Grants for Graduate Students
Research Grants for Graduate Students
The Mandel Center for the Humanities is now offering grants to current Brandeis graduate students to support research expenses of up to $2,000 for projects in the humanities, the arts, and the humanistic social sciences. Expenses could include travel, reasonable accommodation, supplies, interview and transcription expenses, library or museum fees, books, manuscript consultation fees, and other research expenses. These grants do not fund conference travel or equipment such as computers. Preference will be given to students who have not received a MCH Research Grant in the past. All funds must be used by June 30, 2025 or an extension must be filed by that date. The application deadline is February 1, 2024.
Graduate Student Dissertation Innovation Grants
The Mandel Center for the Humanities is pleased to inaugurate Dissertation Innovation Grants of $2,000-$4,000 to support innovative dissertation work by current Brandeis PhD students at any stage in their degree program. The grant supports students interested in or currently pursuing non-traditional dissertation research, meaning work that is practical, collaborative, and/or community-engaged, as well as work that might be published in other forms besides the traditional, proto-monograph dissertation. The grant will fund projects that have audiences beyond the academy, projects in the experimental or digital humanities, applied humanities work, work that experiments with different voices, and/or collaborative projects that create and sustain mutually beneficial partnerships with community organizations, museums, libraries or other cultural spaces or media. A supplemental award of $1,000, funded by COMPACT, is available to students who wish to explore opportunities for deepening the community engaged aspects of their research, including (but not limited to) developing a partnership with a community-based organization or adding a community-engaged component to their project design. We especially encourage applications from students early in their degree program who are considering applying for the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowships and who can use this grant to develop a project that can be used to apply to the Mellon/ ACLS grant next year. Grant winners will be asked to present their work at an event on new directions for the dissertation sometime in 2024-25. All funds must be used by June 30, 2025 or an extension must be filed by that date. The application deadline is February 1, 2024.
Writing Retreats for Graduate Students
The Mandel Center for the Humanities is pleased to offer funding for graduate student writing retreats designed to give Brandeis graduate students in the humanities, arts and humanistic social sciences time and space to focus on dissertation or other writing projects as well as foster horizontal community. The retreat should be 3-5 days long and should include time (at least 4 hours) for daily focused writing as well as other optional activities such as draft workshopping, peer review, and/or discussion of writing practice, time management and developing a writing calendar. The retreat can take place at an external site or on campus in the form of a catered study hall that either meets for 3-5 days in a row or is spread out across a series. It should be attended by 5-10 participants. To apply, please submit a list of participants, a budget for the retreat (retreats will be funded at up to $350/person, with a maximum of $3,500, which can include accommodation, reasonable travel expenses, food and supplies), and a tentative schedule for the retreat. Up to $500 can be included in the budget to pay a faculty mentor to attend. Funds must be spent by June 30, 2025. After the retreat, the Mandel Center will conduct a short interview with the participants and request a group photo to be used on our website. The application deadline is February 1, 2024.