Debate, exchange of ideas, and working together—all are basic activities that advance humanities knowledge and foster rich scholarship that could not be accomplished by a single researcher working alone. The Collaborative Research program aims to advance humanistic knowledge by supporting sustained collaboration between two or more scholars. Collaborators may be drawn from one or more institutions. International collaboration is encouraged, but the project director must be based at a U.S. institution, and project teams must include an equitable balance of scholars based at U.S. institutions and scholars based at non-U.S. institutions. The program encourages projects that propose diverse approaches to topics, incorporate multiple points of view, and explore new avenues of inquiry in the humanities.

The program allows projects that propose research in a single field of study, as well as interdisciplinary work. Projects that include partnerships with researchers from the natural and social sciences are encouraged but must employ a humanistic research agenda. Collaboration among different types of institutions is welcome.

Proposed projects must aim to result in tangible and sustainable outcomes, such as co-authored or multi-authored books; born-digital publications; themed issues of peer-reviewed journals; a series of peer-reviewed articles; or open-access scholarly digital resources. All project outcomes must incorporate collaboration and interpretation to address significant humanities research questions.

The program includes four project categories: Planning International Collaboration, Conference, Manuscript Preparation, and Scholarly Digital Projects. The categories support different project types or stages and have different performance periods and award ceilings. Applicants must specify only one project category for support.

The December 1 deadline is for projects beginning October 1, 2022–September 1, 2023.