Call for Proposals: Migrations Research
The Migrations initiative funds interdisciplinary, multispecies, and systems-level research that furthers our understanding of migration.
Only through such an understanding can we influence the way that migration is studied, governed, and even experienced. Applications are currently closed.
In this call for proposals, there are opportunities for Cornell faculty from any academic discipline to study migration at both the domestic and international levels. With support from the Mellon Foundation's Just Futures Initiative, we are funding U.S.-focused work that has long-term and discernible benefits addressing racial and immigrant justice on campus and beyond. Research that has a broader international focus may apply for multispecies, interdisciplinary Migrations grants on any subject related to migration.
Watch the Migrations Grants Info Session
At the faculty info session for Migrations grants, Shannon Gleeson and Eric Tagliacozzo, the Cornell Migrations co-directors, addressed questions about priorities, selection criteria, budgets, and other guidance on how to prepare a successful application.
Questions? Contact Migrations program manager Mary Ball with any questions about the grants or the application process.
Deadline
We are no longer accepting applications for the 2022 cycle.
Eligibility
All PI-eligible faculty at Cornell are eligible to apply (tenured, tenure-track, professors of practice, senior research associates, and clinical-track faculty), as are faculty-led programs and centers within the university, irrespective of their college or school of origin.
Track 1: Racism, Dispossession, and Migration in the United States
Supported by the Mellon Foundation Just Futures Initiative, this funding supports research and engagement focused on the United States and centered on the connections between racism, dispossession, and migration in interdisciplinary, innovative, and impactful ways.
Just Futures Team Research Grants
We expect to fund three proposals with up to $150,000 for one to two years. Review the thematic priorities driving this funding, which are:
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Authority, Governance, and Racial Injustice
- Climate, Dispossession, and Natural and Built Environments
- Trafficking, Displacement, and the Right to Stay Home
Competitive proposals will bring together Cornell’s strength in multiple, relatively disparate fields to build innovative approaches to address cutting-edge questions around racism, dispossession, and migration. Within this context, we are looking for projects that advance research on migration from an interdisciplinary perspective, especially humanistic approaches. These projects should be impactful and lay the groundwork for scholars to work with diverse communities towards re-possession and redress.
We are particularly interested in teams that elevate antiracist and anti-colonial research approaches. We would also like to support efforts that will lead to emerging collaborations with outside funders, and to support working groups both in and beyond academia across the interconnected themes of racism, dispossession, and migration.
The review committee reserves the right to fund at a lower amount than requested.
Just Futures Small Grants
We will provide pilot funding for up to five projects, up to $10,000 each for one year, that leverage new or emerging collaborations with outside organizations, collaborators, or funders.
Funds can be used for data-gathering, workshops and meetings, travel, and student assistance. Grants may not be used for salary offset or summer salary, computers, and student tuition.
Just Futures Engagement Grants
We will support four to eight proposals that propose inclusive and participatory collaborations with community partners dedicated to applying research and/or pedagogy to further positive social justice or impact. Selected applicants will receive up to $25,000 each over one year.
We aim to support strategies for collective learning such as those that deploy public art, social media, podcasts, and other rich digital content for students. This public engagement should break down elite university spaces via interactive art installations, open-access media projects, and co-designed practical applications. These community-oriented, campus spaces will highlight the historical and contemporary role of the university in facilitating racism, dispossession, and migration while developing practical tools for accountability and redress.
Track 2: Researching, Teaching, and Building for a World on the Move
This funding supports innovative, multispecies, and interdisciplinary approaches to key international migration issues. We aim to cultivate collaborations that advance science, scholarship, teaching, outreach, and engagement in ways that generate new insights into critical problems.
Migration Cross-Disciplinary Team Research Grants and Migrations Individual Faculty Research Grants
This funding opportunity promotes path-breaking research on migration at Cornell and, in particular, research with an impact that might resonate across multiple fields of study. Awards will be $10,000 to $50,000. For team proposals, we seek interdisciplinary teams of faculty from across Cornell, doing work on any subject related to migration. We will prioritize those projects that integrate knowledge across disciplinary families including natural and life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities.
How to Apply
Proposals must include:
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Full CVs of the applicant(s) and key collaborators in PDF format
- Description of proposed project:
- Maximum of 3 pages for all proposals, except for research team grants which can be up to 5 pages
- Single-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, PDF format
- The proposal should be free of disciplinary jargon such that its significance and contribution towards advancing research on migrations (i.e., the movement of people, plants, and animals) can be easily evaluated by faculty reviewers representing diverse disciplines.
- Human subjects approval, where necessary for research. Human subjects approval is not necessary with the proposal but is a prerequisite for funds to be dispersed.
- Detailed budget with justification of expenses (see Excel budget template in Qualtrics), including:
- PI(s) name and project title
- Total funding amount requested
- List of the individual expenses and a brief explanation of each expense
- Your department administrative manager's contact information
Questions? Contact Migrations program manager, Mary Ball, with any questions about the grants or the application process.