Humanities Research Intensive

This course, taught over spring break, introduces freshmen and sophomores to the excitement of humanities research. It will prepare you to develop an independent summer research project, to work as a research aide for a Stanford professor, or to apply for undergraduate research grants.

Over six days, you and your 15–20 classmates will take a deep dive into some of the most important methods and questions driving scholarly research in the humanities today. Your laboratory will be the Special Collections archive at Stanford, where you’ll work closely with Professors Joel Cabrita (History, African and African American Studies) and Joshua I. Cohen (Art & Art History),  doing hands-on research on ancient and modern books, manuscripts, and other artifacts.

You will learn the following about humanities research:

• How to formulate a solid research question
• How to gather the evidence that will help you to answer that question
• How to utilize Stanford archives, museums, and collections
• How to write up research results
• How to evaluate the research of your fellow students and offer useful feedback
• How to deliver your results in a public setting
• How to write an effective grant proposal

Why Participate in HRI?

Participating in research is one of the best ways to discover your interests—including a potential major—because it allows you to develop a personal stake in a subject: you are learning about something not just because it is on a course syllabus, but because it resonates with you. Research can also help you develop closer relationships with faculty than you might in class. And it teaches you an entirely different set of skills. As a researcher, you need to learn how to discover new knowledge: how to practice inquisitiveness, ask good questions, and interpret evidence. These skills will serve you well in a wide range of potential careers. If you are new to humanities research (or wonder what it even is!) HRI will give you the tools and connections you need to get started.

Program Details

• Two-unit course. Pass / No Credit. Units count toward winter quarter. (Note: you must be enrolled during winter quarter to participate in HRI).
• Frosh and sophomores only. Transfer students are also eligible if they have completed 1 full-time quarter at Stanford and no more than 1 full year at their previous institution (or transferred in no more than 60 units, not including AP credit) by the time of application.
• Open to all majors, as well as undeclared students.
• Program dates: Spring Break 2027: Sunday, March 21 through Friday, March 26.
• Contact email: jschweg [at] stanford.edu (jschweg[at]stanford[dot]edu)
• See our FAQ for more details.

Application

The HRI application will be posted here in early fall 2026. It is due by Monday, November 2.To apply, fill out the online application by 11:59 pm on Monday, November 2, 2026.

Apply

2027 HRI Faculty
 

Joel Cabrita is a Professor of History, African and African American Studies, and by courtesy, Religious Studies. Her research focuses on modern Southern Africa and its transnational networks in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. She is especially interested in recovering histories that have been silenced or erased. Her earlier books explore the civic life of African churches, the transnational roots of African Christianity, and the intellectual traditions forged by Black women thinkers, and she is currently researching the covert operations of the CIA in apartheid South Africa. Cabrita has also curated international exhibitions, digitized archives with students, and published widely for public audiences, including TIME and The Guardian.

Joshua I. Cohen is an Associate Professor of Art & Art History, specializing in postcolonial, African, African diaspora, and global Cold War studies. His research and teaching explore modernist practices and discourses spanning francophone West Africa, southern Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States. He is the author of The “Black Art” Renaissance: African Sculpture and Modernism across Continents (2020), and he is currently working on a book project that explores how African and diaspora artists and intellectuals navigated the fraught political contexts of decolonization and the Cold War.

Questions? Email the HRI Program Coordinator, Jeff Schwegman: jschweg [at] stanford.edu (jschweg[at]stanford[dot]edu)