About 

The Humanities Center at UCI primarily supports graduate students’ research by offering learning opportunities on putting together grant applications and 1:1 feedback on application materials.

We offer funding through internal research and community grants (supported by the Office of Research and the UC Humanities Network). Descriptions and instructions are found below. For questions about internal grants, contact Nalika Gajaweera, Assistant Director for Grants & Operations, at rgajawee@uci.edu.

The Humanities Center also helps graduate students in the School of Humanities find and apply for external fellowships and grants to support their graduate studies. Our PhD students have been awarded Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Abroad fellowships for China, Japan and Brazil; Fulbright Student awards for Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and India; the Luce/ACLS Fellowship in American Art; the American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship; and other national and international prestigious awards.

Funding is also available for graduate students to participate in broader interdisciplinary conversations, communicate their research to broader audiences, and explore careers outside of faculty positions. In collaboration with the Humanities Dean's Office, the center has funded a number of students to attend external research and professional development opportunities in the past few years. These include: the Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop, HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory), the Colby Summer Institute for Environmental Humanities, the National Humanities Center Virtual Podcasting Institute, and Marxist Institute for Interdisciplinary Research. Students must be accepted to these programs prior to requesting funding through the Humanities Center. Instructions on how to apply for this funding can be found under external opportunities and grants.

For questions related to external professional development funding or grant applications, contact SueJeanne Koh, Assistant Director for Graduate Futures and Research Engagement, at sj.koh@uci.edu.

Updated 10/28/26

New for Fall 2026: External Fellowship Application Incentive Program

The Office of Graduate Study, in partnership with the Humanities Center Graduate Futures Program, is offering a support and incentive structure for humanities PhD students to apply for external funding during their 4th and 5th years of study. Students will receive $500 per academic year for applying to external fellowships and a $5000 fellowship from the School of Humanities upon officially receiving a fellowship is at minimum $5,000 per quarter or at least $15,000 for the academic year.

Details and stipulations

1. $500 will be awarded once per academic year, regardless of the number of fellowship applications submitted.

2. To qualify, the fellowship(s) applied for must be external to UCI, must meet a minimum funding threshold of $5,000 per quarter or $15,000 per academic year, and must come from recognized funding agencies such as ACLS, Fulbright, and Mellon.

To receive the $500 incentive, students must do the following: 

  1. Submit their fellowship application to the SOH incentive program portal ;
  2. The external fellowship applied for must be at minimum $5000 per quarter or $15000 for the academic year.
  3. Have their application reviewed and approved by either of the following:

i.     SueJeanne Koh at the Humanities Center, or

ii.    The chair or a member of your dissertation committee;

Students are also encouraged to have a peer writing consultant at the Writing Center to review the application.

D.     Applicants must submit confirmation of application submission from the funding agency.

3. Doctoral students who are recipients of an external fellowship in the amount of at least $15,000 for the academic year or $5,000 per quarter, must submit the official award letter from the funding agency. Upon verification, the School of Humanities will offer a supplemental fellowship in the amount of $5,000.  If the external fellowship is for one or two quarters, the $5,000 SOH supplement will be prorated accordingly. To receive the $500 incentive and SOH supplement, students must be enrolled full-time and in good academic standing both in the term in which the incentive form is submitted and in the term in which the award is disbursed.

4. Only TA quarters will be deferred if the external fellowship is awarded during the student’s funding commitment. 

5. Recipients of such an external fellowship and the School of Humanities supplemental fellowship are not eligible for TAships or other types of financial support during the term of the external fellowship.

Humanities Center Internal Grants

All Humanities Center internal grant and funding opportunities use InfoReady for applications and have the most current submission instructions. To access InfoReady, visit: https://ucihumanities.infoready4.com/.

If this is your first time using InfoReady, login with your UCI Net ID, and edit your profile (top right navigation bar) to include your primary department.

Graduate students in the UCI School of Humanities who have achieved PhD candidacy are eligible to apply for Individual Research grants (max award $3,000) through the Humanities Center.  Graduate students may receive only ONE Individual Research during their graduate studies. 

Grant funds may be used for research travel, such as flights, ground transportation, and lodging; archival and copying fees; and other research expenses, such as translation or transcription.  Grant funds may not be used to pay for summer living expenses, language study, travel to a conference, food or per diem while traveling, or equipment.

Funding from the Humanities Center Graduate Futures Programs is available to support dissertation-related research costs. Examples include: transcription and translation services for foreign language texts; reproduction and digitization of archival materials; courses related to subject of research; or copyright or image permissions. It cannot be used to purchase software or electronic devices, or towards application fees. 

Funding requests will be reviewed at the beginning of each month. If you receive funding, it must be used in the quarter in which it is received.

The Humanities Center supports faculty and graduate students in the School of Humanities interested in hosting limited-term sets of activities that bring together colleagues on the UCI campus to engage in discussion and collaborative activities around a shared intellectual interest. Co-sponsorships are provided for events and activities organized in collaborations that include at least two departments, one of which must be in the humanities, and have an audience-building plan to reach beyond standard departmental audiences. The applications should include confirmation of financial support from the organizers’ home departments.

School of Social Science co-sponsorship: Faculty with primary appointments in the School of Humanities and graduate students in a SOH graduate degree program who co-organizing collaborative events and activities with faculty and graduate students in the School of Social Sciences may request a co-sponsorship in this application from the Social Sciences Dean in addition to a co-sponsorship from the Humanities Center. 

The following guidelines are for general reference only.

Faculty and/or graduate collaborations may apply for up to $3,000. 

The Humanities Center supports collaborations that foster vibrant intellectual communities. The  Building Intellectual Community grants provide funding for limited-term sets of activities that bring together colleagues on the UCI campus, in the Southern California region, or from elsewhere to engage in discussion and collaborative activities around a shared intellectual interest. These grants replace the previous Collaborative Conference grants by expanding the range of activities that can be funded and clarifying the purpose of the funding.

These collaborations should engage faculty and graduate students across disciplines. Building Intellectual Community grants may be used to support:

  • academic conferences, symposia or colloquia;
  • a series of events, such as speakers or film screenings, with a unifying theme during a quarter or the academic year;
  • academic trainings (such as new methodologies across disciplines);
  • work groups for fields that cross disciplines.
  • Building Intellectual Community grants may also be used for limited-term activities that bring humanities research to public spaces or community knowledge creation into academic research spaces.

Grants awarded in Fall are intended to support activities taking place in Winter and Spring Quarters of the Academic Year, and grants awarded in the Spring are intended to support activities taking place in the Fall and Winter Quarters of the following AY.

Applicants must have advance commitment from department managers for administrative
support for planned activities.

External Professional Development Funding and Grants

The UCI Humanities Center sponsors up to 5 Humanities PhD students per academic year for a professional development opportunity that provides training towards career diversity, public humanities, or incorporates approaches or methodologies beyond disciplinary bounds. It should also be an opportunity not already offered through UCI. Previous opportunities that have fallen in this category have included HASTAC, the Colby Environmental Humanities Institute, and the Marxist Institute for Interdisciplinary Research. Up to $3000 can be requested and used towards travel, lodging, meals, tuition/registration, or other related expenses. Programs that are affiliated with academic associations (AHA, MLA, SCMS, AAR, AAAS) will only be considered if a separate application is required to be part of a cohort, or requires additional time before or after a conference as part of participation (e.g., MLA Public Humanities Incubator).

If approved, you will be offered the option of a pre-trip (taxed) research funds stipend or a post-trip (non-taxable) reimbursement based on receipts. 

Graduate Student Funding: External Professional Development through the Humanities Center

Learn More

Four students shared their experiences of external professional development opportunities funded through the Humanities Center and Humanities Dean's Office: Megan Cole (PhD Candidate; English), Aaron Katzeman (PhD Candidate; Visual Studies), Jose Maria Urdaneta Azuero (PhD Candidate; Spanish), and Sophie Mariko Wheeler (PhD Student; East Asian Studies). (From Nov. 2023)

Previous External Professional Development Funding Recipients

2021

Megan Cole (English)

Anna Pederneschi (Philosophy)

2022

Natalia Affonso (Comparative Literature)

Sarah Hoenicke Flores (Comparative Literature)

2023

Jose Maria Urdaneta (Spanish)

Jan. 2020

Megan Cole (English)

Karem Delgado (Spanish)

Wu Jun Ke (Comparative Literature)

Christine Mugnolo (Visual Studies)

Michelle Robertson (English)

Juan Rubio (History)

Dec. 2020

LaShonda Carter (Culture & Theory)

Kathie Foley-Meyer (Visual Studies)

Kristina Horn (East Asian Studies)

Rong Kong (History)

Ella Turenne (Visual Studies)

Isabelle Williams (Culture & Theory)

2022

Anannya Mukherjee  (Comparative Literature)

Maria Carina Saiidi Padilla  (Spanish)

Serkan Ogul Tuna  (History)

 

2022

Nikita Olegovich Prokhorov (Comparative Literature)

2023

Aaron Katzeman (Visual Studies)

Sophie Mariko Wheeler (East Asian Studies)

Applications for the 2024 institute will open on November 17, 2023. More information can be found at their website.

2023

Megan Cole

Information about HASTAC can be found here.

2023

Chenglin Lee (Comparative Literature)

UCI Grants for Humanities PhD Students

Grad Division Grants - Most grants require ABD status. Check the Funding Timeline PDF for their general deadlines. For questions about Grad Division grants, email Graduate Division Associate Dean Jaymi Smith (jaymis@uci.edu).

* Please note these grants are internal to UCI but not managed by the Humanities Center

School of Humanities Grants - Conference travel, summer dissertation writing support, summer language study, and outstanding TA awards. For questions about SOH grants, email Geneva Lopez-Sandoval, Director, Office of Graduate Study (lopezg@uci.edu).

The SoH Office of Graduate Study will sponsor one student to attend the Cornell University School of Criticism and Theory. For the call and further information, please reach out directly to Geneva Lopez-Sandoval.

* Please note these grants are internal to UCI but not managed by the Humanities Center

Associated Graduate Students - AGS offers conference travel grants (by lottery), project event funding, and paid staff positions (may be announced via email). For questions, email Daniel C. Tracht, AGS Vice President of Administrative Affairs (vpadmin@ags.uci.edu).

* Please note these grants are internal to UCI but not managed by the Humanities Center