Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Invites Proposals for New Research Initiatives

Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences has invited its faculty to submit proposals for the creation of new research initiatives on campus.

Following the successful launches of the SPACE Initiative and the Society-Centered AI Initiative, the Trinity Research Initiative will support new directions for interdisciplinary research through seed funding for nascent research collaborations, community-building, and complementary educational and outreach activities.

Open to all areas of research and scholarship within Trinity, the current call anticipates funding one to two new initiatives to be launched in the 2026-27 academic year. Each initiative will be supported with $150,000 over three years.

To minimize the burden on Trinity faculty for preparing and reviewing initiative proposals, the application process is structured in two stages:

1. Letter of Intent - Due January 16, 2026

Trinity faculty should submit a brief letter of intent of no more than three pages, which will be evaluated by a faculty advisory committee and the Trinity leadership team. Four teams are expected to be invited to submit full proposals.

2. Full Proposal - Due April 1, 2026

After the review of letters of intent, finalists will be asked to submit a more extensive proposal. The lead faculty for each initiative will also present their proposal to a review committee consisting of Trinity faculty and research leadership.

All teams that submit full proposals but are not selected for an initiative in this cycle will be provided seed funding — anticipated at the $10,000 level — for activities that can build/sustain their research communities (e.g., speaker series). 

For Trinity faculty interested in learning more, the full call for proposals can be found on the Trinity administration website.