The Neubauer Collegium’s Future of the Humanities initiative, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, invites applications for one-year projects that model promising forms for the future of humanistic research.

About the Neubauer Collegium

The Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society is an interdisciplinary research incubator at the University of Chicago. The Collegium convenes unlikely partners to work on questions too complex for any single discipline or perspective to address.

The Opportunity

The Neubauer Collegium’s Future of the Humanities initiative, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, invites applications for a small number (4-5) of one-year, experimental, collaborative research projects that explore potential futures for humanistic and/or artistic research, production, and dissemination. Grant awards will be up to $50,000.

We seek proposals for dynamic, ambitious, and innovative projects that model especially promising forms for the future of humanistic research. Projects should enact potential futures for humanistic research rather than simply discuss them. We are particularly interested in projects that propose promising modes of:

– Research and/or
– Collaboration and/or
– Dissemination to the public

We welcome proposals for projects that emphasize “epistemic pluralism,” meaning they embrace a variety of approaches to knowledge. This might include research that entails embodied, relational, or spatial forms of inquiry, alongside verbal and analytic thinking.

Eligibility

Research projects will be based in Chicago and supported by the administrative team at the Neubauer Collegium. Project teams may invite participation by additional scholars, artists, practitioners, policymakers, or others in Chicago and beyond. However, each team or project must include at least one faculty member whose principal residence is in the Chicagoland area and who is affiliated with an accredited college or university in this area. Neither project leaders nor collaborators need to be affiliated with a Humanities department or division, but humanistic questions and qualitative research must be at the heart of the proposed project.

Please note: Applicants who are eligible to apply for the Neubauer Collegium’s annual research grant in 2026-27 may also apply for a Future of the Humanities grant.

Requirements

In addition to pursuing their approved research, the leaders of all funded projects are required to convene together as a broader group three times – at the launch, midpoint, and end of the grant period. These convenings will involve broad discussions about the trajectory of the work being undertaken and its implications for the future of the humanities. Project leaders will also be encouraged to collaborate with NORC, an independent nonprofit research institute affiliated with the University of Chicago, and a key partner on the Future of the Humanities initiative.

Application Materials

– Application Form

– Project Narrative (3–5 pages, double-spaced): The narrative should include a statement detailing how the proposed project will model a future for the humanities

– CVs/resumes for all members of the research team

– Budget, with allocations of up to $50,000 for one year of research activities

– Budget Narrative (1-2 pages, double-spaced)

Sample Convening Budget
Sample Visiting Fellow Budget
Sample Exhibition Budget

Please download the FAQs for further details.


Key Dates

Information session (on Zoom)
Friday, July 31
1:00 – 2:00 pm (CT)
Register

Information session (on Zoom)
Friday, August 28
12:00 – 1:00 pm (CT)
Register

Application deadline
September 15, 2026

Grant period
January 1 – December 31, 2027

Please address any questions or inquiries to Keelin Burke, the Neubauer Collegium’s Associate Director of Research Initiatives, at krburke@uchicago.edu.