Research Innovation Collaboratives

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Deadline: April 1

Funding Amount: $25,000 per year plus one course release for each PI in Arts & Letters

Purpose

The Franco Institute invites proposals for Research Innovation Collaboratives to begin work during the 2026-2027 academic year.

These collaboratives encourage research and creative practice outside of departmental and institutional confines so that participants can radically reimagine the way their work can inform, influence, and inspire innovative scholarship. Each collaborative will consist of a group of scholars pursuing a core question (or small set of closely related questions). Collaboratives will foster research, art, teaching, and outreach, deepening connections across disciplines, and bringing the insights of the liberal arts to public life.

Research Innovation Collaboratives will take four forms:

1. Humanities Collaboratives, devoted to “big questions” in the humanities approached from transdisciplinary perspectives

2. Arts Collaboratives, co-sponsored by the ND Arts Initiative and devoted to collaborative research and creative practice in the arts

3. Global Catholic Research Collaboratives, co-sponsored by the ND Global Catholic Research Initiative and devoted to interdisciplinary, collaborative research on global Catholicism

4. Sustainability Collaboratives, co-sponsored by the ND Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative and devoted to interdisciplinary, collaborative research at the nexus of sustainability and the humanities.

Applicants will have the opportunity to select all of the above categories for which they would like to be considered.

Collaboratives may engage in a wide variety of activities, including but not limited to public events, performances, exhibitions, scholarly publications, digital resources, and course development.

Each collaborative will be awarded:

• One course release for each PI with a primary appointment in the College of Arts and Letters, to be used during the two-year grant period. PIs in other colleges should consult with administrators in their college about their eligibility for course relief.

• A research grant of $25,000 per year for two consecutive years, with the possibility of renewal for a third year

• Collaboratives that partner with ND Global sites will be eligible for an additional $5,000 per year in research funds.

For an in-depth look into new developments with this program, faculty may view the recording of an Informational Webinar - held Friday, February 13, 2026. The Institute discussed the program's mission to foster interdisciplinary collaborative research, new partnerships with the Arts Initiative, the Global Catholic Research Initiative, and the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative as well as methods for faculty to best position their projects for successful applications. The webinar included a question-and-answer session.

For examples of previous successful labs, the Institute encourages you to review this list of recent Research Innovation Collaboratives.

Eligibility:

• • Each collaborative must have two Principal Investigators (PIs).

  • At least one PI must be a regular, tenure-track or tenured faculty member with a primary appointment in the College of Arts and Letters.

  • Directors of ND Global sites and faculty at other institutions may also serve as PIs.
  • TPAC faculty may also serve as PIs, provided they receive approval from their chair and divisional associate dean.

  • The two PIs may not have primary appointments in the same department or program.
    
    

  • Each collaborative must also name at least three additional collaborators.

  • Additional project team members may be regular, tenure-track or tenured faculty; TPAC, Research, and Library faculty; postdoctoral scholars; graduate students; full-time staff; and/or external partners.

   

  • Faculty in all disciplines may serve as a PI or collaborator on any type of collaborative: humanities, arts, or strategic theme.
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  • Individuals may not be named as PIs or collaborators on multiple collaboratives. A researcher becomes eligible to participate in a new collaborative only after the award period ends for any current collaborative with which they are formally associated.
    
    

  • The Research Innovation Collaborative program aims to fund new projects rather than ongoing programs. If your proposed Collaborative builds on an existing collaboration, explain how this funding program will help your team pursue new questions and outcomes.

 

Evaluation criteria:

Applications will be evaluated by an interdisciplinary faculty committee* in four key areas:

• Interdisciplinarity

Successful proposals will outline truly interdisciplinary projects that define questions and topics not easily examined from one set of methods or perspectives.

• Collaboration

Successful proposals will provide evidence of equitable collaboration in the design and conception of the collaborative.

• Excellence

Successful proposals will demonstrate the scholarly rigor and innovative nature of the research questions and methods proposed, making clear how the collaborative will build upon the unique strengths of Notre Dame and the assembled team.

• Impact

Successful proposals will show how the collaborative will have a significant impact for a variety of scholarly fields, the university, and the wider public.

*Note: Applications for Arts Collaboratives, Global Catholic Research Collaboratives, and Sustainability Collaboratives will be evaluated by a review committee jointly convened by the relevant initiative and the Franco Institute.

 

Restrictions

Allowable costs include travel expenses, materials, catering, honoraria for guests, payments to external consultants, and production costs for publications, exhibits, novel forms of research dissemination, etc.

Non-allowable costs include software already made accessible to the Notre Dame community and salary or additional course release for PIs.

PIs must submit a report on all activities by June 1 of each funded year. Failure to submit this report may delay available funds for subsequent year(s) and affect PI eligibility for other Franco grants.

Note that documented IRB approval (or exemption) is required for all research involving human subjects.

All projects must follow all relevant college and university policies and procedures.

 

Application Instructions

All text documents should be single- or double-spaced, at least 11-point font, Times New Roman or Arial, with one-inch margins.

1. Application form (available through Submittable)

2. Project Narrative (no more than three pages, including references)

In addition to addressing the evaluation criteria listed above, the narrative should address each of the following, using items a, b, and c below as subheadings:

a. Questions, Concepts, and Methods

Outline the key questions at the heart of the proposed Collaborative and the concepts and methods that will guide the pursuit of these questions.

b. Significance and Impact

Describe the current conditions in the field(s) relevant to your project, outline the potential impact the proposed collaborative will have for interdisciplinary scholarship in those fields, and address the potential impact the project will have for the university and for human flourishing more broadly.

For Arts Collaboratives, please include particular emphasis on the project’s potential for deepening Notre Dame’s global impact through the arts. If your project advances arts research and creative practice in one of the Arts Initiative’s priority areas, be sure to address that here.

For Sustainability Collaboratives, please include how the proposed project aligns with and advances the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative’s Guiding Principles.

c. Outputs and Outcomes

Describe the outputs (i.e. deliverables) that your project will generate and the outcomes (i.e. results or impacts) that you expect your outputs to bring about.

For Arts Collaboratives, please be sure to note the specific timing and proposed location of each output, including any details about proposed alignment with the inaugural Notre Dame Arts Biennial (January-June 2027, with the theme of symbiosis).

For Sustainability Collaboratives, please provide a detailed description of the high-impact publications that your project will generate, including journal articles, books, and edited volumes. Please include journals you plan to target and a high-level timeline.

3. List of PIs and Collaborators (no more than two pages)

For each member of the team, include the name, appointment, department/program, and a brief description of each member’s relevant qualifications and contributions to the collaborative. Note that each collaborative must include at least two PIs (from different departments) and at least three additional collaborators.

4. Budget justification (no more than two pages)

Provide a brief rationale for including each expense listed in your budget. Where appropriate, include sources for estimates.

5. Budget (no more than two pages)

Provide a fully itemized budget, including all planned expenses up to $25,000 per year for two years. Course relief for PIs need not be included in the budget. Note that the Institute will only award up to $25,000 per year, not a lump sum payment for multiple years. If planned expenses during a particular year will exceed $25,000, please list other sources of funding (secured or planned) that will cover outstanding expenses.

Budget adjustments will be considered as needed on a case-by-case basis.

6. Short CVs for each PI (no more than three pages each)

Applications must be submitted through the Franco Institute’s Submittable portal by 11:59 p.m. on April 1, 2026. Late submissions or submissions submitted via email will not be accepted. Decisions will be announced in May.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

1. Can TPAC faculty be PIs?

TPAC faculty may also serve as PIs, provided they receive approval from their chair and divisional associate dean.

 

2. Can a Collaborative include faculty at other universities?

Yes! Faculty at other universities may be PIs or collaborators. 

 

3. Are contributions to teaching or curriculum necessary for broader impacts?

No. A collaborative proposal may demonstrate broader impact in many different ways. For help developing the broader impact for your collaborative proposal, contact the Center for Broader Impacts here at Notre Dame.

 

4. Does a collaborative need to generate external grant applications to receive funding?

No. The potential for external funding to support the longevity of a collaborative could be one way to demonstrate impact in your proposal, but the promise of external funding is not a requirement for a collaborative to receive internal funding.

 

5. Is there a particular hierarchy among the evaluation criteria?

Collaborative proposals are evaluated on four criteria: Interdisciplinarity, Collaboration, Excellence, and Impact. No one criterion is weighted heavily than the others. We hope that the strongest proposals will be strong in all four areas.

 

6. Can Notre Dame staff be part of the teams?

Notre Dame staff may be formal collaborators, but they may not serve as PIs.

 

7. What counts as humanities?

The Institute follows the definition of the humanities used by the NEH and outlined in the 1965 National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, which states:

"The term 'humanities' includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life."

Faculty in any department in the College of Arts and Letters are eligible to apply provided they propose a project that uses interpretive methods and engages the fields listed in the definition above. Applicants should make clear in their application materials how their project employs humanistic methods and advances humanistic scholarship.

 

 

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