The seed grant program supports humanities-based projects that engage with social challenges in the past, present or future. Successful projects employ humanities or creative interdisciplinary methodologies.
Seed grant projects demonstrate intellectual merit, potential impact on scholarship or social change, and strong prospects of receiving external funding. Seed grants fund 12 months of work either as an individual (up to $12,000) or an ASU team (up to $15,000). Seed grants are intended to develop a proof-of-concept project so that recipients can apply for external funds. Recipients are required to apply for external funding within two years of the start of the seed grant.
Note that because the Institute is funded foremost for humanities units and faculty, the seed grants are primarily for faculty in humanities units or humanities faculty in non-humanities units (such as art historians in a school of art or philosophers in a school of science). Faculty outside of the humanities but deploying a clearly humanities methodology are encouraged to contact the Institute to discuss their projects prior to applying and/or work with a humanities faculty member for a team seed grant.
Review frequently asked questions about the seed grant program.
HI Seed Grant Applications Due: November 4, 2024 and March 21, 2025
Submission and application instructions can be found in the downloadable PDF, and through the InfoReady application link.
Apply for HI Seed Grant (InfoReady website)
Download HI Seed Grant Details
Current seed grant projects
Spring
Assessing Humanistic Curiosity
This project offers pioneering empirical research on the impact of humanities education - and specifically, intensive language and culture learning - on college students' cultural fluency and global mindset.
Between Familiar and Exotic: East Asian Ethnicities in a 15th-century Korean Travelogue
This project investigates the medieval East Asian interethnic relations and perspectives portrayed in the fifteenth-century Korean travelogue, "A Record of Drifting across the Sea," written by the Korean official Ch'oe Pu (1454-1504).
Community Environmental Listening groups - a grass roots approach to addressing Climate Change
The community at large holds the power to influence change (“We The People”), and individual action is the most powerful way to achieve it.
Locality and Hybridity in the Sino-Vietnamese Religious Manuscripts in the Hsu Collections
This project aims to offer a comprehensive study of a group of Buddhist and Daoist liturgical manuscripts preserved in the Hsu Collection, one of the largest private collections of Chinese and Southeast Asian texts in Asia.
The Civil Wars of Jacob D. Green
This seed grant will fund research and grant applications for a book project, "The Civil Wars of Jacob D.
Though My Child's Eyes: Imaginative Play to Promote Peaceful Behavior in Separated and Divorcing Parents
Decades of research have shown that exposure to parental conflict predicts poor outcomes for children across family structures, socioeconomic status and cultural and geographical lines. Children exposed to parental conflict are more likely to develop mental and physical health problems.
Fall
Building a Public-Facing Toolkit for Responsive and Responsible Activism about Gun Violence
“Building a Public-Facing Toolkit for Responsive and Responsible Activism about Gun Violence” is a collaboration between Dr. Laura Turchi, clinical professor of English and Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies affiliate faculty, and Dr.
Transnational experience of Japanese American shin-nisei
“Transnational experience of Japanese American shin-nisei” investigates the experience of Gen Z “shin-nisei,” the children of Japanese immigrants who migrated to the US after World War II, attending university in their ethnic homeland, Japan.
Women’s Bodies, Reproductive Freedom and Government Control: Testimonies from Socialist Romania
In 1966, Romania’s government issued the infamous “decree 770,” a measure that banned contraceptive measures and severely restricted access to legal abortions. The issuance and implementation of degree 770 was not driven by religious or moral convictions.
Spring
A systematic review of qualitative research in the teaching of secondary writing
“A systematic review of qualitative research in the teaching of secondary writing.” The literature on teaching writing in American secondary (grades 6-12) classrooms has proliferated over the past few decades, crossing geographical disciplinary, theoretical and methodological boundaries.
A Virtual Exhibition of the Hispanic Research Center’s Latinx Art Collection
“A Virtual Exhibition of the Hispanic Research Center’s Latinx Art Collection.” The Hispanic Research Center at ASU has a world-class collection of Latinx art, rivaling the depth and breadth of the most prominent holdings in any location.
Collecting Devotion: Temples to Jinas
“Collecting Devotion: Temples to Jinas,” is visualized as a photo exhibition of Jain temples across the world. The exhibition is intended to showcase the development of Indian temple architecture through the lens of Jain temples.
Performing Gender at the Time of Colette
“Performing Gender at the Time of Colette” aims to bring the work of French writer Colette (1873–1954) and her peers on gender to the ASU community, with a Gay Identities in Modern French Culture course in fall 2023, as well as a series of free public lectures by international scholars specializi
Philosophical Skepticism in the Real World
“Philosophical Skepticism in the Real World.” Philosophical skepticism is one of the most significant and enduring ideas in the history of Western philosophy. A common view about skepticism espoused by David Hume, C.S.
World Conquest in Medieval Eurasian Literature and Art
“World Conquest in Medieval Eurasian Literature and Art” examines the origins, uses and effects of ideas about global domination in medieval Eurasia.