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Faculty Working Groups

Call for Proposals
Institute of East Asian Studies
Faculty Working Groups 2013-14

Program Description

The Haas Faculty Working Group program at the Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS) is designed to foster interdisciplinary or comparative research on topics of compelling significance concerning East Asia that cannot readily take place within existing disciplinary boundaries or departmental structures. Collaboration between humanists and social scientists from various departments is encouraged, and preference may be given to those proposals that seek to involve in addition a broad range of disciplines including such fields as journalism, environmental or health sciences, urban planning, and other professional schools. Proposals that examine issues of regional or transnational significance, or that otherwise cut across borders of any single nation, may also receive preferential consideration.

Proposals are invited from any two ladder faculty members from different departments who will act as conveners for the group. Groups may be proposed for either the fall 2013 or spring 2014 semesters. Conveners are responsible for setting the intellectual agenda of the projects.

Each proposal will be evaluated on the basis of its intellectual merit and appropriateness to program guidelines. Once the winning proposal is selected by a faculty review committee, a second call will be sent to Berkeley ladder rank faculty members in all relevant fields to solicit applications for participation in the group. Up to seven additional ladder faculty participants will be chosen based on the strength of their proposed approach to the topic, their ability to contribute meaningfully to the project's goals and their representation of expertise and perspectives.

As an incentive for participating in the IEAS Faculty Working Group program, all participants, including co-conveners, may choose to receive from IEAS either course buy-out funding, or credit of an equal amount to be used towards future research expenses.

For those choosing the course release funding, the amount of one (1) course buyout at the Assistant Professor I level (currently $13,700) will be awarded to the faculty participant's home department. It will be the participant's responsibility to arrange for this release with his or her department (written permission from the department Chair is required), and funds for such course releases may be banked, if necessary, for use in later semesters. For those choosing the research funding option, the amount of $13,700 will be transferred to the participant's home department for use by the faculty member. These funds may likewise be banked for use over more than one year, if needed.

Groups will also be awarded $8,000 for the research assistance of up to two graduate student rapporteurs, and $2,500 for visiting speakers or other events.

The conveners are responsible for the group's administration. The IEAS will provide limited clerical assistance (i.e. supplying meeting needs, hiring graduate students, supporting related business transactions and so forth).

Groups are expected to meet once a week (or at a regular schedule as proposed) for seminar-style discussions and presentations held at the IEAS for the duration of one semester. Group members will assess current scholarship, and engage in research that leads in new directions. Inclusion of a limited number of invited graduate student auditors is encouraged. Group meetings are not required to be open to the public (unless group members prefer to invite the public).

Conveners and group participants will be expected to produce, at the end of award period, a final report on the group's activities as a whole, which may be a detailed account of the substance of group meetings, discussions and findings. The report should also include an evaluative assessment of the group's success in addressing the research topics at hand and possible future steps or directions for the project, in particular with regard to new research efforts. FWG grants are primarily intended to foster new findings and directions in collaborative research and publications. Projects that may eventually lead to new cross-listed courses drawing on new research concerning East Asia are also welcome. No particular form of outcome is a requirement for successful grant application. Some form and criteria of demonstrable accomplishments of the group project however will be highly desirable.


Application Instructions and Deadlines

Proposals for IEAS Faculty Working Groups may come from any two UC Berkeley ladder-rank faculty members from different departments. Proposals for Stage 1 should include:

  • An application cover sheet, with the following information:
    1. names, departments, email and telephone contacts for both faculty co-conveners
    2. title of the group's proposed project
    3. abstract of the group's project (approximately 200 words)
  • Narrative describing the Working Group project (3 pages maximum, single-spaced) along with a tentative meeting schedule. The narrative should include a plan for involving graduate student researchers.
  • For individual co-conveners seeking course release funds, a brief written statement from the department chair is required stating that the department will accept course buy-out funds for one course for the faculty member. No such statement from the Chair is necessary for those seeking research funding. If no statement from the department chair is included in the application, it will be assumed that the faculty member has chosen the research funding option.
  • CVs for the two faculty conveners.

Click here to download a PDF version of this announcement.

The application deadline for 2013-14 Faculty Working Group program (Stage 1) is Thursday, April 11, 2013. Applications should be emailed (preferably in a single PDF file) by 5 pm on April 11 to Martin Backstrom, IEAS Associate Director, at backstrom@berkeley.edu. The successful application will be announced by April 18.

The Stage 2 call for additional faculty participants in the selected faculty group will be immediately issued, with a second deadline of May 1, 2013 for individual faculty members to submit applications. The review of Stage 2 applicants will be conducted by the two faculty co-conveners along with two additional faculty members, with final decisions made by mid-May.

The activities of the Working Group will take place either during the fall semester of 2013, or the spring semester of 2014.