New Directions Fellowships FAQs

New Directions Fellowships provide support for mid-career faculty members in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who seek to acquire systematic training outside their disciplines. The goal of the competition is to support the evolution and expansion of humanities disciplines by investing in the intellectual range and productivity of exceptional faculty.

Many applicants have had some prior exposure to their proposed new direction. This experience often helps them identify meaningful research questions, assess the feasibility and overall significance of the shift, or build bridges between their existing expertise and the new area. However, this prior work should be limited in scope. It must be clear that the proposed fellowship research/project cannot be carried out effectively or adequately without the time and resources provided by the fellowship. The new direction should represent a significant departure from the applicant’s established expertise, requiring substantial learning, development, or exploration that the fellowship uniquely enables.

The new and previous fields don’t need to be related, but the nominee should be able to provide a coherent link between the two in their proposed research/project.

Humanistic social sciences are branches of the social sciences that center understanding human experience, meaning-making, values, ethics, aesthetics, and culture. The work of a humanistic social scientist will draw heavily from interpretative traditions, rather than purely empirical or quantitative methods. The use of qualitative methods alone does not automatically make a social scientist’s research humanistic.

Yes.

Yes, provided the necessity of international study is clearly articulated in the application and that the resulting project incorporates consideration of contexts in the Americas.

Not on its own. While independent study may be part of the overall plan of study, most often applicants propose a study plan that combines university-based course work (audited or formally enrolled in a degree program), research at a range of libraries or cultural institutions (e.g., a museum with archival holdings), language or programming work with tutors, or guided study with experts. We do not expect fellows to gain an appropriate level of experience and expertise through independent study alone.

In an effort to expand institutional access to the competition, we cannot guarantee when or if an institution will receive another invitation.

Yes. While the grant start date will not be changed, we can accommodate up to a one-year period at the start of the grant with no planned activities or spending.

No. Only nominees who have received PhDs are eligible.

Foundation Relations and other administrators can play a key role in supporting strong applications by working proactively with humanities deans and department chairs to identify eligible faculty and ensure broad awareness of the competition. Often applicants also benefit from assistance with budgeting, with understanding the unique nature of the competition, and with compellingly framing their proposed “big pivot” or new research direction, emphasizing both how it represents a departure from their prior work and how it would expand their current or proposed field of study. If your institution’s nominee is selected as a finalist, work closely with the nominee and their department to align their department leave with the fellowship term in order to maximize the usefulness of the award (i.e., arranging for their department leave to follow the grant term, if possible).

The grant does not provide indirect, overhead, or administrative costs to the university. Fellows shall receive the entire grant for support of their retraining.

Grant terms may be up to three years or thirty-six months. On average, most awards range between eighteen and twenty-four months.

Invited institutions should refer to the competition guidelines included in the award letter.