Flexible Research Grants for Scholars: Event Support

The Institute for Humane Studies offers Flexible Research Grants for Scholars to support in-person and online academic events, including workshops and conferences. Grants range from $500 to $5,000, aimed at fostering rigorous academic discussions within the liberal tradition. Applicants must submit at least three weeks before the event, and funding is available for events that align with IHS's focus areas, promoting intellectual discovery and human flourishing.

NOTE: Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and must be submitted at least three weeks prior to the proposed event. For events that are run through the IHS Digital Community, decisions will be announced within two weeks of submission. All other event decisions will be announced within eight weeks of submission.
Promoting Intellectual Discovery and Human Flourishing
Rooted in the classical liberal tradition, IHS is a non-profit organization that supports the achievement of a free society by connecting and supporting graduate students, scholars, and intellectuals who are driving human progress in critical conversations shaping the 21st century.
Events may take place either in person or online but must be rigorously academic in nature and feature speakers or texts that represent the diversity of views within the broad liberal tradition.
Typical awards range from $500 to $5,000. Larger awards will be considered for exceptional projects.
Areas of Focus
IHS will concentrate its activities and investments from across four initiatives encompassing our twelve focus areas.
Liberalism, Pluralism, DemocracyConstitutionally constrained liberal democracies foster peace, freedom, and widespread prosperity. However, the rise of contemporary illiberal ideologies threatens democratic institutions, individual freedoms, and the prospects for peaceful pluralism. The Liberalism, Pluralism, and Democracy initiative aims to spark innovative ideas and solutions that uphold and fortify the norms and institutions that underlie the liberal project and promote widespread human flourishing.Focus Areas: Trust & PolarizationSpeech and Intellectual FreedomFreedoms of speech, expression, and intellectual inquiry drive innovation, the growth of knowledge, and social progress. The Speech and Intellectual Freedom initiative supports research examining new and increasingly complex challenges to these freedoms, including those presented by illiberal political movements, technological change, and contemporary threats to academic freedom.Focus Areas: Online SpeechEquality, Peace, and ProsperityIndividual liberty, equality before the law, free enterprise, and voluntary cooperation, are essential to prosperous, peaceful, and flourishing societies that enable every person to pursue their full potential. The Equality, Peace, and Prosperity initiative supports research investigating the barriers that inhibit people from realizing their full potential, the underlying causes of violent conflict, and solutions to overcoming these challenges that advance human freedom.Focus Areas: Immigration, Trade and Industrial Policy, Health Opportunity, Housing, Barriers to Entrepreneurship, Women and Freedom, Criminal Justice ReformBusiness and the Good SocietyIn addition to driving material well-being, entrepreneurs and businesses can foster trust, cooperation, personal growth, and moral development among business owners, employees, suppliers, and customers. The Business and the Good Society initiative supports research exploring the factors that promote commerce’s role in contributing to widespread human flourishing (within and beyond the economic realm), and factors that inhibit these effects.Focus Areas: Corporate Governance, AI Design for a Free Society, Morality and Market Society

Eligibility

Faculty and Graduate StudentsEligible Events & ExpensesBook manuscript, single paper, and multiple paper workshops (honoraria for participants)Awards of up to $5,000 for reviewer honorariaHonoraria of $500 for paper-length manuscriptsHonoraria of $750 for book-length manuscriptsWorkshops to include 2–10 reviewersAcademic conferencesNote: If you wish to be considered for funding to support the expense of presenting at an academic conference, please apply to Expense Support

Ineligibility

IHS grants cannot support institutional overhead or indirect costs.Undergraduate events and book clubs are not supportedDiscussion groups and networking events with no publishable outcomes