The Office of Interdisciplinary Studies and the university institutes, initiatives and centers (UICs) direct or comanage several competitive grant programs for members of the Duke community and oversee a range of other offerings. Browse an overview below and see current opportunities.

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Seeking Academic Director for Duke Lemur Center

The Duke Lemur Center seeks a broadly accomplished and influential scholar who recognizes the importance of the Malagasy primates for comparative studies across a breadth of scientific disciplines, particularly in light of their unique evolutionary relationship to humans and other primates.

See the full announcement

Internal Funding Programs

Below, we share selected opportunities for the Duke community from the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies and the UICs.

 

In order of available funding amounts

Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Collaboratives For units; opportunities for students to engage with a cohort outside of their primary intellectual community through interdisciplinary seminars, working groups and projects

Multiyear Interdisciplinary Hubs Proposals for term-limited interdisciplinary “hubs” in areas that can galvanize emerging intellectual connections, research collaborations and links to external partners, as well as create compelling pathways of inquiry for students at all levels

Climate Research Innovation Seed Program (CRISP) Support for teams of faculty and research staff to pursue new research projects advancing climate solutions

Bass Connections Project Teams Each year, more than 250 faculty, over a thousand undergraduates and several hundred graduate students engage in team-based research through Bass Connections. See opportunities for faculty.

Global Health Pilot & Travel Grants Designed to support new interdisciplinary collaborations in global health research and to support travel to a specific location

Reuben-Cooke Fellows Proposals that link research and advocacy in their teaching or relate to social justice, environmental justice, voting rights or public history more broadly in Durham and North Carolina

Research Seed Grants in Documentary Studies Support for new research undertakings related to documentary studies, broadly conceived

Course Development Grants in Documentary Studies Support for the development of new undergraduate courses, or the redesign of existing undergraduate courses, framed around documentary studies, broadly conceived

Collaborative Project Courses Faculty Fellows Support and a peer learning community for faculty who are interested in designing courses in which student learning is driven by collaborative engagement with applied projects that extend across an entire semester

Intellectual Community Planning Grants Support to faculty who are interested in convening a group of colleagues to begin or test a new collaboration around a shared intellectual interest [currently paused]

Faculty Working Groups in the Humanities Support for self-organized groups; calls for proposals are generally every two years

Academic Year

Summer

Academic Year

Summer

For a Comprehensive Search

Duke’s Research Funding site provides an extensive database of funding opportunities of interest to the Duke community.

Search Open Opportunities

Previous Funding Programs

Established in 2018, the Collaboratories program supported groups of faculty whose engaged research targets societal challenges in alignment with Duke’s strategic priorities. Some groups included students. The first two cycles supported research on three themes: Energy & Water Resources; Race, Religion & Citizenship; and Population Health. The third cycle focused on two new themes: Immigration; and Science, Technology & Ethics.

Part of the Together Duke academic strategic plan, these grants provided flexible, immediate resources to strengthen Duke’s intellectual communities and help faculty groups move forward on both fundamental inquiry and solutions for real-world problems.

See examples of collaboratories that secured larger external grants.

Established in 2016, Duke Support for Interdisciplinary Graduate Network Grants (D-SIGN) enable graduated students to build their networks and integrate collaborative, cross-school experiences into their programs.

All current graduate students in any program at Duke were eligible to propose interdisciplinary groups and activities, such as a year-long research team, groups to explore a compelling theme or problem that cuts across disciplinary lines, or a joint effort to construct an interdisciplinary course for undergraduates.

The program’s aim to was to help increase the number of individuals whose graduate training reflects Duke’s signature commitments to interdisciplinarity and knowledge in the service of society.

Read about D-SIGN projects in 2019-2020, 2018-2019, 2017-2018 and 2016-2017.

Established in 2019, this grant program provided support to Duke faculty to acquire skills, knowledge or experiences outside or beyond their main disciplines. It aimed to enhance faculty members’ capacity to carry out original research and provide transformative learning experiences for students. Any Duke regular rank faculty member with a primary appointment in a school other than Medicine or Nursing was eligible to propose activities.

Learn about FTREG projects in 2020-2021 and 2019-2020.

Search Scholars@Duke to Find a Collaborator