How to Apply

Stanford Academic Council faculty (of any rank) and Senior Lecturers

We will prioritize applications that:

• Reach and engage audiences beyond the academy, and that clearly identify who those audiences are.
• Involve collaboration, either with faculty at Stanford or external partners
• Include opportunities for undergraduate involvement

• 25k seed grant with possibility of up to 50k for projects of wider scope and ambition.
• 25k public dissemination grant for more advanced projects that are ready to share their findings with audiences beyond the university and can make a meaningful contribution to public understanding, dialogue, or practice. 

• Eligible formats include, but are not limited to, a combination of the following:
  • Exhibitions or public installations
  • A series of articles in major magazines or newspapers
  • Proposals for trade books or textbooks
  • A series of talks or events at festivals, libraries and other public venues
  • Public-facing websites, open databases, blogs, online exhibitions, or podcasts. (As with any form of publishing, successful dissemination depends on effective promotion. Applicants proposing self-produced websites or other online materials must include specific strategies for reaching their target audience—such as media partnerships, marketing campaigns, community engagement, or digital outreach.)

Yes, please do. We will be offering a limited number of grants up to 50k for the research tier. You'll be asked in the application to submit a budget for 25k and can then select the option that your project requires/would benefit from additional funding. 

Grants may last up to three years, from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029. All awards will be set up with these start and end dates and will allow for up to 90 days of pre-award spending, if needed. If you require an earlier start date, please indicate it in the budget submitted with your application. 

If your project concludes  in less than 3 years, you may request to terminate the award early. Extensions beyond the three-year period will be considered only in cases of unforeseen circumstances and require prior approval.

These grants are not designed to support projects exclusively centered on performing or creative arts. If you are looking for funding for such projects, please explore other opportunities available at this website: https://arts.stanford.edu/for-faculty/

A committee of faculty members from different humanities and social science disciplines will read all the proposals. The final awardees will be notified in February of 2026.

Amounts will depend on the budgets of individual projects and may be used to: 

• Hire undergraduates or graduate research assistants to support research and project initiatives
• Organizing exploratory workshops and conferences at Stanford
• Bringing scholars and public intellectuals to Stanford
• Presenting your research at institutions and cultural venues  worldwide
• Pay for photographs of images, documents, artworks, and the rights to reproduce them
• Summer travel support to conduct research and engage with local scholarly communities
• Providing technological resources including website development, archival work, graphic design, video editing, etc.

• Funding  to pursue big, innovative research projects
• Opportunities to engage in public outreach and contribute to broader conversations and debates
• Possible support for an undergraduate research assistant
• A chance to connect  with a new, interdisciplinary  community of scholars at Stanford
• Space to experiment with new formats for research and public dissemination