UC California Studies Consortium (UCCSC)

WORKING GROUPS 2013-14

On behalf of the UC California Studies Consortium, UCHRI invites proposals for Working Groups for the 2013-14 academic year.

Who Can Apply: The applicant must be a UC ladder rank faculty member who will be responsible for the organization and execution of the proposed project.
Level of Award: Up to $10,000
Funding Source: UCHRI
Deadline: April 3, 2013 (11:59 pm PST). Apply online via FastApps (opens March 6, 2013)

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The UC California Studies Consortium is pleased to accept proposals for 2013-14 Working Groups.

Designed to catalyze intellectual engagement between UC scholars from different disciplines, methodologies, and campuses, a Working Group may consist of 5 to 15 people from at least 3 UC campuses who will think and work in community over one academic year. Working Group funding will provide financial and technological resources to support research collaboration and communication around a clearly defined set of questions, problematics, or issues in critical California studies.

The largest U.S. state as well as the world’s eighth largest economy, the edge of the American west as well as the Pacific Rim, California is a site of confluence and contestation, of boom and bust. From a Golden State fantasyland of affluence and opportunity to a dystopian harbinger of decay and collapse, California is in many ways a key site for engagement with the multiple dimensions - social, political, cultural, economic, environmental, etc. - of  the question “What does it mean to live in a critical condition?”

Through the lens of their individual research projects, working group participants might collaborate to rethink long-standing issues or forward new thinking on emerging questions. We encourage applicants to think broadly in framing the proposals and identifying potential participants to examine “California” from a range of perspectives and in myriad contexts, from the global to the local, from the historical to the contemporary, from the material to the imaginary.

We are open to a wide range of possible themes or foci, including (but not limited to)  migration, immigration, and transnational flows; the environment, agriculture, foodways; changing notions of community and/or citizenship; the urban, suburban, and ex-urban; medicine and health; issues of gender, class, race, sexuality;  work, labor, and the economy; California in global contexts or relationships; cross-border collaborations and conflicts; technological innovation; the culture industries, visual media and other media/cultural approaches; regional artistic and literary movements; among others. Proposals also might show some level of engagement—whether in alignment, tension or contestation—with California Studies as a field of intellectual and pedagogical work.

The California Studies Consortium stresses collaboration between scholars from different campuses and multiple disciplinary locations. Working Groups should be composed primarily of 5-10 UC faculty and graduate students. However, Working Groups may also collaborate with artists, archivists, activists, K-12 and non-UC educators, policy makers, community organizations and others as relevant to the group’s proposed work and focus.

Members of a Working Group are expected to be connected virtually for ongoing communication and to meet face-to-face at least one time throughout the year.

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

All eligible proposals will be assessed on the basis of intellectual merit, scholarly relevance and potential contribution to the humanities. Working Group grants will be for up to one year (between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014, and are non-renewable.

The proposal narrative should address the Working Group’s topic or problem statement, the short-term and long-term significance of the topic or issue to the humanities as well as to broader publics, and the methods and approaches being adopted. It should also suggest potential outcomes of the year-long collaboration; examples might include a scholarly publication or a “translation” publication for a non-academic audience, a website or digital humanities project, curriculum development or other pedagogical project, a White Paper or set of recommendations, or an external grant proposal or application for an MRG, RRG, UCCSC Public Humanities Grant or other major UCHRI-managed funding opportunity.

Please also include a list of proposed Working Group participants and a short rationale for their membership.


BUDGET GUIDELINES

Proposed budgets may cover travel and lodging expenses for workshop or meetings of working group members as well as necessary group-related research expenses. No more than 10% of total funding requested may be spent on food or catering, and entertainment expenses must conform to the UC policy. Please note that the total budget may be no more than $10,000.

Budgets should include itemized estimates for the costs of administering the MRG by your campus department or humanities center. There is a 10% limit on administrative costs: a) if your dean’s office allows it, and b) costs would go to the administrative unit on your campus administering the grant. Examples of administrative expenses might include hours of work-study student time, staff time required for travel arrangements, financial management, web support, and such; costs for photocopies or other research or support materials.  Please consult with your campus humanities center director, financial manager or MSO in developing reasonable estimates.

RA and GSR costs should be limited to within 25% of the total budget; larger allocations to that category require special justification that directly and demonstrably contributes to completing the work proposed in ways not otherwise possible, and will be funded only in rare cases.

Note: Up to 25% of your budget may support RA and GSR costs UNLESS your budget also claims 10% in administrative costs; in the case that you choose to budget for administrative costs, your RA and GSR costs cannot exceed 15% of the total budget.

The faculty PI will coordinate, organize and monitor the progress of the working group. The PI will be responsible for submitting a research and budget report to UCHRI at the end of the grant period.

Awards will be announced in May 2013.

How to Apply

Applications are accepted exclusively online through UCHRI’s FastApps system.

Required documents include:

  • Title of the Project and Abstract (150 words max).

  • Proposal Narrative (2000 words max).

  • Proposed Budget with a brief narrative. Explain how estimates were calculated.

  • Curriculum Vitae of the PI (2 pages max).

For program related questions, please contact Suedine Nakano, Program Officer, at snakano@hri.uci.edu

For technical assistance, contact techsupport@hri.uci.edu.
Please include the name of the program with which you need assistance.