The Academic Year AY26 Grant Cycle
Fall 2025/Spring 2026
Grant Themes
Collections-Based Courses
The IHRC supports the development of courses that imagine creative use of “collections” andhow such are defined/demarcated, collected, and supported. How and when does accumulationaccrue value, become a “collection” that endures, shaping knowledge and perspectives?
Human Craft in the Age of Digital Technologies*
In an era where digital technologies increasingly shape human interaction, knowledge creation, and cultural production, the IHRC invites proposals from faculty seeking to explore how we craft meaning in a digital world in their courses. The proposals should focus on critical questions surrounding the intersections of technology and humanity, including, but not limited to, big data, artificial intelligence, digital literacy, democracy and misinformation, ethical and environmental implications of technology, and political, literary and artistic interventions.
* This theme is in conjunction with this year’s initiative of the same name by the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, allowing for opportunities for collaboration and advocacy across institutions internationally.
The AY26 Grant Cycle – We welcome proposals for both the redesign of previously taught courses and the development of new courses. Proposals from all disciplines, not limited to the humanities, will be considered as long as they engage the humanities in its content, methods and outcomes.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: April 4, 2025
AWARD NOTIFICATION: April 25, 2025
Faculty awarded IHRC grants are expected to avail themselves of CTAL resources throughout the process. CTAL can review pre-submitted applications. The IHRC encourages all faculty to discuss curricular design goals before submitting a grant application. Please contact the IHRC for more information on our collaboration with CTAL.
Mission
The mission of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center (IHRC) is to: 1) strengthen faculty research and creative activity while also enhancing its integration into the curriculum; 2) support initiatives involving multidisciplinary research teams, both within the university as well as with external partners; and 3) foster intellectual community and public engagement.
The IHRC has been an incubator for curriculum innovation and public humanities outreach since its establishment in 2009, providing seed grants to support interdisciplinary team-teaching as well as collaborative projects resulting in the establishment of new undergraduate minors (e.g., Environmental Humanities, Game Studies, the re-design of the Disability Studies minor), and inter-arts collaborations resulting in performances and exhibitions as well as scholarship and K12 outreach.
IHRC Grant Reporting Guidelines
See a sample copy of an IHRC Grant Report – Wilmington Archives Project.
See a sample copy of an IHRC Grant Report – Teaching African American Material Culture with Digital Humanities.