Slots: 1
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Friday, September 27th, 2024, 5pm PT Nominee chosen.
Optional Draft Deadline: October 2, 2024, 11:59pm Eastern Time
External Deadline: December 11, 2024, 11:59pm Eastern Time
Award Information
Award Type: Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 5
Anticipated Award Amount: Up to $500,000 for 36 months, with a maximum of $200,000 per year.
Who May Serve as PI: a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code • an accredited institution of higher education (public or nonprofit). Individuals and other organizations, including foreign and for-profit entities, are ineligible.
Link to Award: https://www.neh.gov/program/humanities-research-centers-artificial-intelligence
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
This notice solicits applications for the Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence (AI) program offered by the Division of Research Programs.
AI is one of the most powerful technologies of our time and will have profound consequences for civil rights and civil liberties, safety and security, and democratic values. Questions about the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI are fundamentally rooted in the humanities, which include ethics, law, history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, media studies, and cultural studies. In fall 2023, NEH will launch a major research initiative titled Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence to support research and development in the humanities to understand and address the ethical, legal, and societal consequences of AI. NEH is particularly interested in projects that explore the risks of AI-related technologies on truth, trust, and democracy; safety and security; and privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
The Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence program addresses Strategy #3 of the 2023 National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan, put forth by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Strategy #3 calls for research into “the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI” in order to “understand, anticipate, and mitigate harm as well as [understand] the distribution of likely benefits.” The Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence program will create new Centers of scholarly discourse and learning, each one a nexus for collaborative efforts that reach across disciplinary lines to gain a more holistic understanding of AI in the modern world.
In your application to this program, you must propose to create a Center with a specific research focus related to the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI. A Center is a sustained collaboration among scholars focused on exploring a specific topic, the humanities implications of AI, through two or more related scholarly activities. Competitive Centers typically identify a specific topical, methodological, or disciplinary lens through which to focus their efforts. NEH particularly encourages Centers interested in equity, privacy, and civil-rights topics. Centers should aim to advance humanities research on their chosen topic beyond the period of the grant.
In addition to the establishing the Center, your project should engage in at least two activities that support research into the ethical, legal, and social implications of AI. Appropriate activities may include, but are not limited to, collaborative research and writing efforts; workshops or lecture series; education and mentoring; and the creation of digital tools to increase or advance scholarly discourse about AI. You must present a plan to disseminate the results of each activity. Allowable costs include, but are not limited to, salary replacement; compensation of collaborators, post-doctoral students, consultants, and research assistants; fringe benefits; and travel, lodging, and per diem costs for lecturers or convening participants.
Centers should leverage the visionary nature of their research to promote a more informed public discourse about AI through education and outreach efforts and to actively build the next generation of scholars. Centers are encouraged to include educational and public programming to increase AI literacy at the K-12 as well as college and university levels. Centers are also encouraged to enhance public awareness of humanities perspectives on AI.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.