News/Research

BCNM Now Accepting Applications for Faculty Seed Grants!

17 Feb, 2017

BCNM Now Accepting Applications for Faculty Seed Grants!

The Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM) is a focal point for research and teaching about new media, led by a highly trans-disciplinary community of 120 affiliated faculty, advisors, and scholars, from 35 UC Berkeley departments, including Architecture, Philosophy, Film & Media, History of Art, Performance Studies, and Music; the Schools of Engineering, Information, Journalism, and Law; and the Berkeley Art Museum. Our mission is to critically analyze and help shape developments in new media from cross-disciplinary and global perspectives that emphasize humanities and the public interest.

BCNM’s seed grant fellowship program aims to identify innovative research incorporating questions of new media, and to support this work across campus, particularly by junior faculty. In keeping with BCNM’s own mission, this research can relate either to explorations of contemporary media in transformation, or to critical questions around the historic transformations and effects of new media on their own time.

This year, the Center will support up to three recipients.

Assistant Professors are invited to apply for a one-year seed grant of $6,000. Interested applicants should send a one page research proposal through this online form.

Work proposed for the fellowship can be a new extension of existing research, or new research grounded in the applicant’s interest and experience. Collaborative applications are allowed. Applications should address the urgency and impact of the research, as well as make clear how questions of new media—historic, contemporary, or both—are relevant. While a detailed budget is not necessary, we ask that you make clear what specific activities are likely to be supported by the fellowship funds.

Applications are due April 2, 2017. Funded faculty will be invited to help shape the larger conversation about new media on campus as part of BCNM’s Executive Committee, with recipients serving for the duration of their fellowship. The Executive Committee includes faculty from a wide variety of disciplines, and meets Monday 1-2pm for a catered lunch; members are expected to attend at least three meetings per semester.

Proposals will be assessed by the current Executive Committee according to three criteria: (1) relevance to new media, (2) academic rigor, and (3) potential for future funding. Funds will be transferred by the end of April.

Further information about BCNM and the fellowship is available here.