Humanities Research Center

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Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI): Interdisciplinary Team for CHCI Climate Futures Initiative Application

Deadline: April 11, 2026

The Humanities Research Center invites expressions of interest from interdisciplinary scholars working on Climate research (broadly construed) to develop a collaborative, interdisciplinary project for potential participation in the CHCI Climate Futures Initiative. The Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) has launched a new framework of Initiatives designed to mobilize humanities research around urgent global challenges, including climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice. These initiatives emphasize collaboration, global engagement, and interdisciplinary approaches, and support a range of project types—from local, community-engaged programs to international research collaborations.

Participation in a CHCI Initiative offers:

  • Opportunities to join an international network of humanities researchers
  • Access to CHCI-facilitated workshops and events
  • The possibility of seed funding (for selected projects)
  • A platform to showcase VCU humanities research globally

HRC Focus: Climate Futures

The HRC is particularly interested in developing a project aligned with the theme Climate Futures, broadly conceived. We welcome approaches that explore:

  • Climate change, sustainability, and environmental humanities
  • Energy, infrastructure, and extractivism
  • Ecologies, more-than-human worlds, and planetary thinking
  • Climate justice, inequality, and global/local scales
  • Indigenous, decolonial, and community-based approaches to environment
  • Arts, narrative, and speculative or creative climate futures
  • Public humanities and community-engaged climate work

Consistent with CHCI’s “big tent” approach, projects may be conceptual, applied, creative, or community-engaged, and may intersect with other domains such as migration, health, technology, or global justice.

The team we're building

Through this call, the HRC aims to:

  • Identify interested scholars across VCU
  • Form an interdisciplinary working group
  • Develop a collaborative project or program for CHCI participation
  • Position the team for potential external funding submission

Projects may take many forms, including:

  • Collaborative research clusters or working groups
  • Symposia or public humanities programs
  • Community-engaged or partner-based initiatives
  • Seed projects that could scale into larger grants

Application Details

We encourage expressions of interest from colleagues working in:

  • Environmental Studies and Sciences
  • Environmental Humanities
  • Sustainability and Energy
  • Social Sciences and Policy
  • Arts, Design, and Creative Practice
  • Any field engaging climate, ecology, or environment

We especially welcome cross-disciplinary teams and early-career scholars, in line with CHCI’s emphasis on collaborative and inclusive research models.

How to Apply

Please submit a brief statement (200–300 words) that includes:

  • Your Name, area(s) of expertise, Career stage
  • Your interest in Climate Futures
  • (Optional) Initial ideas for collaboration or project themes