Applications are due Friday, May 21, 2021.
The Digital Humanities Research Institute (DHRI) is a virtual workshop hosted by GC Digital Initiatives at the CUNY Graduate Center which will take place online from July 6-15, 2021. The DHRI is supported by an Institutes in Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities grant and supplemental CARES Act funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Applications must be received by May 21, 2021. More information and application materials can be found on this page.
Originally planned as an in-person workshop, DHRI has redesigned its curricula and pedagogical approach for a hybrid combination of online in-person and self-directed digital skills workshops. DHRI’s 2021 format includes eight, intensive days of foundational digital skill workshops online and the opportunity to connect to a growing network of institute leaders during monthly meetings throughout the academic year. Those interested must apply with a partner or co-applicant who is either located at the same institution or at a nearby or partner institution. Applicants will be accepted in pairs and asked to serve as accountability partners as they learn together.
During the following academic year, each pair of applicants are expected to lead a local digital humanities institute at their home campus (or campuses). These can be in-person, remote, or hybrid. For more information about the institutes previous DHRI applicants have run, see our Network page.
This program is designed for those who want to learn foundational technical skills that will help them to grow in their own digital humanities projects and support their local communities of DH practice. During the July DHRI, you will learn to:
Our digital skill workshop sessions will be 8-days long (Tuesday, July 6–Friday, July 9 and Monday, July 12–Thursday, July 15) and meet daily between 11am and 5pm (ET). The schedule includes a combination of in-person and self-guided activities during scheduled 60–90 minute blocks of time. Applicants should plan to be present for all sessions.
Applicants are required to apply with one other person (either from your own institution or one nearby) with whom you’ll learn skills and develop your own local version of DHRI based on our open, core curriculum. Successful applicants will receive:
To apply, both applicants should complete a single application form. If you want to prepare your application before entering the information into the form, you can use the Application Preparation Sheet for this year's applications to ready your answers.
We request a CV/resume from each applicant in order to better understand where you are situated within your institution as well as in your larger field of research and digital humanities (if at all).
Submitting the application will require you uploading a CV/resume of maximum 2 pages.
We request a personal statement from each applicant in order to better understand where you are situated within your institution as well as in your larger field of research and digital humanities (if at all).
Submitting the application will require you uploading a personal statement of maximum 500 words.
We request a plan for collaboration from you both as co-applicants detailing how you as co-applicants will work together to learn during the week long summer institute and then collaborate to lead a local Digital Humanities Research Institute of your own locally.
Your plan should describe the need and/or interest at your institution(s) or organization(s) for digital humanities skill development through a local version of the DHRI, the approximate timing of your institute, a possible format (whether it would be hybrid, in person, or remote), and the opportunities and challenges to digital humanities community building that your community faces. Why would participation in the 2021 DHRI be helpful to you both in building a local DH community of practice?
Submitting the application will require you uploading a plan for collaboration of maximum 750 words (or approximately 3 double-spaced pages).
We require a letter of support from a group, organization, or institution stating they will support your efforts to run a Digital Humanities Research Institute.
Support does not have to be financial. It should simply recognize that your activities are recognized and welcomed by the organization.
Submitting the application will require you to upload one letter of support per application (even if applicants are from 2 different institutions).
Note that letters of support may be uploaded or emailed to info@dhinstitutes.org before 5pm (ET), May 28.
Applications are due Friday, May 21, 2021.
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
We are looking for participants who represent diverse DH areas of interest (disciplines, methods, project-types), who work at a wide range of institutional types (universities, community colleges, libraries, archives, museums, historical associations), and who reflect an array of professional roles from graduate students to experienced faculty to librarians, administrators, museum curators, archivists and more. We are particularly eager to receive applications from those who represent a range of lived experiences.
Ideal participants will be able to demonstrate strong communication and collaboration skills and a willingness to confront and overcome frustration. No previous technical experience is required. Applications will not be evaluated based on familiarity with existing technologies, though we are happy to hear about your aspirations and the skills you would like to develop for future work.
Applications must be received by May 21, 2021.
Questions and comments can be directed to info@dhinstitutes.org.
A note on eligibility: We are unable to accept applications from individuals outside of the United States and U.S. territories at this time. In order to be accepted into this year's program, you must be able to receive compensation for services rendered in the U.S. To receive the designated stipend, we are required to provide the CUNY Research Foundation with (1) a U.S. social security number or an Individual Taxpayer ID (ITIN), and (2) a routing number and an account number to a U.S. bank. If you are unable to provide this information, we are not able to accept you into the program.
The nature and scope of the institute is intentionally vague because we have very different types of organizations interested in applying. For example, a small, regional digital humanities organization may not have much financial backing, but there may be someone who has space they want to donate, and someone else willing to donate their time. In the end, there's no budget, but there are people who are willing to help advertise, support, and even work at the institute. However, other institutions might find it easier to give you a budget to work with for food, money to pay an outside trainer, and a computer lab that you can use. For that reason, we've tried to keep the requirements for "how" to do the institutes loose enough that it can be adapted to a variety of organizational types. In the proposal, a letter simply stating that the institution is interested, that it's willing to pay for time, space, and encourage faculty or staff to participate (by giving them the time to do so) would be a good start. If you can do more, that's fantastic. If not... we'll help you try to think through how to work with what you've got.
Browsing the Network page on this site, which contains information about the institutes that have run previously as part of the project, might give you some ideas of what an institute could look like.
We are unable to accept applications from individuals outside of the United States and U.S. territories at this time. In order to be accepted into this year's program, you must be able to receive compensation for services rendered in the U.S. To receive the designated stipend, we are required to provide the CUNY Research Foundation with (1) a U.S. social security number or an Individual Taxpayer ID (ITIN), and (2) a routing number and an account number to a U.S. bank. If you are unable to provide this information, we are not able to accept you into the program.
The materials created to run institutes, our reports and our curricula are available for others to use, which means that you have the ability to run an institute despite not being able to join the program officially.
If you choose to run an institute on your own, reach out to us. We would love to hear about it and promote it through our channels as well.
For those applicants who are employed by the sponsoring organization (ie. if you are a librarian and the library you work for is the one that is writing the letter of support), then simply having a letter from your supervisor will suffice. The purpose of the letter is to let us know that your supervisor and your institution are aware of your application and supportive of your efforts. The letter from the supervisor should explain how this work fits within your responsibilities, or how the organization recognizes this work as an important contribution. Though not required, they may also explain that they are willing to provide rooms, time, or similar resources to support your institute.
The wording for the letter of support is designed to be open-ended to accommodate those applicants who may not be employed by the same organization who is writing to say that they will agree to allow the applicant to run a Digital Humanities Research Institute.
At this time, we are unable to review materials in addition to those requested as part of your application.
Yes, the materials that we create for the institute and the curriculum that we will use will be available on GitHub for others to use, which means that should your application not be successful, you will still have access to the materials we produce.