Resident Fellowship Competition
Established in 1976, the Calgary Institute for the Humanities (CIH) fosters advanced study and research in a broad range of subject areas. We are multi-disciplinary and multi-faculty orientated. We support research in traditional Humanities disciplines such as languages and literature, history, religious studies, philosophy, as well as in philosophical and historical aspects of the social sciences, arts, sciences, and professional studies. The humanities are not conceived as a specific group of academic disciplines, but as forms of study that examine what is human – typically guided by literature, history, social and physical settings, artifacts, visual and performing arts.
Deadline and term
Resident Fellowship applications are now open for the 2025-26 academic year.
Purpose
Four annual Resident Fellowships are awarded to outstanding scholars in order to pursue a particular research project. Two of these are named: The Wayne O. McCready Resident Fellowship for an Emerging Scholar, and the Naomi Lacey Resident Fellowship. Success in the competition for these fellowships is based on assessment of the scholarly record of the candidate and the quality of the research proposal.
Fellowships will normally provide partial release from teaching duties to facilitate concentration on a research project. You must be free from administrative responsibilities and teach at a reduced course load during the Fellowship.
Your department/faculty will arrange for partial teaching release funding with the Institute. This will be a full-course equivalent course release (2HCE). Fellows will recieve one HCE course release each term, unless alternative arrangements are made with the director. Fellows will not receive a direct stipend.
You will conduct your research at the Institute. You will share your research in an in-house seminar, and involve yourself in the community of scholars working at the Institute. Fellows will offer a public lecture on the results of their research, either during the Fellowship year or the year following, in consultation with the director. You should acknowledge CIH support in all oral and written publications that result from the supported research.
Eligibility
The Calgary Institute for the Humanities will invite applications for Fellowships from full time faculty at the University of Calgary to conduct research at the Institute during the academic year 2025-26. Only scholars with teaching appointments at the University of Calgary that continue through the 2025-26 academic year are eligible to apply. Awards are subject to budgetary approval.
Applicants whom the committee judge to be on the verge of a significant scholarly advancement may be considered for the Wayne O. McCready Resident Fellowship for an Emerging Scholar. Candidates will be considered from the general pool of applicants; no separate application or information is required. Similarly, the Naomi Lacey Resident Fellowship will be awarded to an applicant from the general pool.
Full-time faculty of the University of Calgary who have previously held an Annual Fellowship are eligible for a second Annual Fellowship five years after the completion of the first Annual Fellowship. Applications from previous Annual Fellows will not be considered separately but will be considered within the pool of all applications. In addition to considering the merits of the new project, however, special attention will be paid to the productivity resulting from the first Fellowship.
Applications will be judged on research record and the merits of the proposed project. The committee strives for a diversity of fellows in any given year where possible, based on such things as rank, discipline, and gender.
Research record will be judged relative to stage of career. Adjudicators will look at quality of previous publications, grants received, and productivity of previous grants and fellowships.
Project proposals will be assessed according to originality of the proposal, contribution to knowledge, suitability of methodology, suitability of theoretical perspectives, and effectiveness of the plan of communication for the research. If this is a multi-year project, applicants should make clear what they plan to accomplish during the year of the fellowship. Applications from outside the traditional humanities disciplines are welcome, and should make clear the humanistic orientation of their project.
Application procedure
Scholars outside of the traditional humanities disciplines should make clear the humanistic orientation of their project.
Applications must contain:
CV
A curriculum vitae. (No more than 5 pages.)
Proposal statement
A detailed statement of the research proposal. (A maximum of five pages, plus bibliography.)
Abstract
A descriptive title and abstract of 150 words.
Department head's statement
A brief statement from the applicant’s head of department indicating the department is aware of the application. (An email acknowledgement is sufficient.)
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Resident Fellowship in Applied Ethics
The CIH is also accepting applications for its Resident Fellowship in Applied Ethics for 2025-26. This fellowship is awarded every two years. Applications will also be considered in the general pool of applications for the CIH Resident Fellowships.