The Social Sciences, Humanities, & Arts (SSHA) seed grant program is administered by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships. The aim of this new program is to enhance research and creative endeavors for faculty in non-STEM fields at OU. Recipients of this funding commit to developing their project to a stage of impactful publication or other forms of significant recognition for research and creative activity (such as performances, exhibits, digital media, and/or community-based research). SSHA recipients also commit to developing their project for major grant and fellowship applications within two years of the seed funding’s conclusion.
Proposals for SSHA seed grant funding must be led by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in an arts, social sciences, or humanities field. Topics and approaches are open. Applications may be individual or collaborative. Renewable term faculty, research faculty, as well as permanent professional/technical staff may also serve as co-PIs on proposal teams.
Funding received from the SSHA seed grant program may not be used for faculty salaries during the spring and fall semesters, and can only be used as summer salary if no overload or summer teaching is undertaken during the period of the grant.
Faculty are eligible to receive an SSHA seed grant at the same time as other internal research funding (such as FIP, JFF, AHFF, or CAS Junior and Senior Faculty Fellowships), but not for the same stage of the same project; this distinction would need to be made clear in the application narrative.
The written proposal must include the following consecutive sections, as listed below (single spaced, 12-point font, Times Roman). No letters of commitment are required. Both individual and collaborative SSHA proposals should be submitted by the semester deadline as a single pdf file (entitled SSHA_Applicant_Name) via the Application Portal.
There will be a total of $150,000 available for all selected SSHA proposals during the spring 2021 and fall 2021 semesters. It is possible that proposals totaling $150,000 might be selected during spring 2021, resulting in there not being a fall 2021 part of the SSHA program.
These seed grants fund up to twelve months of work at two levels: individual (between $5,000 and $10,000) and collaborative (between $10,000 and $20,000).
An OU selection committee will evaluate SSHA proposals based on scholarly potential and feasibility; sustainability and impact of any scholarly outputs to be produced; and the potential of the proposed scholarly outputs to serve as the foundation of a larger-scale, externally funded project.
Note: OU faculty in the social sciences, humanities, and arts who wish to apply for capital equipment purchases should consult the new Strategic Equipment Investment Program (SEIP).
