Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs Collaborative Programming Grants

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) supports the creation and circulation of knowledge that advances understanding of humanity and human endeavors in the past, present, and future, with a view toward improving human experience.

To that end, ACLS invites proposals for Collaborative Programming Grants offered by the Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs, made possible by the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation. The program aims to deepen public understanding of religion by advancing innovative scholarship on religion in international contexts, equipping individual scholars and institutions of higher education with the capacities to connect their work to journalism and the media, and engaging audiences beyond the academy.

ACLS seeks proposals for collaborative projects hosted at United States-based accredited institutions of higher education with research and curricular strengths in journalism and communication and in the humanistic and social science fields concerned with the study of global religions (including but not limited to, anthropology, area studies, history, languages and literature, political science, religious studies, and sociology). Grants of up to $45,000 will be awarded for projects 12 to 18 months in duration, to be initiated between July 1 and August 31, 2023.

To be eligible, the project’s principal investigator must be a scholar in a field of the humanities or social sciences or journalism. Proposals must involve activities that connect humanities and social science programs within their institution to journalism schools, departments, initiatives, or to external media organizations. Applicants are encouraged to propose activities that build on or extend current curricular and research strengths in relevant disciplinary areas. Successful approaches may include a multimodal slate of campus programming that brings together journalists and religion scholars in workshops, seminars, courses, and public events; a symposium that blends thematic reflections on global religions with practice-oriented sessions on reaching out to audiences beyond the academy; or a course that offers humanities or social science students and/or faculty hands-on training as religion reporters. Proposals may include a combination of approaches provided that applications demonstrate how the proposed activities complement one another.

Projects must be hosted by a U.S.-based accredited institution of higher education.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the American Council of Learned Societies website.