The Critical Digital Humanities Initiative (CDHI) is pleased to announce new Fellowships in Critical Digital Humanities (DH) research to support qualified undergraduate students registered in any program at the University of Toronto. The program embeds undergraduate student researchers within existing critical digital humanities research projects at U of T. This call supports undergrad researchers for the period between 01 May 2023 and 25 August 2023.  

U of T faculty members are invited to apply to the program, which will fund an undergraduate fellow’s position within their critical digital humanities research project/team for Spring and Summer 2023. Successful faculty applicants and their research teams will be responsible for recruiting their undergraduate fellow. We are particularly interested in proposals that succeed in creating cross-divisional teams that train undergraduate students in disciplines, fields, skills, and/or methodologies that might be new to them.  

While all DH scholars are encouraged to apply, we will prioritize research projects engaged in critical digital humanities: research that emphasizes questions of power, social justice, and critical theory in making and analyzing digital technologies. We also encourage applications for critical digital humanities projects that foreground creative praxis, co-creation, public engagement, and community-based research. 

Fellowship expectations

Undergraduate fellows will work for 250 hours, between May 1 and August 25, 2023, with the critical DH project they join. The fellow’s work plan and schedule will be mutually designed by the student and research team. Duties might include, but need not be limited to research, digitizing, metadata creation, programming, text encoding, research support, data visualization, digital mapping, social media support, podcasting, digital storytelling, and/or website development. 

Undergraduate fellows will give a presentation on their work in a research showcase hosted by the CDHI in Fall 2023. Fellows and their supervisors will complete a brief report to the CDHI by 01 September 2023. 

Compensation

The fellowships will fund 250 hours of work, to be conducted between May 1 and August 25, 2023. The total fellowship value is $5,000 (250 hours at $20/hr). 

Eligibility

For supervisors: Any U of T faculty member (including teaching stream and sessional faculty) may apply. Librarians interested in supervising a project are also encouraged to apply. 

For students: Any undergraduate students registered in any program at U of T with a GPA of 3.0 may participate. 

Application process

Step one: Faculty project leads will submit applications via email to dhn.admin@utoronto.ca by 27 March 2023 at 11:59pm EST. 

Using language appropriate to a multi-disciplinary audience, please include the following information about the proposed project: 

• The cover sheet 
• 1-2 page project description that addresses the following:  
  • An explanation of the project, including research questions (c. 300 words)
  • A brief description (c. 200 words) of how the undergraduate fellow will contribute to the research project.
  • A brief description of how the undergrad will be trained and/or mentored over the course of the fellowship (c. 150 words)
  • If applicable, a discussion of how the project addresses CDHI goals of research that emphasizes questions of power, social justice, and critical theory in making and analyzing digital technologies. If applicable, discuss how your work foregrounds creative praxis, co-creation, public engagement, and community-based research (c. 100 words).
  • A brief description of the team (if applicable).
  • The name and brief bio of the proposed undergraduate fellow (if known at the time of application).

Results of the competition will be communicated by mid-April 2023. Project leads will recruit an eligible U of T undergraduate student to join their project as the Critical DH Undergraduate Fellow; the Fellow will then submit a Project Plan (step two).  

Step two: The selected undergraduate will submit 2 documents to dhn.admin@utoronto.ca by 15 May 2023: 1) an unofficial transcript; and 2) a fellowship Project Plan signed by the faculty supervisor or approved via email. CDHI will not be able to release funds without this project plan.  

The Project Plan will be prepared by the student in collaboration with the faculty lead. It should be 1-2 pages and will include:  

• A description of the work the student will complete over the 12-week fellowship period, tied to project milestones. 
• A description of the supervisory and mentorship plan for the fellowship period. 
• A description of how the student will be trained in new skills and methods. 

Once the CDHI receives and approves the project plan, fellowship funds will be released directly to the student. 

Adjudication

An interdisciplinary adjudication committee, drawn from faculty will be responsible for adjudicating applications. The CDHI Steering Committee is composed of community partners, faculty researchers, and digital scholarship librarians from each of the three campuses, the Faculty of Arts and Science, and the Faculty of Information.  

How to Reach Us

To contact the Managing Director, please write: d.taschereau@utoronto.ca. To reach the Faculty Director, please write: dhn.director@utoronto.ca. To submit application materials, to reach the CDHI team, or to join the CDHI listserv, please write: dhn.admin@utoronto.ca. To subscribe to the CDHI’s biweekly newsletter, please complete our sign-up form. Follow us on Twitter at @UofTDHN. Explore our website at: https://dhn.utoronto.ca/. 

Please see here for the Cover Sheet