Franco Humanities Fellowships support full-time research in the humanities by individual faculty in Arts & Letters. Each humanities fellow will receive:

• relief from teaching and service responsibilities for one semester while receiving full salary and benefits.
• up to $5,000 in research funds.
• funds to cover travel and honorarium for one external manuscript reviewer who will participate in a workshop for the fellow.

In exchange, each humanities fellow must:

• submit work to be discussed during one of three workshops held for fellows throughout the academic year.
• attend all three workshops for fellows scheduled during the academic year of their fellowship, regardless of the timing of their semester leave.

• Funds will be provided for departments to cover teaching responsibilities when necessary.
• Fellows on a regular 2-1 teaching schedule will receive relief from teaching responsibilities for one course.
• Course relief schedules will be determined and approved by department chairs and the dean.
• All fellows must submit a final report on their fellowship activities by May 15 following their fellowship period.

• All fellows must be tenured or tenure-track faculty with a primary appointment in the College of Arts and Letters. 
• Faculty may not apply for any Franco fellowship during the year of their tenure review.
• Faculty who are awarded a Franco fellowship (of any type) may not receive another Franco fellowship for five years.

Fellows must meet all other eligibility requirements for a leave from teaching as outlined in the College of Arts and Letters Research Leave Policy and have their leave application approved by both their department chair and the divisional associate dean. Failure to apply for leave with the College will make an applicant ineligible for a Franco fellowship.

Purpose

Franco Mid-Career Fellowships support associate and full professors in any discipline in Arts & Letters aiming to develop new skills for a future research project. This program is offered in collaboration with the Office of the Dean of Arts & Letters. Each mid-career fellow will receive:

• A full semester of relief from teaching. Fellows must continue to fulfill service responsibilities during the fellowship year.
• Opportunity to enroll in University of Notre Dame courses to acquire new skills.
• Eligibility to apply for additional training-related funding from Franco as needed.

• Funds will be provided for departments to cover teaching responsibilities when necessary.
• Fellows on a regular 2-1 teaching schedule will receive relief from teaching responsibilities for one course.
• Course relief schedules will be determined and approved by department chairs and the dean.
• All fellows must submit a final report on their fellowship activities by May 15 following their fellowship period.

Eligibility

• All fellows must be tenured faculty with a primary appointment in the College of Arts and Letters. 
• Faculty may not apply for any Franco fellowship during the year of their tenure review.
• Faculty who are awarded a Franco fellowship (of any type) may not receive another Franco Institute fellowship for five years.

Purpose

Franco Public Fellowships support publicly engaged scholarship by individual faculty working in any discipline in Arts & Letters. Each public fellow will receive:

• A course release to be taken during the fellowship year.
• up to $5,000 in research funds.

• Funds will be provided for departments to cover teaching responsibilities when necessary.
• Course relief schedules will be determined and approved by department chairs and the dean.
• All fellows must submit a final report on their fellowship activities by May 15 following their fellowship period.

Eligibility:

• All fellows must be tenured or tenure-track faculty with a primary appointment in the College of Arts and Letters.
• Faculty may not apply for any Franco fellowship during the year of their tenure review.
• Faculty who are awarded a Franco fellowship (of any type) may not receive another Franco Institute fellowship for five years.

The Notre Dame Arts Initiative and the Franco Institute welcome applications for Small Creative & Performing Arts Grants. These grants, awarded on a rolling basis throughout the academic year, support arts and creative practice projects in any medium that are directed by faculty at the University of Notre Dame.    

Grants are open to all regular faculty at the University of Notre Dame, regardless of department or rank. Awards made outside the College of Arts and Letters will be fully funded by the ND Arts Initiative. Awards made within the College of Arts and Letters will be co-sponsored by the ND Arts Initiative and the Franco Institute.

Faculty are limited to one Small Creative and Performing Arts Grant or Small Research Grant per academic year. Applications must be received at least one month prior to the start of the proposed research or creative work.  

To apply, please submit a proposal through the Franco Institute's web portal with the following:

• An application form through Submittable.
• An 800-word max. proposal that outlines the proposed training or professional development activity and its relevance to the applicant’s current and future scholarship or creative work.
• For language study: evidence of proficiency or need for testing current language proficiency as described on the Franco Institute's website
• Budget (please use the institute’s budget template and include travel expenses as well as the fees associated with the course or professional development activity).

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis throughout the academic year beginning August 1 and continuing until allocated funds for this RFP are exhausted.

Subventions

When a reputable academic press initiates a request, the Institute may make a subvention to support the publication of manuscripts, if funds are available. Similarly, the Institute will consider a subvention to support a scholarly or artistic sound or video recording upon request by the producer. You must have a contract from the publisher before the Franco Institute will negotiate with them. The typical range for a book subvention is from $1,000 to $3,000. 

Imaging Grants

        Imaging Grants are ordinarily limited to $2,000. In extraordinary cases where the cumulative image costs exceed this limit, faculty members may discuss an exception with the Institute Director before submitting an application.

• Please provide a list of images to be acquired and their associated costs.
• Franco Institute funding may not be used to pay image researchers or research assistants.
• Recipients of publication support must acknowledge the Franco Institute in the final product. 

Indexing Support

The Franco Institute will provide up to $1,500 to cover indexing costs for faculty book projects. 

These funds must be used to hire a professional indexer.

• Please supply budget justification and information about the indexing service you are using in your proposal. 
• Limit: one indexing grant per book and academic year.
• Recipients of publication support must acknowledge the Franco Institute in the final product and provide the Franco Institute with a hard copy of the book once published.

Editing Grants

       The Franco Institute will provide up to $1,500 to defray costs associated with hiring a professional editor for copyediting or developmental editing of a manuscript.

• Applications must be accompanied by an estimate or invoice provided by the editor. 
• Recipients of publication support must acknowledge the Franco Institute in the final product and provide the Franco Institute with a hard copy of the book once published.

Manuscript Workshops

       The Franco Institute will provide up to $2,000 to defray costs associated with hosting a manuscript workshop with external reviewers.

• Applications must include information on the names and affiliations of reviewers.
• Please supply a well-justified budget for the workshop with your application.
• Recipients of publication support must acknowledge the Franco Institute in the final product and provide the Franco Institute with a hard copy of the book once published.

No publication grant applications are accepted between June 1 and July 14.

The Franco Institute can provide partial support (up to $3,500) for academic conferences or lectures held on the Notre Dame campus (including gateways). Preference is given to projects that have matching funds from other sources (e.g., foundations, departments or institutes). 

Researchers must apply for their own grants. Grants submitted on behalf of a faculty member by a student, staff member, or outside entity will not be reviewed.

When submitting an application, please note that the Franco Institute policy limits speaker honoraria to $1,000 per person.  All applications must include an itemized budget and must use the Institute's budget template for faculty programs.  

Please list all (planned) sources of funding in your budget, showing how the planned / secured funding sources will cover the total costs of the research or event.

Faculty are limited to one Small Henkels Lecture Grant or Mini-Conference Grant award per academic year. Small Henkels Grant do not support fetschrift or book launches.

Applications are accepted at any time for a Mini-conference award up to $3,500.00 (except between June 1 and July 14)

Event Co-Sponsorship Grants of up to $10,000 support lectures and annual meetings co-sponsored by another unit at the University of Notre Dame. Event Co-Sponsorship Grants do not support fetschrift or book launches. 

All Arts & Letters faculty seeking to consult with Franco event staff must submit an intake form through Submittable. This intake form asks for:

• Main faculty organizer first and last name, email address, and department
• Tentative title, date, and location for the event
• Estimated number of attendees
• Preliminary schedule
• List of co-sponsors
• Level of services requested with related eligibility questions
• Option to upload draft budget and supplemental materials

After submitting this form, please schedule a consultation with the events team using this link.

This form should not be used to request financial support. Franco's graduate and conference funding all run through established programs listed here.

To complement the ND Arts Biennial theme of “symbiosis,” we are pleased to announce that the Franco Institute’s annual research theme for 2026-2027 is Interdependence.

With this year’s theme, we invite proposals that probe the interrelations of species, communities, ideas, and economies, past and present. 

Awards are given on a competitive basis for research travel, summer student research assistance, research materials, artistic creation, and other costs of carrying out research and creative work. Both individual and collaborative projects are eligible. Whereas the Small Research Grant cannot be used for domestic travel for conferences, it can be used for research-related domestic and international travel. International travel for presenting at conferences is covered under the Franco Institute International Conference Travel Grant.

Restrictions: Small Grants for Research cannot be used to cover:

• Domestic or international conference expenses
• Funds to upgrade Campus Workstation Program (CWP) computers
• Equipment; Notre Dame Research has a yearly competition for equipment purchase and replacement
• Electronic devices such as cameras, recorders, laptops/computers
• Salary for course buyout or summer salary for faculty
• Publication Costs; Please see our Publication page  

 Application Instructions

Researchers must apply for their own grants. Applications submitted on behalf of a faculty member by a student, staff member, or outside entity will not be reviewed. While researchers may use multiple Franco Institute grants to cover various phases of a long-term research project, applicants should not submit the same (or very similar) proposals or budgets to multiple grant programs.

To apply, please submit a proposal through the Franco Institute's web portal with the following:

• Brief proposal (1000 words max). Your proposal should include:          
• A description of the proposed project that outlines the chosen materials and methods and a rationale for your choices
• A discussion of the impact the project will have both within and beyond the applicant’s field
• Information about the project director and collaborators, if any. Explain how and why the people involved will make for a successful project.

• An itemized budget (must use the Institute's budget template for faculty programs). Please list all (planned) sources of funding in your budget, showing how the planned / secured funding sources will cover the total costs of the research or event.

Faculty are limited to one Small Research Grant or Small Creative and Performing Arts Grant per academic year. Applications must be received at least one month prior to the start of the proposed research or creative work.

The Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good is seeking a reliable, organized, and proactive Graduate Student Intern to support our daily operations beginning in June 2026. In this role, you will play a vital part in reviewing student research and grant applications and supporting outreach and engagement efforts.

The Graduate Student Intern will support the Franco Institute's student programs by organizing and convening grant review boards, drafting stewardship documents, and evaluating some student proposals as assigned. The intern will assist the Franco Institute’s outreach efforts by strategizing, designing, and distributing physical and digital signage and by collaborating on social media messaging. The person in this role will also assist with setup for meetings and represent the Franco Institute at certain student-facing events. Finally, the graduate student intern will provide additional administrative support to the general Franco Institute staff.

Partial support is available to faculty members who present a paper or poster at a professionally organized conference located outside of the United States. The conference must be a society conference or a conference sponsored by a professional organization. Typically these organizations have an annual meeting, membership, registration fees, call for papers, peer review of submissions, and so forth.

Restrictions

Submissions must be completed at least one month in advance of the conference. No post awards will be given.

This award does not cover:

• Invited lectures
• Time-limited organizations 
• Informal gatherings of scholars

Application Instructions

Researchers must apply for their own grants. Grants submitted on behalf of a faculty member by a student, staff member, or outside entity will not be reviewed.

While researchers may use multiple Franco Institute grants to cover various phases of a long-term research project, applicants should not submit the same (or very similar) proposals or budgets to multiple grant programs.

To apply, please submit a proposal through the Franco Institute's web portal with the following:

• Information about the conference’s significance (provide link to the conference website)
• Synopsis of the presentation (conference abstract is sufficient)
• Documentation or confirmation of an accepted paper/presentation
• Travel budget with an explanation of budget items (awards will not exceed $1,500).  Please list all (planned) sources of funding in your budget, showing how the planned / secured funding sources will cover the total costs of the research or event.
• Applicant's CV   

Cancelations

• The Franco Institute will not be responsible for canceled ticket fees or any charges due to changes in travel plans.
• If a conference trip is not taken due to an emergency, all unused award money must be returned to the Franco Institute.

Faculty are limited to one award for travel to an international conference per academic year. Proposals are accepted at any time except June 1 to July 14.   

All proposals should have the following:

• Abstract
• Title Page
• Proposal (Times New Roman, 12 point font, double spaced, pages numbered at the bottom)
• Franco Institute Budget Template   

Max Award: $5,000 for graduate students. 

Required application materials

•  An application form through Submittable.  
•  A 100-word abstract that outlines your project's primary goals,  planned contribution, and engagement with this year's research theme.  
•  A proposal (1000 words max.) that includes 1) the primary goals of  your project; 2) your sources and methods and how they will help you  achieve the goals of the project; 3) the specific contributions your  project will make to scholarship, society, or both; and 4) how your  project responds to this year’s research theme as outlined in the call  for proposals.  
•  A project timeline outlining your plan for the grant period,  including key goals and targeted completion dates for each. (1 page  max.).  
•  An itemized budget (must use the approved budget template).  
• A CV (for graduate students only).

Applications will be evaluated based on the level of engagement with  the research theme, intellectual merit, the potential impact of the  project for scholars and the public, and the researcher’s qualifications  to conduct the proposed work.

Budget items with insufficient justification may be reduced or eliminated in an award offer.

The Glynn Family Honors Program supports a variety of undergraduate research projects and training opportunities. Students are eligible to receive up to $6,000 in research grants over the course of their study and up to $5,500 in summer language study support. Glynn prioritizes projects relating to senior thesis research. Students may also apply for funds to jumpstart preliminary research, acquire foreign language skills, and receive training that they cannot obtain at Notre Dame. If a student has questions about whether their project idea qualifies for Glynn funding, please contact the Glynn team before submitting a proposal.

You may find more information regarding proposal requirements and funding information on our website.

Please see individual grant guidelines for specific requirements. Please note the different application criteria for RESEARCH and CREATIVE proposals on the 'How to Apply' page of our website. Please use the provided budget from our website. All proposals should have the following:

• Abstract
• Title Page
• Proposal (Times New Roman, 12 point font, double spaced, pages numbered at the bottom)
• Franco Institute Budget Template