Call for Proposals

The Center welcomes proposals for new faculty-led working groups for Fall 2026. 

Each year, CSSD funds and supports working groups chosen from an open call that bring together faculty in the humanities, social sciences, law, sciences and arts, as well as artists and practitioners in the New York area and beyond, to investigate problems of social, economic, and cultural inequality. Working groups probe how historical and contemporary categories of social difference and identity shape institutions and policies, lived experiences, global relations, and art and activism. CSSD working groups create the conditions for researchers to work collaboratively and internationally on problems of common interest and to set intellectual agendas for the future.

Application deadline: March 25th, 2026 at 5:00 pm.

What are working groups?

Working groups are faculty-led seminars that meet over two years to think in slow and sustained ways about a particular social difference-related topic. Groups are typically led by two co-directors and include 5-8 core members who meet in closed sessions every one to two months to read, discuss, and share. Working groups have been conceived by CSSD to foster critical thinking and analysis, without the pressure to produce outcomes; they are not intended as a way to fund projects that involve preexisting group research or data collection. Rooted in accountable, extra-university resource-sharing and collaboration, CSSD requires working groups to engage wider publics at least once a year, either through a public event or a public-facing scholarly contribution (i.e. not an academic publication). CSSD is particularly interested in working groups that propose out-of-the-box formats for public events or scholarly contributions that meaningfully engage under-recognized communities outside the university. Formats to consider include site-specific conversations, field trips, exhibitions, walks, radio or podcast shows, reading circles, online documentary projects, mapping initiatives, and pamphlet publications. 

Each working group proceeds in accordance with the needs of its particular interests, but in general many groups tend to proceed as follows: Year one typically involves focused development, including the consolidation and expansion of the working group’s regional and/or international membership, preliminary discussion meetings and workshops, and an exploratory event. Year two entails more intensive intellectual work, featuring regular working meetings and a developed public program or public scholarship initiative. Co-directors are responsible for administering the working group’s meetings and coordinating its public events. Working groups also include a graduate assistant – a Masters or PhD student–who is paid for from the group’s funds and who helps co-directors collect research materials, take care of logistics for meetings and public events, and/or coordinate any public scholarship outputs.

Once selected, working groups become part of CSSD’s community. Throughout the two years, one of the co-directors from each active working group is required to join the CSSD Executive Committee, a decision-making body that meets 2 times per semester and collaborates in the creation of the Center’s vision.

Our 2026 theme: Renaissance.

Every year, CSSD’s open call for working groups focuses on a new theme. This year’s theme is "Renaissance." On the occasion of myriad anniversaries that present occasions for taking stock - from the 250th anniversary of the United States’ Independence and the 50th of Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life to the recent 100th of the Harlem Renaissance and the upcoming 25th of Robin Kelley’s Freedom Dreams, we invite incoming faculty working groups to think anew about the narratives that surround the past as well as inherited common-sense values like freedom, democracy, and liberalism. Which aspects of the past require caretaking and reinvigoration, and which require abandonment in order to develop ways to move forward - to be reborn - in our present?

Eligibility

CSSD seeks projects that align with the Center’s thematic focus on "Renaissance" and meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Proposed working groups must be led by at least one faculty director though CSSD favors groups co-led by two faculty directors or more. At least one (co-)director must be full-time Columbia or Barnard faculty and proposals must be submitted by the faculty director(s) associated with Columbia and/or Barnard.

  • Working groups must involve an interdisciplinary core group of 5-8 people, not all of whom have to be Columbia or Barnard faculty.

  • Graduate students at the Masters or PhD level can be involved as members - not directors - of working groups.

  • CSSD accepts proposals involving faculty from all schools at Columbia and Barnard, including but not limited to Arts & Sciences, CUMC, School of the Arts, Columbia Law School, School of Journalism, and GSAPP, with preference given to groups working across schools and/or disciplines. We nonetheless encourage a humanities and social sciences-focus in the group’s approach to its topic.

  • The Center encourages and facilitates projects involving international collaborations, though it is strongly advised that additional funding is secured in such cases.

  • Directors of working groups that have received funding from the Center in the last 5 years are not eligible to apply to lead a new working group but can be among its members.

Funds

Q&A: Feb. 18th, 2:00 PM

CSSD team members are available to discuss working group ideas and plans with interested applicants, and sample CSSD proposals are available by request. We encourage you to contact us in advance of submitting your proposal. Please write to CSSD’s Assistant Director, Dr. Nadia Christidi, at nc3205@columbia.edu with any questions. A Q&A will also be hosted on Zoom on February 18th at 2 pm, which applicants are invited to attend. Please RSVP to the Q&A via this Google form.

Complete proposals should be emailed to CSSD’s Project Coordinator, Nia Paz-Diaz, at ndp2122@columbia.edu by March 23rd, 2026, at 5:00 pm, with the subject line CSSD Proposal. Working groups will be selected by the CSSD Executive Committee. Selection criteria include the proposal’s alignment with the Center’s mission of addressing social difference and inequality; the strength, coherence, and originality of the proposed topic; the innovativeness of the proposed programming; the proposal’s engagement with the theme of "Renaissance"; the interdisciplinary breadth of the working group; and additional funding application plans. All applicants will be notified by late April.

Funding is in the amount of $40,000 over two years. CSSD funding may be used by project directors at their discretion. However, funds are typically used in the following ways:  

  • Course relief for a project director (one course per year for two years, alternating in the case of co-directors; specific terms to be negotiated by the individual project director with the director’s home department and/or center/institute)

  • Stipend for one graduate student assistant responsible for working group support

  • Research materials

  • Working group meeting meals

  • Public programming costs  

  • Honoraria and/or travel for external speakers

Please note that working group funding is not meant to be used for developing academic publications.

CSSD project funds are modest, and we do not support honoraria or stipends paid to members of the core working group. Honoraria may be offered to event speakers or special guests from outside Columbia and the core working group who are invited to present or share information to the group or the public.

Center support is seed money to enable working groups to get off the ground as thought communities; it is the expectation of the Center that all groups will also seek additional funding for their work or eventual outcomes in the future. Group directors must be willing to collaborate in the Center’s fundraising efforts and should be prepared to seek additional funding sources.

How to Apply

Applications submitted by a Columbia or Barnard-affiliated working group director should include a working group proposal narrative. Proposal narratives should entail a description of the working group’s topic and should specify how this topic relates to and engages with the theme of “Renaissance” in intellectually and socially generative ways. Proposal narratives should also include a detailed work plan for group meetings and public events and/or public scholarship; a list of confirmed and tentative faculty members and/or a plan for expanding working group membership by adding members; and a description of any anticipated curricular or pedagogical outcomes. The narrative should not exceed five double-spaced pages.

Please also include, in addition to the above:

  • A short CV or bio for each working group member – e.g., one paragraph summary bios (indicate if participation has been confirmed or not)

  • A proposed budget with the provided budget template.