The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Office of Digital Humanities is accepting applications for the Dangers & Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities program to support research that examines technology and its relationship to society through the lens of the humanities, with a focus on the dangers and/or opportunities presented by technology, broadly defined.
Purpose
The Dangers & Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities program (DOT) supports humanistic research that explores the relationships between technology and society, and the impacts technology has on culture, health, social interactions, government, cultural institutions, the environment, and other aspects of life. NEH encourages you to interpret the term “technology” broadly. It is up to you to define and make a compelling case for the technologies you choose to examine.
NEH is particularly interested in projects that examine current social and cultural issues that are significantly shaped by technologies and expand understanding of a particular topic in the humanities. You may involve communities affected by these technologies as collaborators or contributors. Projects must not engage in political advocacy.
NEH invites projects at different stages of development that link their research to compelling social issues where technology plays a key role. Projects may address a wide range of topics, such as:
climate change
racial justice
social media, disinformation, and the democratic process
medical technologies
wealth inequality
data privacy and ethics of algorithms
cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs)
supply chains and infrastructure
educational technologies
the streaming economy (e.g., music, television, film)
The DOT program can fund activities and final products such as:
research time (e.g., course releases)
research assistance (e.g., student researchers)
research travel
community partner participation
conducting studies or interviews
convenings
data collection and analysis
experiments or prototyping
development or production of articles, books, web sites, or other forms of intellectual output
Project Categories
The DOT program includes separate funding categories for projects led by a single researcher and projects led by collaborative teams. In both categories, NEH will issue awards to institutions, not directly to participating scholars.
This program will support projects at any research stage.
Projects led by a single researcher
Single project directors with an institutional affiliation will lead projects in this category and will set the research agenda. Other personnel, including students, may carry out some activities.
You may request an award of up to $75,000 with a period of performance of up to two years for projects in this category.
Projects led by collaborative teams
Two or more project directors (co-directors), each contributing equally to the research agenda(s), will lead projects in this category. Co-project directors may be independent scholars. Other personnel, including students or staff from community organizations, can also be involved in carrying out some of the work.
You may request an award of up to $150,000 with a period of performance of up to two years for projects in this category.
Funding Information
You may request up to $75,000 for projects led by a single researcher.
You may request up to $150,000 for projects led by collaborative teams. These limits include the sum of direct and indirect costs.
NEH anticipates awarding approximately $1,000,000 among an estimated 9-12 recipients.
NEH will award successful applicants outright funds, which are not contingent on additional funding from other sources.
Duration
The period of performance is up to 24 months.
The period of performance is the time during which you may incur expenses to carry out the work under the award. It must start on the first day of the month and end on the last day of a month.
If you apply to the 2023 deadline, you may request a period of performance start date between June 1, 2024, and August 1, 2024. If you apply to the 2024 deadline, you may request a period of performance start date between June 1, 2025, and August 1, 2025.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible to apply, your organization must be established in the United States or its jurisdictions as one of the following:
a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3)
an accredited institution of higher education (public or nonprofit)
a state or local government or one of their agencies
a federally recognized Native American Tribal government
If your organization is eligible, you may apply on behalf of a consortium of collaborating organizations. If NEH selects your proposal for funding, you will be programmatically, legally, and fiscally responsible for the award.
To be eligible, your organization must make substantive contributions to the success of the project and must not function solely as a fiscal agent for another entity.
Individuals and other organizations, including foreign and for-profit entities, are ineligible.
