prioritizes: (a) public-facing engagement; and/or, (b) academic engagement that seeks to transform and redistribute access to knowledge amongst diverse publics.
  3. Knowledge Advance. Identifies a significant public humanities knowledge advance that represents the major academic contribution of this scholarly work; 
  4. Capability. The principal investigator and team’s expertise and capacity to succeed in relation to the project’s stated aims;
  5. Innovation and Feasibility. Novel trajectory of scholarly inquiry and appropriateness of the timeline and budget;
  6. Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization (EDID). Represents research with a clearly articulated aim to achieve inclusive excellence through public humanities scholarship. EDID expertise of the principal investigator and team.

 

WHEN, WHO AND WHAT? 

Priority Thematic Public Humanities Research Incubator Grants funds are awarded in Winter Term 2. Up to three grants will be awarded up to $20,000 each.  

Funding is provided for short-term innovative, collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects of up to two years that are proposed by small (2) or large teams (3+). 

Priority Thematic Public Humanities Research Incubator Grants foster research in its early stages and are not intended to support large-scale initiatives. These grants are intended to provide the foundation for applications to Tri-Council and other major funding. 

Projects can also involve national and international research collaboration, and the exploration of new Public Humanities ways of producing, structuring and mobilizing knowledge within and across disciplines and sectors. 

The Priority Thematic Public Humanities Research Incubator Grants is a research project-based funding stream, which means your proposal must be grounded in academic literature, include research questions and articulated objective, defined public/s, and a budget. Your project must meet all of the following criteria to be considered for a Thematic Incubator grant.  

  • Research that has previously been funded, in part or in full, is not eligible. Funds are not intended to supplement current or completed Tri-Council or other currently funded projects or duplicate support for projects awaiting funding decisions from other sources. 
  • Preference will be given to proposals that offer opportunities for graduate student training/mentorship. 
  • Projects must support new research and proposals must make clear how these seed funds will enable future research (e.g., lay foundation for an external research grant). 
  • Preference will be given to projects which lay the foundation for a (specified) external research grant. 

ELIGIBLE EXPENSES 

Grantees are highly encouraged to use PHH funds to hire Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs), although all expenses eligible under the Tri-Agency expense guidelines will be permissible except those related to conferences (registration, travel, accommodation, per diem, paper preparation, etc.) and computer equipment purchases and event curation (e.g., honoraria, catering, travel). 

 

ACCESS TO FUNDS  

A UBC Research Project Information Form (RPIF) and brief budget will be submitted with your application. Funds for grant recipients will be transferred to an ORS research account that will be administered by your home department. Funds will be accessible for two years. 

 

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 

Recipients agree to submit a final brief report on the project supported by the incubator grant, and to be featured in Hub communications (including our website, annual report, and social media). Any promotion of your project should acknowledge that this is a Public Humanities Hub-funded project by including the Hub logo. Depending on your project, the Hub may also be able to provide communications and event support.  

 

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Please complete the following:

  • Note: DOWNLOAD AND COMPLETE the Grant Proposal Form IN ADOBE. DO NOT COMPLETE FORM IN BROWSER.

The completed Grant Proposal form and all attachments must be submitted as a single bookmarked PDF. The Research Project Information Form (RPIF) is submitted as an additional PDF. (Note: Attachment formatting requirements and file-naming protocol provided below).

Grant Proposal Attachments as Described Below

  1. Detailed Description (maximum 2 pages). A description of the proposed activities that effectively communicates: a. The research questions to be explored through the proposed activities; b. Rationale and significance of the proposed activities grounded in relevant literature; c. The methodology for the research activities; and d. How the incubator grant funds will help advance a new line of research contribute to the applicant’s ongoing program of research. <<PDF Bookmark Label: Detailed Description>>
  2. Attachment: How will your research advance knowledge in the public humanities? ((maximum half-page) as defined here) <<PDF Bookmark Label: Knowledge Advancement>>
  3. Attachment: How does your project/methodology represent a commitment to social justice? (maximum half-page) <<PDF Bookmark Label: Social Justice>>
  4. Attachment: How will your project offer opportunities for graduate student training and/or mentorship? (maximum half-page) <<PDF Bookmark Label: Graduate Student Training>>
  5. Attachment: Principal Applicant’s peer-reviewed publication history since 2015 and Principal Applicant’s competitively adjudicated research grants history since 2015. Please do not submit full UBC CVs and please do not submit Co-Applicant CVs (no page limit). <<PDF Bookmark Label: Principal Applicant Publications & Grants>>
  6. Attachment: Team Member’s peer-reviewed publication history since 2015 and Team Member’s competitively adjudicated research grants history since 2015 (1-page per team member) *up to 5 team members maximum. <<PDF Bookmark Label: Team Member Publication & Grants>>

For the attachments #2-7, note Attachment Requirements

The RPIF should be signed by the Principal Applicant, the Principal Applicant’s Department/Unit Head, and the Faculty Dean or designate, typically the Associate Dean Research. Please check the turnaround times for Department and Faculty signatures.

Attachment Requirements

The completed Application Form and all attachments must be submitted as a single bookmarked PDF which conforms to the following formatting conventions:

  • Font: Size 12 pt Times New Roman
  • Page size: 8 ½” x 11”
  • Spacing: Single-spaced
  • Margins: Minimum ¾ inch (1.87 mm)
  • Whole PDF must be Bookmarked

Please save these documents, in this order, as a single, bookmarked PDF file and name the Application and the RPIF files by using the following respective formats:

IncubatorGrant2025Applicantsurname.pdf 

IncubatorGrant2025ApplicantsurnameRPIF.pdf

Please upload both the bookmarked form & attachments as a single PDF, as well as the RPIF PDF, via the online submission form below.

Proposals are due January 20, 2025.

For queries related to this grant, please contact the Public Humanities Hub manager, Heather Tam, phh.manager@ubc.ca.