Research Groups

The Taft Research Center sponsors open, interdisciplinary research groups that bring together a wide array of experiences to focus on complex, cutting-edge issues in Taft fields. In the past, these groups have focused on themes including visual studies, medical humanities, human rights, urban and public humanities, global studies, and digital humanities. Each of these groups includes primarily field experts and graduate students, but all are welcome to join and engage in the activities of the group.

For 2021-2022, we are requesting proposals from new groups of faculty dedicated to a group theme, as a way to open the competition to new groups/themes and revitalize the research group program.

Successful proposals will receive $3,000 in the first year and will be renewable for up to three years. They must:

• Be interdisciplinary
• Be collaborative
• Demonstrate potential public impact (e.g., addressing publics in and beyond UC, potential for leveraging external funding, among other possibilities)
• Include a budget and timeline of possible activities
• Work toward a final product (e.g., edited volume; research result dissemination into public discourse via, for example, op-eds, social media platforms; other activities that promote dialogue within and/or beyond the proposed research group)
• Commit to:
  • Including participants from at least three departments, at least two of which must be from Taft departments
  • Holding regular, open meetings at Taft Research Center at least once per semester
  • Providing an annual report summarizing group activities by April 26, 2022

To qualify for renewal, groups must provide evidence of advancing the group’s research goals.

The goal of these groups is to go beyond what is supported by other Taft award categories (e.g., groups cannot only organize lectures). Additionally, these research groups are not intended to be funding bodies but rather interdisciplinary research groups that work together collaboratively to decide upon group activities. The Taft Research Group review committee will prioritize groups that propose deliverables.