Manuscript Workshop Grant Program

Deadline: Rolling

The Humanities Research Center offers competitive funding to support manuscript workshops for School of Humanities faculty and early-career scholars.

Eligible Applicants

  • Faculty: Assistant and associate professors, assistant and associate teaching professors in the School of Humanities
  • Early-Career Scholars: Postdoctoral associates, post-MFA fellows, and lecturers in the School of Humanities who are developing a manuscript for publication or career advancement

Workshop Focus
The workshop should focus on a scholarly work (regardless of genre), such as a completed book manuscript, key chapters of a book-in-progress, or a body of articles. For tenure-track and tenured faculty, this work consists of the core scholarship that will be part of the promotion dossier.

For Visual and Performing Arts: The HRC welcomes proposals for studio visits, pre-exhibition reviews, or other consultations with external experts in your field to support scholarship or creative works that transcend text-based workshop formats.

The idea of a manuscript workshop is to invite established scholars or artists in the field to read, engage, and comment upon the manuscript or other work in progress in a workshop format.

Funding

  • Faculty: Up to $3,500 per workshop proposal, covering honoraria and/or travel/hosting costs for external experts and other workshop-associated costs
  • Early-Career Scholars: Up to $2,000 per workshop proposal, covering honoraria and/or travel/hosting costs for external experts and other workshop-associated costs

The award is made to the unit for the individual's workshop, not to the individual. Should the budget exceed the HRC allocation, units should determine if they can contribute remaining funding.

We estimate funding for no more than four manuscript workshops per year, though we will do our best to fund workshops as needs arise and will consider the timing of planned submission, publication, or promotion processes.

WORKSHOP BEST PRACTICES & GUIDELINES
 

Hosting Requirements
The manuscript workshop should be hosted or co-hosted by the department, center, and/or program where the faculty member is appointed or with which the early-career scholar is affiliated. Invitations for external experts or manuscript reviewers would normally be extended (or co-extended) by the department chair or center/program director on behalf of the unit.

Manuscript workshops require advance planning (around six months) and can be scheduled around the author's availability, the unit, and the first-choice external readers/experts. Workshops must be held within six months of funding approval, so applicants should time their applications accordingly.

Not only does the hosting role of the department/center/program attest to its investment in supporting the advancement of the faculty member or early-career scholar, but such workshops should ideally become part of the unit's and the School's intellectual life.

External Reviewers

  • Faculty: The faculty member should identify two to four external readers/experts and rank them by order of preference, with the goal of enlisting at least one and possibly two visitors whose insights will be useful to the workshop organizer.
  • Early-Career Scholars: The early-career scholar should identify one to three external readers/experts and one to two internal readers/experts, ranking them by order of preference, with the goal of enlisting one external and one internal participant.

The chair/director extends invitations, including the CV and a brief description of the scholarly/creative work. External and internal reviewers should:

  • Carefully read the manuscript materials or review the work in progress
  • Provide oral comments/questions/discussion points, leading off and setting the tone
  • Provide written comments to the workshop organizer, ideally following the event conclusion

Workshop planning should include adjacent time, ideally after the workshop, for the organizer to meet privately with the readers/experts, possibly over dinner, to procure additional input or discuss the work in greater depth. Honoraria should range from $500 to $1,000 per external reviewer, depending on the extent of the service requested from the reviewer.

Structure and Participants

  • Local Participants: The list of Rice participants should be assembled by the chair/director with the applicant and may include faculty with related interests from other disciplines/schools, including colleagues from nearby universities if relevant.
  • Expectations: Attendance presumes willingness to pre-read substantial sections of the circulated material and to offer input and insights to the author. Participants should not presume they will just listen to the discussion.
  • Timing: Ideally, workshops should be scheduled during the semester, during reading days, or just after the semester's end to garner desired participation. Workshops should be scheduled for a reasonable timeframe. A well-run workshop can be highly productive in 3-4 hours.
  • Atmosphere: Workshops should generally not be public events or involve departmental or school publicity. Chairs/directors should ensure a productive and collegial atmosphere and a discussion format comfortable for the organizer.

Advice from Previous Workshop Holders
The following suggestions from previous manuscript workshop holders may be incorporated into your workshop's structure. This information does not need to be included in your proposal; it is general guidance collected from faculty who have previously organized manuscript workshops:

  • Voice-recording and transcription: Many previous workshop holders strongly advise voice-recording your workshop and creating a transcript (assuming your participants are okay with it). They emphasize that this is one of the most helpful choices they made.
  • Written commentary: You may require each external reader to provide written commentary in addition to the discussion at the workshop.
  • Virtual options: Conducting a manuscript workshop via Zoom tends to work well for a range of participants. Not only can it help with lowering costs and environmental impact, but it also gives you the opportunity to invite people from different continents as long as a time can be finalized that works for all.
  • Reader selection: Choose your external readers carefully. This will ensure the effectiveness of the workshop.
  • Number of readers: Bring a minimum of two speakers to campus to hear diverse perspectives on your work; three external readers are sufficient as long as they can offer insights from different perspectives. It is not the case that the more, the better. Too many readers can lead to disparate feedback that may be contradictory or overwhelming, making it difficult to identify clear revision priorities for the manuscript.
  • Schedule consolidation: Some people advise consolidating the event schedule into one day; others have had success with a workshop over two days. Either way, it is important that all readers are present for the entirety of the workshop.
  • Note-taking support: You may want to have a trusted colleague/friend from outside your field present at the workshop to take notes (and not participate or intervene in the workshop itself). The write-up would be more concise than the transcript and present a different perspective. They could also serve as a point person to debrief with after the workshop and help clarify impressions and order thoughts.

Proposal Guidelines
All applications must include a manuscript workshop description and a budget.

Manuscript Workshop Description (no more than 500 words)
Please include the following information:

  • Manuscript/project overview with clear explanation of format and goals
  • Whether you are planning for an in-person or remote workshop
  • Projected workshop date(s)
  • Names and contact information of confirmed or potential participants/collaborators (local participants/Rice colleagues)

Budget Requirements
Your budget must indicate:

  • Anticipated use of the requested funds with a detailed breakdown
  • All funds sought or secured from other sources
  • Requested amount from the HRC

In your budget, be sure to include the following information:

  • anticipated use of the requested funds
  • all funds sought or secured from other sources
  • requested funds from the HRC

IMPORTANT: Budget Compliance Required
All budgets must adhere to HRC budget guidelines. Please consult the HRC budget guidelines document at https://rice.box.com/s/yz00vaak56nkfbuq93c5qf5tbrxla7sb (Rice login required).

Budget compliance is required. Proposals that do not follow budget guidelines may be ineligible for funding. Exceptions to guidelines require prior discussion with the HRC Director and/or Associate Director and explicit justification in your proposal.

The HRC will not provide funding for budget items that do not adhere to these guidelines. Non-compliant proposals may receive reduced funding or require budget revision before award.

Please see the Rice Global Paris Center budget template for a spreadsheet to help you develop your budget: https://rice.app.box.com/s/q4dm45kgyv470ibmf6p3x860081qv0gp.

Staffing and Administration
Workshops should be staffed by the department/center/program administrator(s). The HRC will submit a budget transfer to the unit, and the unit administrator will work with the chair/director to:

  • Issue invitations to external/internal readers and Rice participants
  • Arrange advance dissemination of materials
  • Handle hotel, flight, and airport transportation booking
  • Manage restaurant reservations and workshop catering, if needed

Application Process
Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis. Funds must be used within six months of the award date.


APPLICATION FORM
 

https://forms.gle/Q92s49zUo9uaYg858

Questions? Contact Dr. Gabriela Garcia at gabriela.garcia@rice.edu.