For Faculty

Alexandra Minna Stern, dean of the UCLA College Division of Humanities, welcomes proposals for support from the Dean’s Discretionary Fund for AY 24-25.

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:

1. Research funding requests from faculty members who do not already have a general-purpose research fund available to them.
2. 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. Note that approved applications for Dean’s Discretionary Funding will preclude consideration for the Small Grants Program and Professional Development Fund within the same academic year, so applicants should weigh the various programs and select the one that best applies to their project.

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 request support, please note the application deadlines below. Submissions must include:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 2024-25

The UCLA Initiative to Study Hate is pleased to announce its fourth call for proposals to continue our campus-wide, cross-disciplinary undertaking to study hate. Complementing a number of continuing large-scale projects, our Research Innovation Fund will support projects that range in scale from $5,000 (intended as seed funding) to $20,000 during the 2025-2026 academic year.

Description

This year, the Initiative invites research proposals that examine and/or focus on mitigation strategies to address group-based hate and/or hatred as it takes rise in individuals and/or groups. ISH is committed to supporting projects that range across disciplines (including but not restricted to the social sciences, humanities, arts, law, education, information and computer sciences, and physical, cognitive, and health sciences). A wide array of methods, including both qualitative and quantitative as well as cross-disciplinary approaches are encouraged, as are projects that demonstrate collaborations with other researchers across campus. Projects that focus on the internet and hate, political violence and hate, masculinities and hate, or the intersection thereof, are especially welcome.

This year the Initiative to Study Hate will be focused on projects that have tangible research outcomes that can lead to anti-hate mitigation/interventions. Given ISH’s close connection to the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute, we are also interested in proposals that integrate  compassion and kindness into their research design. Priority will be given to projects that can achieve demonstrable outcomes within a year. To that end, preference will be give to projects that:

• Have the potential for demonstrable outcomes within a year
• Involve (1) research on compassion-driven anti-hate interventions and/or (2) partnerships with community organizations focused on compassion-driven anti-hate interventions (e.g. restorative justice, anti-recidivism efforts, arts-based interventions, healthy masculinity programming, responsible/ethical AI, etc.).

Complete guidelines and application information

Visit the Initiative to Study Hate website.

Deadline

June 15, 2025

The UCLA Initiative to Study Hate is pleased to announce a call for applications to support research on Islamophobia, anti-Arab hatred, and/or antisemitism. We encourage projects that explore the alarming rise of Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate and/or antisemitism in this country and the world—and that situate these phenomena in the larger framework of hate.

We invite research proposals from within the UCLA community from a wide range of disciplines that engage with the past or present of Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate, and antisemitism. UCLA faculty, research staff, and students (graduate and undergraduate) are welcome to apply, and collaborative projects are especially encouraged. Researchers studying antisemitism will be co-housed within the UCLA Leve Center for Jewish Studies.

Successful grantees will become part of the Initiative’s “hub” on Islamophobia and antisemitism (the “I-A Hub”) and will participate in the initiative’s monthly I-A seminars and regular convenings with intra- and extra-mural partners; serve as a resource on Islamophobia and antisemitism for other grantees, the hosting units, and UCLA as a whole; and provide mentorship to undergraduate and graduate fellows where appropriate.

Application guidelines

Applications should include a proposal (up to 1,000 words), short budget, CV, and the names of three recommenders. Grants can range in size between $1,000 and $10,000, with the average grant being $5,000.

Successful projects can reapply for support in the future.

To apply

Visit this webpage.

Deadline

June 15, 2025

More information

For questions about proposals, email Professor David N. Myers, myers@history.ucla.edu.

For the academic year 2025-26, the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy (LCHP) is inviting proposals for innovative research projects that make an explicit connection between past and present. Successful projects should have three defining qualities:

1. They bring historical analysis to bear on issues of contemporary relevance;
2. They aim to contribute to solving an identifiable modern problem; and
3. They are collaborative in nature. Teams should include at least two members.

In line with the Luskin Center’s mission, the outcome of the Luskin Center research grant should be a research product (e.g., a paper) that includes both a substantial historical basis and suggestions or recommendations for present or future public policies.

Applicants can apply for one of two funding categories:

1. Seed Funding ($5,000)
   • This funding will support early-stage, exploratory, or smaller scale initiatives.
   • Grantees are required to report back on their progress to LCHP on a regular basis and write a blog post for the LCHP website about their work by the end of the academic year.
2. Project Funding (up to $20,000)
   • These projects are larger-scale, and should reach their culmination (e.g., report) by the end of the funding cycle.
   • Grantees are required to submit a full research report for release via the LCHP website, contribute to an LCHP podcast episode, and participate in LCHP programs during the academic year.

Recipients of both forms of funding are required to participate in an opening orientation session at the beginning of academic year 2025-26 and to submit a report to LCHP about the outcomes of their work by June 2026.

All applicants must include at least one UCLA student or faculty member. Proposals that include faculty members or graduate students from the UCLA History Department are particularly encouraged. Student-led teams must include a faculty member as the Principal Investigator.

To apply

Please submit a proposal of no longer than 3 single spaced pages that defines what problem the project seeks to address, who the team members are (including their title and department affiliation), how history adds value to the analysis, and gives a sense of who the intended audience is. Proposals should also include an additional budget proposal that reflects the costs to be incurred in the course of research, and should indicate which form of funding the applicants are seeking.

It is highly recommended that the budget proposal be vetted and reviewed by the lead member of the team’s home department fund manager to ensure projected costs are as accurate as possible.

Note: LCHP grants are provided as lump sums to be used for travel, conferences, research, etc. Use of the funds to pay graduate student workers is discouraged as it incurs additional fees (fee remissions, benefits, etc.) that must be covered by the grantees. Budgets should clearly indicate that the applicant has considered University policies related to use of any potential funds awarded.

Deadline

Proposals are due via email to luskincenter@history.ucla.edu by Sunday, June 15, 2025. 

More information

Please direct questions to rcampbell@history.ucla.edu.