NEH staff will host a webinar describing the application and nomination processes and offering some tips writing the application. Administrators and prospective applicants will find helpful information and are encouraged to attend. The presentation will include a question-and-answer segment and will be recorded and available for viewing later. The webinar will be Wednesday, May 18 at 2:00 PM (Eastern). The webinar can be viewed here.
A second live webinar focused on application writing strategies will be presented on August 17, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. EST. You can join the webinar here.
Purpose The National Endowment for the Humanities’ Summer Stipends program aims to stimulate new research and publication in the humanities by:
- providing small awards to individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both
- supporting projects at any stage of development, but especially early-stage research and late-stage writing in which small awards are most effective
- funding a wide range of individuals, including independent scholars, community college faculty, and non-teaching staff at universities
Summer Stipends support continuous full-time work on research-based projects in the humanities for a period of two consecutive months. NEH funds may support recipients’ compensation, travel, and other costs related to the proposed scholarly research.
NEH awards Summer Stipends to individuals. Organizations are not eligible to apply, although scholars who are tenured or on a tenure track who teach full time must be nominated by their institution of higher education
NEH Areas of Interest
NEH seeks to support projects that respond to the following initiative. NEH will give all applications equal consideration in accordance with the program’s review criteria.
A More Perfect Union: Exploring America's Story and Commemorating its 250th Anniversary
The task of building a more perfect Union, rooted in the ideal of human equality, falls to every generation of Americans, ours no less than our predecessors’. The basic goals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness endure over time, even as the challenges change: from founding a nation out of colonies; to dismantling the institution of slavery; to prevailing through times of economic depression and war; to advancing civil rights for all; to strengthening our democratic institutions; to building a more inclusive and sustainable society.
NEH’s A More Perfect Union initiative encourages projects that explore, reflect on, and tell the stories of our quest for a more just, inclusive, and sustainable society throughout our history. NEH especially welcomes projects that bring the perspective of the humanities to questions of racial justice, gender equality, the evolution of the American landscape, as well as America’s place in the world. The agency strongly encourages projects that strengthen Americans’ knowledge of our principles of constitutional governance and democracy, as well as projects that address the experiences of Native Americans and other under-represented communities. In addition, NEH welcomes projects that develop innovative approaches to sustaining the nation’s humanities infrastructure and preserving its historical record.
Funding Restrictions
Awards made under this notice may not be used for the following purposes:
- research by students enrolled in a degree program. including research for doctoral dissertations or theses
- training or coursework for the applicant
- support for graduate student assistants
- the preparation or revision of textbooks
- curriculum development
- the development of teaching methods or theories
- educational or technical impact assessments
- inventories of collections
- the writing of guide books, how-to books, and self-help books
- promotion of a particular political, religious, or ideological point of view
- advocacy of a particular program of social or political action
- support of specific public policies or legislation
- lobbying
- projects that fall outside of the humanities; the creation or performance of art; creative writing, autobiographies, memoirs, and creative nonfiction; and quantitative and/or policy-driven social science research
Other Eligibility Information
You may compete concurrently in the following NEH programs (though you may hold an award from only one of these programs at a time):
- Public Scholars
- Awards for Faculty at Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Colleges and Universities
- Fellowships
- NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication
- Dynamic Language Infrastructure - Documenting Endangered Languages Fellowships
- Fellowships for Advanced Social Science Research on Japan
- NEH-funded fellowships at independent research institutions
Please upload one PDF file (File name: Last name_NEH Summer Stipend_2022.pdf) containing the following items in order:
1. Narrative—Not to Exceed Three Single-Spaced Pages
Applicants should provide an intellectual justification for their projects, conveying the ideas, objectives, methods, and work plan. A simple statement of need or intent is insufficient. The narrative should not assume specialized knowledge and should be free of technical terms and jargon.
In the course of writing a narrative, applicants should address the following areas:
- Significance and contribution: Describe the intellectual significance of your proposed project, including its value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both. State the project’s thesis or claim and provide an overview, explaining the basic ideas, problems, or questions examined by the study. Explain how the project will complement, challenge, or expand relevant studies in the field.
- Organization and Methods: Describe your method(s) and clarify the part or stage of the project that will be supported by the Summer Stipend. For a dissertation revision, state that your project is to revise a dissertation. Explain how you plan to move beyond the original dissertation, and how the new project will benefit from the addition. For book projects, explain how the final project will be organized. If possible, provide a brief chapter outline. For article projects, provide an overview of the article, including details about the argument, sources, and word count. For digital projects, describe the technologies that will be used and developed, and explain how the scholarship will be presented to benefit audiences in the humanities. For edition or translation projects, describe the annotations or other scholarly apparatus that you plan to include. If you are proposing to translate into English a work for which other English translations already exist, provide a rationale for the new translation.
- Competencies, skills, and access: Explain your competence in the area of your project. If the area of inquiry is new to you, explain your reasons for working in it and your qualifications to do so. Specify your level of competence in any language or digital technology needed for the study. Describe where the study will be conducted and what research materials will be used. If relevant, specify the arrangements for access to archives, collections, or institutions that contain the necessary resources. If the project involves materials under copyright, indicate your plans for securing the necessary permission to publish.
- Final product and dissemination: Describe the intended audience and the intended results of the project. If relevant, explain how the results will be disseminated and why these means are appropriate to the subject matter and audience. While a publication contract is not required, describe expressions of interest from publisher(s), if applicable. If the final product will appear in a language other than English, explain how access and dissemination will be affected. If you are planning to develop a website or other digital material, explain how the public will access the material. Since NEH expects recipients to provide broad access to all award products, insofar as the conditions of the materials and intellectual property rights allow, explain any plans that would require a paywall or other charge for digital access. If the project has a website, provide the URL. NEH expects that any materials produced in digital form as a result of its awards will be maintained to ensure their long-term availability. To that end, describe how the project’s digital results, if any, will be maintained and supported beyond the period of performance.
2. Work Plan—Not to Exceed One Single-Spaced Page
Summarize your work plan, describing the part or stage of the project that will be supported by the Summer Stipend and the activities or steps that you will use during the period of performance to carry it out. Use a timeline that includes each activity. Your work plan must be based on a full-time commitment to the project for two consecutive months; part-time work is not allowed. If you do not anticipate finishing the entire project during the period of performance, discuss your plan for doing so.
3. Bibliography—Not to Exceed One Single-Spaced Page
The bibliography should consist of primary and secondary sources that relate directly to the project. Include works that pertain to both the project’s substance and its theoretical or methodological approaches. Evaluators will use the bibliography to assess your knowledge of the subject area. Any standard format is acceptable.
4. CV—Not to Exceed Two Single-Spaced Pages
If you have received prior support from NEH, indicate the dates of these grants and the publications that resulted from them. When applicable, provide the dollar amount of any awards or fellowships that you received in the three years preceding the application deadline
Formatting Guidelines:
- Font/size: Times New Roman (12 pt.)
- Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
- Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.