Research Group Fellowships

Fellows Group

Congratulations to the first cohort of OSU Center for the Humanities Research Group Fellows! During the 2022–2023 academic year, these nine fellows are embarking on the development of new, collaborative research projects, and we are excited to see where their work takes them.

This new flagship program incentivizes a shift from individual, and often siloed, research structures to a cross-disciplinary team model, united under a shared research focus, with the goal of envisioning new collaborative research opportunities.

2022-2023 Fellows:

Medical/Health Humanities

Possible subfields may include health justice and activism, history of medicine or science, the intersectionality of pandemics, and/or disability studies

Marqua Harris, Health, Leisure and Human Performance
Dr. Reanae McNeal, Interdisciplinary Programs
Vanessa Oliphant, Psychology

Environmental Humanities

Possible subfields may include human/animal studies, climate change, food studies, environmental activism, and/or environmental racism

Dr. Cailey Hall, English
Dr. Rebecca Kaplan, History
Komal Nazir, English

Digital Humanities

Possible approaches may include digital analysis in the service of humanistic inquiry or humanistic analysis of digital environments, spaces, and tools

During the 2022-2023 academic year, fellows are expected to meet twice monthly with their research cohort and at least 4 times over the year with all 3 combined groups. During combined meetings, programs will focus on logistical supportive topics such as grants and funding application tips, publishing across disciplines, campus resources, mentoring, advocacy, and leadership. Selected fellows are awarded $3,000 each in funding for the year in respectful acknowledgment of the commitment required for participation in this program.

The 3 research group topics chosen for this inaugural fellowship year are intentionally broad to offer a wide range of inclusive possibilities for collaborative projects. Moreover, all groups may consider how their projects align with the public humanities, social justice, and anti-racism work. With this in mind, each group should consider a public-facing component for their project; examples might include exhibitions, community partner collaborative programs, open-access resources, or digital products.

Research groups are expected to present a proposal at the culmination of the fellowship year for putting the collaborative envisioning into action. While creative thinking for what those collaborative outcomes might be is not limited, examples of outcomes might include co-authored publications, public programs, exhibitions, digital resources, collaborative classroom, or teaching opportunities. Applicants should be interested in exploring creative approaches to addressing social problems and impacting communities both within and beyond campus. Fellows may include faculty, staff, and graduate students and may come from diverse disciplines within and beyond traditional humanities areas. The program aims to bring together complementing perspectives and skills as well as disciplines, and seeks individual applicants who are open to being matched into groups with the goal of creating a new research project collaboratively.

Although research in this program can focus on a wide range of topics, participating fellows must be invested in intentionally practicing models that support diversity, equity, and inclusion within the fellow cohorts. This includes respecting a diversity of positionalities from participants and intentionally including participants with different modes of contributing to the group. Cohort members will come with varying degrees of experience and points on a career trajectory, but everyone brings unique contributions to the collaboration. It will be important to acknowledge there will be times when individuals will need to step back, step forward, and/or lift up members within your cohort.

2023-2024 Application for Research Group Fellowships

This application is to participate in the second cohort of Humanities Research Group Fellows. This is a flagship program of the new OSU Center for the Humanities. The program incentivizes a shift from individual, and often siloed, research structures to a cross-disciplinary team model, united under a shared research focus, with the goal of envisioning new collaborative research opportunities.

In the 2023-2024 academic year, there will be 3 topical research groups (Environmental Humanities, Health and Medical Humanities, and Peace/Non-Violence/Conflict Studies), which will include 3 competitively selected fellows per research group to participate in an academic-year cohort tasked with creatively envisioning collaborative research outcomes. During those two semesters, fellows will be expected to meet twice monthly with their research cohort and at least 4 times over the year with all 3 combined groups. During combined meetings, programs will focus on logistical supportive topics such as grants and funding application tips, publishing across disciplines, campus resources, mentoring, advocacy, and leadership. Selected fellows will be awarded $3,000 each in funding for the year in respectful acknowledgment of the commitment required for participation in this program.

Research groups will be expected to present a proposal at the culmination of the fellowship year for putting the collaborative envisioning into action. While creative thinking for what those collaborative outcomes might be is not limited, examples of outcomes might include co-authored publications, public programs, exhibitions, digital resources, collaborative classroom, or teaching opportunities. Applicants should be interested in exploring creative approaches to addressing social problems and impacting communities both within and beyond campus. Fellows may include faculty, staff, and graduate students and may come from diverse disciplines within and beyond traditional humanities areas. The program aims to bring together complementing perspectives and skills as well as disciplines, and seeks individual applicants who are open to being matched into groups with the goal of creating a new research project collaboratively.

Expectation of commitment to working with diverse perspectives:

2023-2024 areas of focus for research groups:

The 3 research group topics chosen for this inaugural fellowship year are intentionally broad to offer a wide range of inclusive possibilities for collaborative projects. Moreover, we encourage all groups to consider how their projects might align with the public humanities, social justice, and anti-racism work. With this in mind, each group should consider a public-facing component for their project; examples might include exhibitions, community partner collaborative programs, open-access resources, or digital products.

1. Environmental Humanities

possible subfields may include human/animal studies, climate change, food studies, environmental activism, environmental racism, etc.

2. Medical Humanities/Health Humanities

possible subfields may include health justice and activism, history of medicine or science, the intersectionality of pandemics, disability studies, etc.

3. Peace/Non-Violence/Conflict Studies

possible subfields may include peace and/or conflict studies, nonviolence studies, international studies, etc.

Application Details:

Due March 27, 2023, submit a google form w/ attachments

Submit Your Application Here!

Application:

Complete the application form
CV
Provide letter of intent (maximum length, 2 pages)

Please address the following points in the letter of intent:

Experience or interest in chosen topic (if more than 1, prioritize)
Describe experience or interest in collaborative and/or interdisciplinary research; feel free to list the skills, approaches, or roles for collaboration would you bring to the group
Explain how you would bring your individual subject expertise to a collaborative space in order to think through unique solutions under a shared umbrella, rather than having preconceived projects in mind
Explain how you envision humanities-based research and practice affecting the public good (either/both on and off campus)
Provide ideas regarding potential collaborators - Do you know people or applicants on campus already who have shared interest in joining this program?

Funding Details:

Salary Option: $3000 as additional salary, delivered in December, 2023. This option will be subject to taxes as regular salary.

Research Grant Option: $3,000 to support a research/scholarly project. The grant becomes available July 1, 2023 and must be used by June 30, 2024. Eligible budget items include supplies, equipment, and research-related travel. Restrictions on the use of state funds apply (no food, gifts, personal memberships, etc.). All OSU travel policies and procedures must be followed. Please coordinate with your departmental financial assistant before making purchases or planning travel.

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