Seed Grants for ASC Associates

ASC organizes annual competitions for joint research projects conducted by an ASC associate at the University of Michigan and colleagues based at an African university, aligned with one of ASC’s disciplinary initiatives: African Heritage and Humanities Initiative (AHHI), African Social Research Initiative (ASRI), and STEM-Africa (STEM).

The aim of these grants is to create a framework for U-M scholars to develop relationships with Africa-based scholars. Seed grants will ideally incubate work that can subsequently attract larger amounts of funding.

AHHI – Award Amount: up to $10,000

The African Heritage and Humanities Initiative (AHHI) grants are intended to support scholarships produced by U-M’s faculty in the arts, humanities, and interpretive social sciences, whose work illuminates the dynamic, contested process by which African cultures and histories are made. We aim to encourage the development of overlapping, intersecting research projects that bring African scholars into close conversation with U-M researchers.

AHHI has supported a range of projects over the years, such as:

A collaborative study of opera in South Africa involving faculty at U-M and at the University of Witwatersrand
Joint research on the heritage market in post-genocide Rwanda involving a U-M historian and a political scientist at the National University of Rwanda
A museum exhibition in Kano, Nigeria, displaying cloth manufactured in the city’s old textile factory jointly curated by U-M and Nigerian scholars

ASRI – Award Amount: $5,000-10,000

The African Social Research Initiative (ASRI) was established in response to the critical need in Africa for high-quality social data for policy and planning in economics, urbanization, gender, citizenship and governance, education, demographics, environmental change, and public health. ASRI encourages collaborative research projects that cross national, institutional, and disciplinary boundaries, and innovative partnerships with policy-makers.

The purpose of ASRI seed grants is to provide faculty at the University of Michigan and colleagues at institutions of knowledge production based in Africa with seed funding to conduct pilot research on important social research topics, and/or initiate new partnerships in this domain, to advance scholarship and policy, and to be used to leverage future funding. Projects with co-investigators from any country in Africa are welcome. ASRI particularly encourages projects that provide data of critical policy value—evidenced by plans to translate research into action, and/or commitment to supporting junior faculty—and/or those that are multidisciplinary in nature. Preference will be given to those applicants who have not previously received an ASRI seed grant award.

STEM – Award Amount: up to $10,000

Requirement and Application Process

Please complete the online form. When completing the application, you will be asked to provide and upload the following information:

CVs of the applicant, listed partners, and students proposed for funding (PDF format; 100MB file limit)
Project Description (2-page maximum; PDF format; 100MB file limit), addressing:
- Context of the work;
- Specific activities proposed for funding;
- Rationale, noting originality and significance of the work;
- Partnerships and collaboration, and expected roles of listed participants at both institutions;
- Plan for continuation of the proposed project.
Budget (1-page maximum; PDF format; 100MB file limit) and other list of any funding requests under review or planned to be submitted for the same project.
Timeline (100MB file limit)

Seed Grant Online Application »

Selection Consideration

The ranking of applications will be based on the following criteria:

U-M based applicants must be ASC associates or interested in becoming one.
The project deepens collaborative partnerships with the Africa-based counterparts.
The proposal indicates how the project builds upon existing scholarship while also demonstrating originality and innovation.
The proposal indicates the kind of deliverable expected as the outcome of the proposed project. Examples of deliverables include, but are not limited to, a publication, a public performance, a white paper outlining future steps toward a goal, and/or a major grant application.
The scope of work is reasonable for 12 to 18 months.
The project has the potential for future expansion/scale up.

Ethical Considerations for Human Subjects

All research projects involving human subjects conducted in connection with this seed grant must have written evidence of compliance with required federal guidelines and approval from an institutional review board (IRB). IRB approvals must be maintained and in effect throughout the project’s connection with the program.

Requirements for Funded Proposals

Grant recipients will be required to submit a final report to ASC, along with a short summary of results for the ASC website, no later than 6 months from the end of their funding cycle.

For inquiries, please contact asc-contact@umich.edu.

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