Guidelines and Application

NEHC Mission and Overview

The New England Humanities Consortium (NEHC) promotes and strengthens intellectual collaboration, interdisciplinary exchange, and innovative educational, intercultural, and curricular programming among New England Humanities centers and institutes, and the faculty, students, and regional, national, and global communities they serve. NEHC includes: Amherst College, Colby College, Dartmouth College, Northeastern University, Tufts University, the University of Connecticut, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Vermont, Wellesley College, and Wheaton College. The Humanities Institute of the University of Connecticut (UCHI) in Storrs, Connecticut is currently the executive and administrative hub of the NEHC.

Award Description

The New England Humanities Consortium (NEHC) is offering competitive seed grants for research initiatives in the humanities that seek to capitalize on the collaborative network of the consortium. Applications seeking to sustain, and build on, previously funded NEHC initiatives that demonstrated success are also welcome. Awards of up to $5000 will be made. (For projects whose total budgets exceed $5000 applicants must list additional committed funding sources and amounts.)  Priority will be given to applications demonstrating concrete plans for consortium membership involvement. Such involvement can take different forms, but will typically involve, e.g. direct collaboration between two or more member institutions and/or active and solicitation of faculty, staff, or students exclusively from member institutions. Applications are welcome from individuals or teams, but the PI must be on the faculty of a NEHC member institution. Potential areas of funding interest include the following (this list is by no means exhaustive):

• Collaborative research projects
• Summer Seminars
• Study or working groups
• Shared speakers across institutions
• Collaborative course design
• Exhibitions

Please submit materials electronically in pdf or Word docx to YOUR HUMANITIES CENTER or INSTITUTE DIRECTOR BY MAY 15, 2020. They will then pass along the proposal to the NEHC board.

Application Procedure and Timeline

Applications for the NEHC RFP must include the following:

1. Cover page (1 page) stating

• Title of the project
• Name, department/program/school location, and NEHC school representation of PI(s)
• Requested NEHC funding amount (Awards of up to $5000)

2. Project narrative (2 pages, single spaced, 1” margins, 12pt font) detailing:

• The goals of the project
• How those goals address those of NEHC
• Plans for involving NEHC member institutions and which institutions in particular will be involved
• How those goals will be pursued
• Names and roles of participants
• Expected outcomes and/or deliverables
• External funding sources, if any
• Project timeline describing completion of project goals and outcomes

3. CV (2 page) of Principal Investigator(s)
4. Budget and Award Period:

• Total budget. (For projects whose budgets exceed $5000, please list additional committed funding sources and amounts, as validated by an attached letter of support.)
• The award period will typically not exceed one (1) calendar year and must be stated in the application timeline.

The awardees will be required to submit a detailed summary of the project at the end of their funding term.

Reporting Requirements

All PIs will be required to submit a two-page report no more than one (1) month after the end of the award period specified in the award letter. The report should detail and substantiate progress on the following elements of the project:

• The extent to which project goals have been met
• Specific indicators or signs of success
• Outcomes and/or deliverables achieved
• Number of NEHC member institutions (and faculty/students) involved

Questions and requests for more information are encouraged and should be directed to UCHI (uchi@uconn.edu).