Deadline for applications: Monday, March 17, 2025 by 11:59PM
The Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life seeks proposals from Columbia University faculty for Joint Projects that aim to understand the role of religion and secularism, both historically and in the contemporary world. Joint Project funding may be applied to research projects, seminars, conferences, working groups, and other programs that bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars.
Eligibility
Joint Projects are open to full-time officers of instruction at Columbia University, Barnard College, the Union Theological Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Teachers College.
Applications must be submitted by a faculty member with the authority to serve as a principal investigator, who will assume primary responsibility for the project at Columbia University.
Third parties may be part of the Joint Project team as long as the principal investigator is a faculty member at Columbia University or its affiliates listed above.
Guidelines
IRCPL Joint Projects will fund projects up to $10,000 for travel, materials, and other expenses related to the design/implementation of the project. IRCPL encourages applications that include primary research (e.g., access to archives, travel, research assistants, document translation, data analysis, etc.). Grant recipients are expected to in communication with IRCPL staff at regular intervals and adhere to agreed-upon milestones.
The funds cannot be used for technology purchases, course releases, per diem, or administrative costs (i.e. staff salaries or office supplies). Strong proposals will include funding from other sources and partnerships between multiple faculty members.
Eligible projects could include:
Field research
Faculty working groups
Thematic workshops with students and faculty
Conferences, seminars, and speaker series
Applicants are welcome to email ircpl@columbia.edu about their projects prior to submission.
Proposal Submission
Please upload your application as a single PDF. Applications must be submitted via the application portal and include the following documents, in order:
Cover Page including the project title, email, telephone number, and affiliation of each principal investigator.
Abstract (two paragraphs maximum, double-spaced) outlining the Joint Project.
Project Narrative (five pages maximum, double-spaced) describing the research question, theoretical foundations, existing literature, empirical and methodological facets, and relevance to the mission of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life.
Curriculum Vitae of project investigators.
Budget (one page) detailing the cost allocation of the joint project with amounts specified by category (e.g., speaker honoraria, travel, accommodation, catering, books, etc.). Please indicate if there is funding from other sources. Any major budget alteration must be approved by the IRCPL Associate Director.
Project Timeline detailing the planning and execution phases of the joint project.
This timeline is flexible to the needs of the project and the scholars involved. However, all program activities must be completed within the fiscal year for which they are allocated. In general, Joint Projects are intended to take place during the academic year following submission (i.e., project selected during this cycle should start in the Fall 2025 or Spring 2026 semester).Letters of Support (where applicable) from partnering faculty, external collaborators, other institutions or investigators, and from external funding sources.
deadline
Monday, March 17, 2025