PROJECT GUIDELINES
Call For Proposals
Submission Deadline: Friday, February 28, 2020 by 11:59pm
The Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University (CSSD) is an interdisciplinary research center supporting collaborative projects that address gender, race, sexuality, and other forms of inequality to foster ethical and progressive social change. The Center’s work has two overarching research streams: “Women Creating Change” and “Imagining Justice.” Learn more about these research streams and the projects within them at socialdifference.columbia.edu.
CSSD brings together faculty in humanities, law, social sciences, medicine and the arts, as well as artists and practitioners in the New York area and beyond, to investigate problems of social, economic, and cultural inequality. The Center’s working groups challenge the disciplinary divides among the humanities, the arts, and the social sciences by asking not only how historical categories of social difference intersect on the level of identity, but also how these categories shape institutions, modes of knowing, acts of representation, and processes of globalization. The Center creates the conditions for scholars, artists and practitioners to work collaboratively and internationally on problems of common interest and to set intellectual agendas for the future.
The Center welcomes proposals for new working groups that would begin in Fall 2020 or Fall 2021.
Who is eligible:
Please note that working groups must include, but are not limited to, Columbia and/or Barnard faculty.
**Proposals must be submitted by one or more faculty members in one of Columbia's schools and/or Barnard.**
We will also review working group proposals from graduate students with ABD status who are working in partnership with Columbia and/or Barnard faculty.
CSSD accepts proposals from all schools of Columbia and Barnard, including but not limited to Arts & Sciences, CUMC, School of the Arts, Columbia Law School, School of Journalism, and GSAPP, with preference given to groups working across schools and/or disciplines.
Most, but not all, CSSD working groups are led by two or more co-directors. At least one (co-)director must be Columbia or Barnard faculty.
CSSD seeks projects that align with the mission of “Women Creating Change” or “Imagining Justice” and favors proposals from an interdisciplinary core working group (usually 5-8 people, not all of whom need be affiliated with Columbia or Barnard). The Center encourages and facilitates international collaborations. Center support is seed money to enable working groups to get off the ground; it is the expectation of the Center that all projects will also seek additional funding.
New opportunity for one of our funded projects this cycle:
For the 2020 Call for Proposals, CSSD is pleased to announce a special opportunity, funded by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, for a working group in one of the two research streams (Women Creating Change; Imagining Justice) that focuses in some significant way on climate-related issues. All proposals will be reviewed by the CSSD Executive Committee. If you have any questions about this opportunity for climate-related working groups or would like to apply with a relevant working group proposal, please contact CSSD Director Paige West (cw2031@columbia.edu).
Amount of award:
Funding is in the amount of $35,000 over two years with the possibility of $15,000 for a third year, contingent on working group interest and the availability of Center funds.
How CSSD working groups function:
Center projects typically run for three years, but two-year projects will also be considered. Every working group proceeds in accordance to the needs of its particular research interests, but in general many groups tend to proceed as follows:
In three-year projects, year one generally concentrates on focused project development, including the consolidation of a regional and/or international working group, exploratory seminars, and guest lectures or workshops. Year two involves the most intensive intellectual work, featuring regular meetings of the working group and the active participation of fellows and affiliates. Year three is often dedicated to planning and dissemination of the project’s work through a conference, the publication of conference proceedings and/or edited collections of working group scholarship, or online publication of syllabi or other curricular materials.
Please note: CSSD does not function simply as a grant-making institution. Our active working groups create the CSSD community. Funds are administered directly by CSSD staff for the duration of the working group’s involvement with the Center, and it is expected that one (co-)director from each active working group sit on the CSSD Executive Committee. The Center works closely with its active working groups to build additional collaborations and to share additional funding opportunities.
Current and past working group projects include “Geographies of Injustice,” “Menstrual Health and Gender Justice,” “Migrant Personhood and Rights,” “Women Mobilizing Memory,” “Unpayable Debt,” “Pacific Climate Circuits,” "Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture," "Reframing Gendered Violence," “Bandung Humanisms,” “On the Frontlines: Nursing Leadership in Pandemics,” “The Future of Disability Studies,” and “Queer Theory: Here, Now, and Everywhere.” Please review our website for detailed descriptions of all our projects and for additional information about the Center.
Use of funds:
CSSD project support budgets may be used by project directors at their discretion. However, budgets typically include the following: Course relief for a project director (one course per year for two years, alternating in the case of co-project directors; specific terms to be negotiated by the individual project director with the director’s home department and/or center/institute); stipend for one graduate student assistant responsible for program support; working group meeting lunches and/or breakfasts; limited support for visiting scholars, public conferences and publications. Projects must include at least one public event per year and project directors must be willing to collaborate in the Center’s fundraising efforts. Project directors should be prepared to work with the Center to seek additional funding sources.
How to apply:
Project proposal narratives should not exceed five double-spaced pages and should include a project description and a detailed work plan for group meetings, public events, and the dissemination of project research. Proposal narratives should also describe a plan for soliciting and adjudicating applications for working group membership from the wider University community, as well as any anticipated curricular or pedagogical outcomes of the proposed project.
Please also include, in addition to the above:
a short CV or bio for each tentative working group member (indicate if participation has been confirmed)
proposed budget (please use provided budget template)
CSSD Director Paige West and Executive Director Catherine LaSota are available to discuss potential projects with colleagues thinking about proposing them, and sample CSSD project proposals are available by request. We encourage you to contact us in advance of submitting your proposal. Complete proposals should be directed to CSSD Executive Director Catherine LaSota (cl2866@columbia.edu), by Friday, February 28, 2020 at 11:59pm. Projects will be selected by the CSSD Executive Committee. All applicants will be notified by early April 2020.