Internal Funding Opportunities

Arts for All enhances and amplifies the expansive artistic landscape of the University of Maryland while encouraging our entire community to meaningfully engage with the arts. Arts for All annually shares a number of funding opportunities (ArtsAMPlifications Grants). Grants support research and creative projects that integrate the arts with other disciplines and/or have a positive impact on the community. Complete information, including current deadlines, can be found on the Arts for All website. 

Arts for All proposals are typically due twice annually, in the fall and spring. This grant program is administered by Arts for All. For questions, please contact Craig Kier, Director of Arts for All or Cassie Janowski, Program Coordinator.

In Spring 2024, UMD launched the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland (AIM), bringing together AI experts across campus to focus on responsible, ethical development and use of the technology to advance public good in industry, government and society. Grants offered include Course Development Funds, to support courses focused on any aspect of AI, or AI general education courses and Seed Award Program grants, designed to support the development of innovative, interdisciplinary research projects that leverage AI to address critical societal challenges.

Please see the AIM website for upcoming deadlines and other information. Proposals were most recently due in February 2025. This grant program is administered by AIM, for questions about these grant programs please reach out to aim@umd.edu.

ARHU’s Frederick Douglass Center for Leadership Through the Humanities is dedicated to engaging diverse communities—both at the university and well beyond—around issues of social justice and equity and creating leaders with values rooted in the humanities. The Center’s activities seek to embody the core values of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery in Maryland and went on to become a prominent writer, orator, publisher, civil rights leader and government official. The Center awards grants and fellowships to ARHU faculty members (PTK or TTK) to support the development or advancement of a publicly-engaged research project. 

Frederick Douglass Center Faculty Fellowships were most recently due in April 2025. This grant program is administered by the Frederick Douglass Center for Leadership Through the Humanities. Please direct all questions to douglass-center@umd.edu.

The College of Arts and Humanities announces the 2025-2026 Faculty Funds Competition Call for Proposals for ARHU Advancement Grants, Subvention Funds, Conference Support, Journal Editing Support, and Harmony Fellowships. All ARHU PTK and TTK faculty are eligible for these awards. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Friday, October 31, 2025. Examples of past funded proposals can be found in the ARHU Proposal Library.

• ARHU Advancement Grants: $5,000 will be awarded to TTK and PTK faculty for projects that lead to a faculty member’s professional advancement in their field and at UMD. Work proposed can be ongoing research projects or a new research project. Successful applications must demonstrate 1) how the project meets the faculty member’s professional advancement at UMD, and 2) how the work contributes to the faculty member’s discipline. Funds are intended to support research expenses, e.g., hiring assistants (note: you will be responsible for covering associated fringe with your award should you choose to use it to hire assistants), studio or rehearsal costs, participant incentives, archival research, and research travel. Funds awarded will not support course releases or classroom-only projects; pedagogical projects must show a link to the faculty member’s scholarly advancement to be considered. Priority will be given to projects that advance promotion goals and/or tenure goals and to applicants who have not previously received an ARHU Advancement Grant. Recipients of an ARHU Advancement Grant may elect to 1) receive the grant as summer salary support (note: fringe benefits will count toward the total awarded and taxes will be assessed on the $5,000 amount), or 2) receive the grant as a contribution to their individual research account as managed by their department. Please consult with your unit’s business manager with any questions about grant disbursement.

  Required application components:

  • Project Description (three pages maximum): Summarize the proposed project’s objectives, approach or method, and activities, as well as expected outcomes. Address significance to the discipline and include a clear argument for how the work fits into promotion/tenure timeline and purpose. Include a timeline that lists project elements and note when each element will be accomplished during the funding period. Also include a timeline for promotion/tenure as it relates to this project.

  • Grant Spending Justification (one page maximum): Provide a justification for how the advancement grant will be used; all project elements should be anticipated along with their associated costs. Please indicate how you will receive the Advancement Grant—as summer salary support or as a research fund contribution. Please work with your business manager to ensure included expenses are compliant with UMD policies and that any required fringe is included. Include other sources of funding for the project, if known.
     

• Subvention Funds: Funds can cover costs required by a publisher that are assigned to faculty authors, such as reproduction of images and permissions or open access fees. Up to $2,000 may be requested. TTK and PTK are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to faculty preparing a product for academic promotion or tenure review. Applications must include: 1) a one-page statement of need for the subvention funding and the benefits to come as a result of the subvention funds; and 2) a copy of the publisher contract. Subvention will not cover marketing and promotion related costs.
   
• Conference Support: ARHU will award up to $5,000 in support of faculty members seeking to host an academic conference/symposium on the UMD campus. Proposals for conference support must articulate the scope and reach of the conference and its potential to draw participants from across ARHU. Proposals must also specify the sources of support for the conference from non-ARHU parties—please provide letters or other proof of support. Applications must include: 1) a one-page statement justifying the conference and specifying the need for ARHU support and the appeal of the conference to the ARHU community; 2) a one-page budget, specifying likely and/or projected conference expenditures and other sources of funding for the conference. Please work with your business manager to ensure your budget is compliant with UMD policies.
   
• Journal Editing Support: ARHU will award up to $5,000 in one-time support for a faculty member who is editing an academic/scholarly journal. The award is only for service as the editor/editor-in-chief of an academic journal. Service in other editorial capacities (e.g., associate editor, managing editor, special issue editor) is not eligible. Service as the editor of a book series is also not eligible. Proposals must include evidence of the applicant’s appointment as editor/editor-in-chief. Applications must include: 1) a two-page statement explaining the journal and its place/status within the discipline and explaining how editing the journal advances the applicant’s professional and academic goals; the statement should also indicate other sources of funding in support of the editorship.
   
• Harmony Fellowships: Launched by Dean Stephanie Shonekan in Fall 2023, the Harmony Fellowship program is designed to cultivate ideas or projects that exemplify collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to create solutions and forge new directions for the College of Arts and Humanities. Teams of two Fellows, from different disciplines/fields, will be awarded $3,000 to develop an idea that must be implementable and could be piloted in the 2026-2027 academic year. Applicants should send a two-page proposal outlining the idea they will be working on, the opportunity or solution it will be aimed at exploring, and its potential impact on ARHU students or the ARHU community.

Submission Process: All application materials should be single-spaced with one-inch margins and use a 12-point font. Applicants should combine all application documents into a single PDF file and submit electronically to https://go.umd.edu/ARHUFacultyFunds by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 31, 2025. Please note that the submission system has changed.

Post Award Expectations: Recipients of ARHU Faculty Funds awards are expected to spend the awarded funds in the one full year following the award. A final report will be required one year after the award date, summarizing use of funds and achievements. Awardees must acknowledge ARHU in any reports, presentations, publications, and/or other materials produced by the funding. Funded projects may be featured on the College of Arts and Humanities website, arhu.umd.edu.

This grant program is administered by the College of Arts and Humanities. For questions, please contact Trevor Parry-Giles, ARHU Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research.

The Division of Research supports and advances the impact, scale, and visibility of the campus research enterprise; develops and implements research policy; and ensures compliance with federal, state and university policies and regulations. The Division of Research offers several annual Internal Funding opportunities. Please see their website for a full, up-to-date list of opportunities.

Independent Scholarship, Research and Creativity Awards (ISRCA): ISRCA supports the professional advancement of TTK faculty engaged in scholarly and creative pursuits that use historical, humanistic, interpretive, or ethnographic approaches; explore aesthetic, ethical, and/or cultural values and their roles in society; conduct critical or rhetorical analysis; engage in archival and/or field research; or develop or produce creative works. Awards support teaching releases, summer salary, and/or research related expenses.

Maryland Catalyst Fund: Three categories of awards are distributed: New Directions enables important new lines of research and creative work with high potential for impact; Big Opportunity Funds offer financial support to incentivize faculty to pursue and be more competitive for prestigious, externally-funded opportunities; and Reinforcement Funds support unfunded project activities critical to the execution of a large-scale externally-funded project. All programs require matching financial support. TTK and PTK (at the rank of assistant research scientist or higher), whose full-time, home position is at UMD, are eligible.

MPowering the State (MPower): A collaboration between the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park, MPower encourages shared proposal development and research administration.

Division of Research grant programs are due at various times throughout the year. For questions, please contact Hana Kabashi, Division of Research Project Manager. 

The Do Good Campus Fund supports efforts happening across the University that are aimed at reimagining learning and serving humanity both inside and outside the classroom. Grantees use their awards to scale their impact according to the Do Good Learning Principles: experiential (TLTC definition), inclusive, innovative, social impact-oriented and in service of humanity. Teams may be interdisciplinary, multi-unit, and/or multi-school/college. Alumni and part-time faculty and staff of the University of Maryland, College Park, are not eligible to apply for the Fund. 

Do Good Institute proposals are typically due annually, in the fall. This grant program is administered by the Do Good Campus Fund. For questions, please contact their team.

The Teaching and Learning Center's (TLTC) mission is to advance the academic mission of the University of Maryland by promoting a culture of effective, engaging, and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning. TLTC periodically offers Teaching Innovation Grants. Exact priorities for grants vary from cycle to cycle but all are typically open to tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, professional-track faculty, and instructional staff. 

TLTC proposals are typically due annually, in the late fall. This grant program is administered by the Teaching and Learning Center. For questions, please contact their team.

The UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund improves access to research produced at the University of Maryland and: enables authors to retain their copyrights; accelerates the online availability of peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles generated by UMD researchers; raises campus awareness about the benefits of open access; and/or covers article processing charges (APCs) levied by peer-reviewed open access journals. Any UMD faculty member, post-doctoral researcher, or currently enrolled graduate or undergraduate student whose article has been accepted may apply for funding. Only 50% of an article will be funded, up to $3,000.

Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis until annual funds have been distributed. This grant program is administered by the Libraries’ Open Scholarship Services. For questions, please contact their team.

The Graduate School offers funding to recognize faculty-led projects and initiatives that support graduate students. The Faculty-Student Research Award (FSRA) program supports a wider variety of faculty research, scholarship, and creative projects on campus that provide unique opportunities to mentor and support graduate students. Funding of up to $15,000 is provided.

FSRA proposals are typically due annually, in January. This grant program is administered by the Graduate School. For questions, please contact Graduate School Office of Funding Opportunities Program Director, Robyn Kotzker.

The College is committed to supporting the research and scholarship of graduate students through travel awards, dissertation writing fellowships and the James F. Harris Arts and Humanities Visionary Scholarship. 

Visit the Graduate Fellowship, Grants, and Awards website for details and deadlines. 

The UMD Sustainability Fund Grant supports projects that will advance the sustainability of the College Park campus. 

Proposals are typically due annually, in October and January. This grant program is administered by the Office of Sustainability. For questions, please contact sustainabilityfund@umd.edu.