Faculty, lecturers and academic administrators with appointments in the Division of Humanities can explore the following opportunities for funding of research, conferences and collaborative projects. Ladder faculty applying for external funding opportunities are encouraged to read the guidelines for the allocation of fellowship supplements at the bottom of this page.
Humanities Division and UCLA sources
Alexandra Minna Stern, dean of the UCLA College Division of Humanities, welcomes proposals for support from the Dean’s Discretionary Fund for the 2026-27 academic year.
Please note that applications may be submitted during the fall, winter and spring quarters.
Priority is given to proposals that contain one or both of the following criteria:
- Research funding requests from faculty members who do not already have a general-purpose research fund available to them.
- Funding requests for conferences or seminars to be held at UCLA, which will benefit many Humanities faculty members and students.
Approvals will be limited to support at most one proposal per individual applicant per academic year. In addition, the intention of this limited funding is to support as many individuals within the Division as possible, so applicants should not expect to be approved for funding on a recurring annual basis.
Given that the available funds are limited, the majority of awards are given out in the range of $500 to $1,500, although in exceptional cases larger awards will be made if it is established that several faculty members will benefit. In the case of conference support, the proposal needs to demonstrate that the conference organizers will seek funding from other sources in addition to the Humanities Division.
To apply
To apply for a grant, please review the application deadlines below and complete the application form on this page. (Note that you will need to log in to the application form through your UCLA Google account.) Submissions must include:
- A description of the project for which you are requesting support (conference, seminar, etc.), including a brief statement making a case for the intellectual merits of the project.
- An itemization of the budget that also details funding requests to all other sources, including the Academic Senate, with information on whether funding has been received.
- In the case of a workshop or conference, an estimate of the likely number of attendees, and/or a statement of how the event will benefit other faculty members and students at UCLA (with particular reference to Humanities scholars).
Applicants should submit funding requests for their project long enough in advance to allow for ample time for a funding decision prior to the project’s own deadline.
Application deadlines for 2026-27
| Quarter | Request due | Funding decision |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | October 12, 2026 | October 26, 2026 |
| Winter 2027 | January 25, 2027 | February 8, 2027 |
| Spring 2027 | April 19, 2027 | May 3, 2027 |
Barbara Fuchs, associate dean of the UCLA College Division of Humanities, welcomes proposals for seed grants to support public and community engaged projects for the 2026-27 academic year. Please note that applications may be submitted quarterly and funding will be awarded beginning during fall quarter 2026.
Priority is given to proposals that address one or both of the following criteria:
- Enable faculty to launch or expand collaborations beyond the university.
- Engage broader publics, whether as public-facing or community-engaged work.
Grant amounts
Given that the available funds are limited, the majority of awards will be in the range of $500 to $1,500, although in exceptional cases larger awards may be considered if several faculty members are part of the proposal.
Application guidelines
Submissions must include:
- A description of the project for which you are requesting support (collaboration, performance, event) including a brief statement making a case for the intellectual merits of the project and connection to UCLA’s commitment to public-facing and community-engaged work.
- An itemization of the budget that also details funding requests to all other sources, including the Academic Senate, with information on whether funding has been received.
- In the case of a workshop or event, an estimate of the likely number of attendees, and/or a statement of how the event will benefit community members or other faculty members and students at UCLA.
Applicants should submit funding requests for their project long enough in advance to allow for ample time for a funding decision prior to the project’s own deadline.
Application deadlines
| Quarter | Request due | Funding decision |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | October 16, 2026 | November 6, 2026 |
| Winter 2027 | December 11, 2026 | January 11, 2027 |
| Spring 2027 | March 8, 2027 | March 29, 2027 |
To apply
Extramural sources
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Lifelong Learning is accepting applications for the Landmarks of American History and Culture and Summer Institutes program. The purpose of this program is to support humanities education through professional development for K-12 teachers and higher education faculty members.
Award ceiling
$460,000
Application deadline
December 9, 2026
More information and application instructions
Visit this Grants.gov webpage for additional details and a link to apply.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Collections & Infrastructure is accepting applications for Collections Stewardship, a program to advance the preservation and availability of physical and digital collections important for research, teaching, and public engagement in the humanities.
Planning and implementation projects may include conservation and preservation; digitization and description; enhancement of long-standing digital resources in the humanities; and preservation services or education and training for students and professionals in collections stewardship.
Grant amounts
Awards range from $50,000 to $500,000
Application deadline
December 15, 2026
More information and application instructions
Visit this Grants.gov webpage for additional details and a link to apply.
Guidelines for the allocation of fellowship supplements
The Division of Humanities recognizes the critical importance of prestigious fellowship awards to UCLA’s research mission and is pleased to supplement fellowships received by ladder faculty members as follows:
1. Supplementation is provided for fellowships that are applied for and awarded on a competitive basis. Supplementation is not provided for leaves of absence from UCLA to accept visiting appointments at other institutions. Therefore, awards that include teaching assignments at non-UCLA institutions will not be subsidized.
2. Supplementation is provided for fellowship awards that have national standing and stem from distinguished fellowship programs or institutions. Common examples are awards from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as various residential fellowships to access archival materials and/or take part in scholarly exchanges within an institute.
3. For awards that meet the requirements of both 1. and 2. above, the Division will supplement the faculty member’s fellowship, if needed, in the following way: The Division will cover the difference between (a) the faculty’s annual nine-month base salary and (b) the combined salary effect of the fellowship award and applied sabbatical leave credit, provided that the resulting difference does not exceed 33% of the annual nine-month salary.
To be eligible for supplementation, the faculty member must first contribute all accumulated sabbatical credits up to 9 credits for Assistant Professors, up to 12 credits for Associate Professors and up to 18 credits for Full Professors. These are the annualized figures that would be pro-rated for fellowship leaves of less than one year.
4. If the institution funding the fellowship will only provide the funds to the faculty member directly rather than administering the funds through UCLA, the Division will need to reduce the faculty member’s UCLA pay accordingly. This reduction in payroll will impact the service credit calculation for the time period in question. No divisional funds can be contributed toward any buyback of service credit. For reference, the Guggenheim Foundation is one institution that only pays the faculty member directly.
Following are two examples of how supplementation would be calculated.
Example A: An Assistant Professor with a salary of $110,000 receives a $45,000 fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).
He has 8 sabbatical credits accumulated and contributes all 8 to the fellowship year. This meets the requirement that he contribute all accumulated credits up to 9 (for Assistant Professors). The 8 sabbatical credits are equivalent to 30% of his pay (27 credits equals 100% pay, and 8 ÷ 27 is 30%). The ACLS fellowship covers an additional 41% of his pay, for a combined total of 71%.
This meets the requirement that at least 67% of pay be covered by the combination of the sabbatical credits and the fellowship award. The resulting fellowship supplement from the dean would be 29% of the professor’s pay.
Example B: A Full Professor with a salary of $180,000 receives a $35,000 Guggenheim fellowship.
She has 25 sabbatical credits accumulated and contributes 18 credits to the fellowship year. This meets the requirement that she first contribute all accumulated credits up to 18 (for Full Professors). The 18 sabbatical credits are equivalent to 67% of her pay (27 credits equals 100% pay, and 18 ÷ 27 equals 67%). The Guggenheim fellowship covers an additional 19% of her pay, for a combined total of 86%.
This meets the requirement that at least 67% of pay be covered by the combination of the sabbatical credits and the fellowship award. The resulting fellowship supplement from the dean would be 14% of pay. Since the Guggenheim Foundation will only send fellowships directly to the faculty member, the professor’s UCLA pay will be reduced by 19% for the fellowship period.
For all questions relating to the Fellowship Supplementation Policy, please contact Senior Associate Dean Reem Hanna-Harwell at reemh@college.ucla.edu.