- Deadline: October 27, 2025 (Monday)
- Value: $3,000/grant. Up to 4 grants awarded.
- Eligibility: UBC-V Doctoral Students who have completed a minimum of 12 months in their UBC graduate program by the application deadline, in the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Education, and Allard School of Law. Domestic and international applicants are eligible.
- Applications require a letter of support from the Supervisor.
- For queries related to this grant, please contact the Public Humanities Hub Academic Director, Althea Thauberger, althea.thauberger@ubc.ca.
Terms of Reference
The Public Humanities Hub Graduate Research Fellowship program aims to provide support for interdisciplinary, innovative and/or experimental public humanities graduate research projects, imagined broadly. They provide funds to support the direct costs of graduate activities that will maintain or strengthen research capacity and advance knowledge in the public humanities.
Up to four research fellowships will be awarded up to $3,000 each.
The purpose of this program is to support graduate research activities and contribute to knowledge advances in the public sphere, and to promote the research and communities of PHH Research Fellows. Successful applicants will be invited to participate in a Graduate Fellows Forum project in the Spring of 2026, wherein their research will be discussed and promoted.
ELIGIBLE EXPENSES
Eligible costs include: travel, workshops, meetings, communication and dissemination activities, prepublication costs, research equipment and supplies.
ADJUDICATION CRITERIA
The application 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 application will be assessed in terms of the following criteria:
- Public Humanities. Applicant frames and designs project through Public Humanities methods and scholarship prioritizing: (a) public-facing engagement; and/or, (b) academic engagement that seeks to transform and redistribute access to knowledge amongst diverse publics.
- Knowledge Advance. Identifies a significant knowledge contribution.
- Capability. Applicant’s expertise and capacity to succeed in relation to the project’s stated aims.
- Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization (EDID). Represents research with a clearly articulated aim to achieve inclusive excellence through public humanities scholarship.
- Contain appropriate expenses in the budget.
Notification of awards will be made by December 2025.
APPLICATION PROCEDURES
Please complete the following:
- Project Proposal Form (click here to download)
- Additional Attachment pages as per below (see Attachment Requirements)
- Research Project Information Form (RPIF) (PDF)
Each application also requires one Letter of Support completed by the applicant’s supervisor in their Doctoral research. Letter authors should submit letters directly to the Public Humanities Hub by emailing them in PDF format to public.humanities@ubc.ca by October 27, 2025.
- Letter of Support (click here to download)
Note: DOWNLOAD AND COMPLETE the application form IN ADOBE. DO NOT COMPLETE APPLICATION FORM IN BROWSER.
The completed Grant Proposal form and all 4 sections must be submitted as a single bookmarked PDF. The Research Project Information Form (RPIF) is submitted as an additional PDF. (Note: formatting requirements and file-naming protocol provided below).
- Project description (max. 1 page) A description of the proposed research and activities that communicates: a. The research questions to be explored through the proposed activities; b. Rationale and significance of the proposed research and activities grounded in relevant literature; c. The methodology for the research activities; and d. How the grant funds will help advance innovative research. <<PDF Bookmark Label: Project Description>>
- Public Humanities: (1 paragraph) How will your project advance knowledge in the public humanities? <<PDF Bookmark Label: PublicHumanities>>
- Equity (1 paragraph) How does your project/methodology represent a commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization (EDID)? (Please refer to this guide from the GCRC competition, VPRI Office.) (1 paragraph) <<PDF Bookmark Label: EDID>>
- Publications Awards: (max. 1 page) Applicant’s peer-reviewed publication, conference presentation, and awards/scholarships history <<PDF Bookmark Label: Publications Awards>>
COMPLETING THE RPIF
Please complete the following sections, as well as any other sections on the form applicable to your research.
Section A: Principal Investigator: UBC regulations require an eligible faculty member to manage the funds in a research account. Please name your supervisor as the Principal Investigator.
Section B: Please complete the following.
- Title: Title of your research project
- Funding Program: Public Humanities Hub Graduate Research Fellowship
- Application Deadline: October 27, 2025
- If this is a student or trainee fellowship, please enter recipient name: Your name
- Budget: Check UBC (Internally funded), and indicate the amount for which you are applying in the “Total Cash” field.
- Project length: Length of the funding period, up to 2 years.
Section C: Complete as applicable.
Section D: If your research involves human participants, ORS will require research ethics review. Please review the information here: https://researchethics.ubc.ca/behavioural-research-ethics/ethics-review-required Please check Yes or No. If you do not have a completed ethics certificate, you can indicate “pending” in the certificate # space for now.
Sections E, F, & H: Can be left blank when there is a grant application accompanying the RPIF.
Section G: Completion of the section on Conflict of Interest is a Faculty of Arts requirement.
Section I: Signatures:
The RPIF should be signed by the Principal Investigator, the Principal Investigator’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.
Please leave the sections for Faculty/Department and ORS use blank.
PDF 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
- File Naming Protocol for application and RPIF: Surname_Givenname_PHHGraduateResearchFellowshipsApplication2025
Surname_Givenname_PHHGraduateResearchFellowshipsRPIF2025
Please upload both the bookmarked form and attachments as a single PDF, as well as the RPIF PDF, via the online submission form below.
Applications are due October 27, 2025.
For queries related to this grant, please contact the Public Humanities Hub Academic Director, Althea Thauberger, althea.thauberger@ubc.ca.