Fall 2017 Pop-Up Grant Request for Proposals (RFP)

We are pleased to announce the NCID Pop-Up Research & Scholarship Grants! Pop-Up Grants provide an opportunity for scholars to actively engage in diversity research and scholarship around emerging or re-emerging social issues and timely disseminate findings to the public.  

All tenure-track, clinical faculty, and research faculty/staff at U-M and across the nation are eligible for this opportunity. Priority is given to members of the Diversity Scholars Network, which is an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional community of scholars to strengthen research and scholarship about diversity, equity and inclusion, and address issues in education and society. Scholars may apply for up to $2,000 in funding for a 6-month grant period. Grant recipients will receive support in planning and executing a dissemination strategy. Request for Proposals (RFP) is now open for the first round of Pop-Up Grants.

Proposals may focus on a variety of current social issues, but we would especially welcome proposals on two themes:

Microaggressions | Conceptual, Research, and Practice/Intervention Implications

We are looking for scholars to further our understandings around the experience of microaggressions. There has been an increasing scholarly and popular attention to and discourse around the concept of microaggressions. In this discourse, definitions and understandings of this concept vary, given its inherent complexity involving interactions of context and individuals, and its phenomenological nature. We are interested in supporting scholarship that will help move forward research and practice on this topic, from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

For example: What are the conceptual considerations and challenges in studying microaggressions? What methodological issues are important to consider when studying microaggressions? What are the implications of microaggressions? For health outcomes? Academic outcomes? For college campuses and the workplace? How do microaggressions influence safe spaces and free speech? What are some results/findings relevant for intervention programs?

Freedom of Expression and Race | Considerations, Tensions, and Contradictions

Current events on college campuses and in the broader society (e.g., increases in racist/xenophobic hate acts on campuses, student protests around inclusive and safe environments, responses to social protests of Black Lives Matter and alt right groups, recent events in the realm of sports) illuminate tensions between the concept of freedom of speech and expression and racial justice. We are interested in supporting scholarship that will help bring light and attention to these tensions and sometimes contradictions, from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

For example: How do current events (e.g., in college campuses, communities, sports) reflect the history of how race and First Amendment rights have been taken up in U.S. society? How do leaders understand and respond to challenges of supporting the values of individual rights and freedoms and advancing racial justice? How do members of different communities experience these issues and potential tensions?

Given the timeframe and goals of this opportunity, we recommend that scholars use existing datasets or databases, including archival data; analyze extant sources of publicly available information, including social media such as hashtags or online statements; synthesize findings or practices from previous literatures, or other analyses that will help inform this social issue.