CSSD CALL FOR PROPOSALS!
The Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University (CSSD) welcomes proposals for NEW WORKING GROUPS to begin in Fall 2025.
Submission Deadline: Monday, April 7, 2025 by 5:00 PM
CSSD is an interdisciplinary research center supporting collaborative projects that address race, class, gender, sexuality, and other forms of inequality to foster ethical and progressive social change. Over the next two years, the Center will support research working groups and develop public programming around the theme of “Crisis,” engaging with the proliferation of crises in the present and probing how experiences of crises are highly different and unequal among social groups. Learn more about this thematic focus here and the Center’s ongoing and past projects here.
CSSD brings together faculty in the humanities, law, social sciences, sciences and 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 disciplinary divides, asking how historical and contemporary categories of social difference and identity shape institutions and policies, lived experiences, global relations, and art and activism. The Center creates the conditions for researchers to work collaboratively and internationally on problems of common interest and to set intellectual agendas for the future; it places emphasis on public programming and scholarship to engage wider audiences. CSSD is newly housed under Incite Institute at Columbia University.
Who is eligible:
CSSD seeks projects that align with the Center’s thematic focus on “Crisis” and favors proposals from interdisciplinary core working groups (usually 5-8 people, not all of whom have to be Columbia or Barnard faculty). Please note that at least one core working group member has to be Columbia or Barnard faculty.
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 and proposals must be submitted by one or more faculty members in one of Columbia's schools and/or Barnard. Co-directors will be responsible for administering the working group’s meetings and coordinating their public events (with support from CSSD).
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.
The Center encourages and facilitates projects involving international collaborations, though it is strongly advised that additional funding is secured in such cases.
Directors of working groups that have received funding from the Center in the last 5 years are not eligible to apply to lead a new working group but can be among its members.
Amount of award:
Funding is in the amount of $40,000 over two years. Funds are administered directly by CSSD staff for the duration of the working group’s project through various payment methods, including but not limited to staff reimbursement and promissory notes. Groups can apply for a third year extension that could include $10,000 in funding for the year. This is contingent on working group developments and on the availability of Center funds and is at the discretion of the Center’s Executive Committee. It is also possible to apply for a no-cost extension. 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. Project directors must be willing to collaborate in the Center’s fundraising efforts and should be prepared to work with the Center to seek additional funding sources.
How CSSD working groups function:
Center projects typically run for two years. Every working group proceeds in accordance to the needs of its particular research interests, but in general many groups tend to proceed as follows:
Year one generally concentrates on focused project development, including the consolidation of a regional and/or international working group, seminars, workshops, and exploratory events. Year two involves the most intensive intellectual work, featuring regular meetings of the working group, and more developed public programming that disseminates the group’s research.
Selected working groups are required to organize at least one event open to the public per year and are expected to partake in the public programming organized by the Center and its other working groups. CSSD is particularly interested in working groups that propose out-of-the box formats for their programming and exciting ways to engage with communities and audiences outside of the academy. Potential programming formats to consider include site-specific conversations, field trips, exhibitions, walks, radio or podcast shows, reading circles, online documentary projects, and pamphlet publications.
Please note: CSSD does not function simply as a grant-making institution. Our active working groups create the CSSD community. The Center works closely with its working groups on the administration of project funds as well as on building additional collaborations and sharing other funding opportunities. It is expected that one (co-)director from each active working group will sit on the CSSD Executive Committee, a decision-making body that meets 2-3 times per semester and collaborates in the creation of the Center’s vision.
Current and past working group projects, which focused on the research streams of “Women Creating Change” and “Imagining Justice,” include “Alternative Modes of Being,” “Creative Resistances: Arts and Activism in the Americas,” “Seeds of Diaspora,” “Afro Nordic Feminisms,” “Refugee Cities: Urban Dimensions of Forced Displacement,” “Extractive Media: Infrastructures and Aesthetics of Depletion,” “Recovery,” “Motherhood and Technology,” and “Insurgent Domesticities,” among others. Please review our website for detailed descriptions of all our supported projects.
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;
Occasional stipends for additional graduate/student fellows;
Working group meeting lunches and/or breakfasts;
Support for public programming.
CSSD project funds are modest, and we do not support honoraria or stipends paid to members of the core working group. Honoraria may be offered to event speakers or special guests from outside Columbia and the core working group who are invited to present or share information to the group or the public.
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 publications. The project description should entail information on how the group plans to engage with the theme of ‘Crisis’ and the intellectual and social implications of this engagement.
Proposal narratives should also describe a plan for expanding working group membership by adding members 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 – e.g., one paragraph summary bios (indicate if participation has been confirmed or not)
proposed budget (please download the provided budget template)
Staff are available to discuss potential projects with colleagues thinking about proposing them, and sample CSSD project proposals are available by request. Please write to Dr. Nadia Christidi at with any questions as you develop your proposal. A Q&A will also be hosted by CSSD in mid-March, which applicants are invited to attend; details on the Q&A will be announced on our website and in the upcoming Center newsletter. We encourage you to contact us in advance of submitting your proposal. Complete proposals should be emailed to Nia Paz-Díaz by Monday, April 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM, with the subject line CSSD Proposal 2025. Projects will be selected by the CSSD Executive Committee. Selection criteria include the proposal’s alignment with the Center’s mission of addressing inequality; the strength, coherence, and originality of the proposed research; the innovativeness of the proposed programming; the proposal’s engagement with the theme of crisis; the interdisciplinary breadth of the working group; and additional funding application plans. All applicants will be notified by Monday, April 21, 2025.