HRC Humanities & Arts Faculty Research Fellowships

Deadline: Monday, November 24, 2025

N.B.: Please read the guidelines and instructions carefully, as this is a newly formulated fellowship program.
 

The Humanities Research Center, in partnership with the School of Humanities, offers three fellowships designed to support faculty in the School of Humanities at different stages of their research projects. These fellowships are competitively awarded with the goal of facilitating research projects from conception through development and completion.

Fellowship Structure

We award three fellowships annually, each providing a one-semester teaching release (two courses) and a $2,500 research stipend. In the 2025–26 cycle, fellows’ departments will also be eligible to apply for $7,500 in course replacement funds, pending budgetary availability.

Faculty may apply to one of the following according to their project stage:

Early-Stage Fellowship: Project Gestation
For faculty in the initial stages of a research project. To support conceptualization and preliminary research, grant application preparation, or foundational work on a new scholarly initiative.

Mid-Stage Fellowship: Project Development
For faculty who need dedicated time to advance an ongoing research project. To support work on book manuscripts, major articles, or substantial creative works that require sustained scholarly or creative attention.

Advanced-Stage Fellowship: Project Completion
For faculty in the final phases of a research project. To support completion of a manuscript or final preparation of work for publication, exhibition, or performance. Applicants should provide a clear timeline for project completion.

Please be mindful of which stage of the project this fellowship would be most helpful, as the HRC is unlikely to fund more than one fellowship per project.

Note: While we aim to award one fellowship at each stage annually, we welcome applications from all three stages and prioritize the strongest proposals regardless of the specific fellowship applied for. The distribution may vary based on the quality and needs of applications received.

Eligibility

  • Tenured or tenure-track faculty members in the Rice University School of Humanities are eligible to apply, provided they have not held a Humanities Faculty Fellowship in the last five academic years prior to the fellowship award year.
  • Faculty applicants must have been at Rice University for at least one year and have taught at least four courses to be eligible to apply.
  • Please note that this fellowship opportunity is only available for School of Humanities faculty in the 2025–26 application cycle.

Fellowship Terms and Expectations

Because these fellowships involve teaching releases, department chairs must endorse fellowship applications. Should the applicant be a current department chair, an endorsement from the Dean of Humanities is required. We do not require lengthy letters of recommendation from department chairs, but rather statements that address the faculty member’s service to the department and logistics regarding the feasibility of a teaching release. Chairs are encouraged to consider the department's curricular needs when providing endorsements for faculty fellowships, and applicants are encouraged to discuss their longer-term curricular commitments with their chairs.

Each fellowship includes a $2,500 research stipend in addition to a two-course teaching release. In the 2025–26 cycle, fellows’ departments will also be eligible to apply for $7,500 in course replacement funds, pending budgetary availability. Funds will be disbursed after the submission of documentation showing that hiring has been completed in order to offer courses that the fellow would have ordinarily taught.

These fellowships are primarily residential, with fellows expected to be in residence in Houston for the majority of their fellowship semester. We understand research may require archival or site visits, short residencies, or fieldwork, but we will give preference to applicants who plan to remain primarily in residence during the fellowship term. Fellows are expected to continue their departmental service/leadership roles and their supervision of doctoral students. They are also expected to attend monthly Fellows Fridays meetings at the Humanities Research Center throughout the entire academic year (both fall and spring semesters), and may miss no more than two meetings per year total.

While the review committee understands applicants may be pursuing several projects simultaneously, it will give preference to applicants whose demonstrated focus during the fellowship semester will be the project supported by the faculty research fellowship.

The terms of this leave adhere to University and Faculty Senate policies on scholarly leave for faculty (Policy 208).

Application Materials

All applicants must submit:

  • Fellowship Stage Selection: Clearly indicate which fellowship stage (Early, Mid, or Advanced) you are applying for
  • Preferred Semester: Indicate whether you plan to take the fellowship in Fall or Spring semester
  • CV (most recent; no more than 10 pages)
  • Course and Leave History:
    • A list of all courses and enrollment numbers per course over the past three years, specifying course level, semester/year taught, and enrollment numbers from Spring 2023 through Fall 2025 (inclusive)
    • A list of all forms of leave and course releases held over the past five years (Fall 2021 through Fall 2025, inclusive), including HRC faculty research fellowships, external fellowships, ad-hoc teaching releases, and sabbaticals
  • Other Fellowships & Grants: Information on any external grants or fellowships recently applied for which you have received or are currently pending
  • Chair Endorsement: Endorsement from the applicant's department chair (or dean, if applicant is department chair) addressing the faculty member's service to the department and logistics regarding the teaching release

Stage-Specific Project Proposals:

Early-Stage Fellowship Applications

  • Project title and abstract (no more than 200 words)
  • Project proposal (5 pages maximum) explaining:
    • The conceptual framework and initial research questions
    • Significance of the proposed project and its potential impact on relevant scholarly/artistic communities or the broader public
    • Preliminary work: Evidence of initial research, reading, planning, making, or pilot work
    • Specific goals for the fellowship semester (research, planning, grant applications, initial writing/fabrication, etc.)
    • Project prioritization: How you plan to focus on the project during the fellowship semester and manage any other research commitments
  • Project timeline: Detailed timeline showing project development phases beyond the fellowship period

Mid-Stage Fellowship Applications

  • Project title and abstract (no more than 200 words)
  • Project proposal (5 pages maximum) explaining:
    • Nature and significance of the ongoing project
    • Clear description of work completed to date with evidence (page counts, chapters drafted, data collected, images or clips for creative works that are completed or in progress, etc.)
    • Current stage of development and specific scholarly challenges/aims requiring dedicated research time
    • Clear goals for the fellowship semester (for text-based works, chapters to complete, analyses to conduct, etc.)
    • Project prioritization: How you plan to focus on the project during the fellowship semester and manage any other research commitments
    • Relationship of the project to published and ongoing work in the field and potential impact on relevant scholarly/artistic communities or the broader public
  • Project timeline: Detailed timeline showing remaining project phases and completion milestones, including information on project completion beyond the fellowship period (​​we do not expect you to complete the project during or immediately after the fellowship period, but you should outline your estimated completion timeline)

Advanced-Stage Fellowship Applications

  • Project title and abstract (no more than 200 words)
  • Project proposal (5 pages maximum) explaining:
    • Nature and significance of the ongoing project
    • Current status of the project and work remaining
    • Project prioritization: How do you plan to focus on the project during the fellowship semester and manage any other research commitments
    • Plans for submission, publication, exhibition, or performance
    • How the fellowship semester will enable project completion
    • Anticipated impact of the project on relevant scholarly/artistic communities or the broader public
  • Project outline: For book projects, include a chapter outline indicating the content of each chapter and completion status. For other projects, provide an equivalent structural breakdown showing work completed and remaining
  • Project timeline: Detailed timeline showing how the project will be completed during or immediately following the fellowship semester, with specific milestones and deadlines (we expect the project will be completed during or immediately at the end of the fellowship period)

Submission Requirements

Chair Endorsement Letters should be directly uploaded to the following Box folder by the application deadline: https://rice.app.box.com/f/891c5bd98f5b4541a9f500ad42f062ee

All application materials should be submitted through our online application form: https://forms.gle/5opGUsAJSFpbkRSk8

Note: You will select your fellowship stage (Early-Stage, Mid-Stage, or Advanced-Stage) within the application form, which will then guide you to the appropriate questions and requirements for your chosen stage.

Review and Selection Process

Proposals are evaluated by the HRC Faculty Council according to the following criteria:

All Stages:

  • The intellectual significance of the research project within relevant disciplinary or interdisciplinary arenas
  • The clarity of conceptual framing, methods, and significance of the project in the applicant's scholarly trajectory
  • The number of courses and students taught over the past three years (Spring 2023 through Fall 2025, inclusive)
  • The history of past scholarly leaves over the past five years and contributions to leadership, service, and community at department, school, and/or university levels over the past five years (Fall 2021 through Fall 2025, inclusive)
  • The ability to participate in the HRC Fellows Fridays meetings throughout the entire 2026–27 academic year

Stage-Specific:

  • Early-Stage Applications: Quality of conceptual framework, evidence of preliminary research completed, and a realistic timeline for project development
  • Mid-Stage Applications: Evidence of substantial progress to date, clear articulation of project substance, stakes, and remaining work to be done, and feasibility of proposed fellowship goals
  • Advanced-Stage Applications: Clarity of project outline and path to completion, articulation of potential project significance, realistic path to publication/dissemination

Selected finalists are subject to approval by the Dean of Humanities.

Application Deadline: Monday, November 24, 2025

Expected Notification Date: December 20, 2025

APPLICATION FORM
 

https://forms.gle/wDUocg7J1qMp5BQV6

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