Deadline: 1 February 2015
The University of Chicago, in collaboration with the Ruhr-University Bochum/Germany invites early career and advanced level scholars around the world to submit Letter of intent for the two-year Enhancing Life Project. The major purpose of this fellowship program is to explore essential desires of human beings that move persons and communities into the future. The goal of The Enhancing Life Project is to address the following Big Questions
- What does it mean to enhance life, including spiritual life?
- What are the spiritual laws for the strategies, social mechanisms, and technologies that enable us to enhance life in its many dimensions and in measurable ways?
Components of the Project
- Research Fellowships – two types
- Scholarly Seminars – three types
The project will support approximately 15 research projects of advanced career scholars and 20 research projects of early career scholars.
Research Grants
- $100,000 each – Advanced Career Scholars
- $50,000 each – Early Career Scholars
Key Project Areas (not limited to)
- Religious Studies/Theology/Philosophy
- Philosophy of Biology/of Science/of Technology
- Social Sciences (e.g., Anthropology/Law/ Political Science/Psychology/Sociology)
- Communications and Media Studies
Note the Key Dates
- 1 February 2015 – LOI submission deadline
- 2 March 2015 – Notification to short listed candidates and invitation for full proposal submission
- 20 April 2015 – Full Proposal submission deadline
- 1 June 2015 – Award Decisions Issue
- 26 July 2015 – Project Commencement date
Projects must be completed by 31 August 2017, project extensions are not made.
Eligibility Criteria
- An Advanced Career Scholar must have a doctoral degree (or equivalent) and be affiliated with an accredited college or university (or be affiliated with another major public or private research institution). She or he must have a proven record of major refereed scholarly publications, recent excellent publications (within the last two years), experience in interdisciplinary inquiries, and a proven track record of successfully carrying out ambitious research projects.
- An Early Career Scholar must have a doctoral degree (or equivalent) and be affiliated with an accredited college or university (or be affiliated with another major public or private research institution). Her or his previous and current research must show outstanding academic promise. The grant is intended to advance exceptional research beyond the PhD. An Early Career Scholar is one whose doctoral dissertation (revised or unrevised) or first major academic work is published, no more than eight years ago.
- Applicants must be currently affiliated with an accredited college or university (or another major public or private research institution).
The LOI should include – project title, research description, an explanation of how the proposed project fits within this initiative, and information on the project’s methodology and significance.
Complete application materials include – LOI, curriculum vitae, a budget and budget narrative uploaded in the online application portal and two letters of recommendation to reach by the deadline.
For more information, please visit Enhancing Life Project.
