The Mellon Project Grant (MPG)

Overview

Mellon Project Grants (MPG), funded by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation to the UC Berkeley Division of Arts & Humanities, are designed to support full professors undertaking significant research projects, particularly those that involve collaboration, travel, publication, exhibition, performance, equipment purchases, public humanities projects, or hosting conferences or symposia. The program is designed for full professors; however, funds permitting, we may be able to support advanced associate professors undertaking major projects. The program is open to people working in the arts, humanities, and humanistic social sciences, regardless of their departmental home. Awards range from $5,000 to $50,000 in total. 

Please carefully review the eligibility criteria and application review questions, which were compiled to assist applicants in refining their applications, before submitting an application.

Eligibility 

Associate and full tenured professors at UC Berkeley (at the time of application) whose projects fit clearly within the domain of the arts or humanities, broadly construed, are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to those who have not received a previous MPG. 

While faculty members in any unit on campus may apply, the MPG program is intended to support only those faculty members whose projects are clearly humanistic in nature (including studies in language and literature, both modern and classical; critical theory; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; musicology; the history, criticism, and theory of the arts; cultural studies; digital humanities; and those areas of the social sciences that have humanistic content and/or employ humanistic methods, including interdisciplinary departments like African American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Gender and Women’s Studies). The program also supports faculty working in the creative arts, including architects, choreographers, composers, dancers, filmmakers, musicians, new media artists, visual artists, writers, and others working in creative fields. 

Projects can start as early as July 2025 and funds will need to be expended by June 30, 2027. 

Deadlines and Application Process 

Applications for AY 2025-26 are due on April 7, 2025. Once the eligibility and program policies and the application review questions have been carefully reviewed, you may submit your application online (link at bottom of this page). Recipients will be notified in mid-May and will receive funds in July 2025. If you have any questions or technical issues, please contact Aimee Chang at akchang@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail). 

Your application submission should consist of a single PDF document containing the following items in order:
  1. A brief title for your proposed project followed by a narrative project description of no more than 2 pages.
  2. A budget for the proposed project with a brief timeline.
  3.  A short CV listing scholarly publications and activities within the last five years.

Purposes for which MPGs may be used:

  • Travel, lodging, and per diem costs to attend conferences, consult archives, conduct interviews, or examine art works. 
  • Support for a Graduate Student Researcher. 
  • Support for performers, fabricators, and others needed to support the creation of a creative work. 
  • Costs of organizing and hosting a conference. 
  • Costs of purchasing books, journals, films, images, or data sets that would benefit a research project. 
  • Subvention costs for publication of research. 
  • Costs of purchasing equipment or materials to aid in a research project. 
  • Support for collaborative or public humanities projects with a clear research dimension. 
  • Support for curatorial or performance projects. 
  • Salary support for faculty who have received external fellowships that do not provide funds equal to the faculty member's full salary. 
  • Funds may be requested in categories different from those listed above, and they may be requested within a single category or within a number of categories, provided that the funds requested support a single research project. 

Policies and Guidelines 

Recipients of a Mellon Project Grant should immediately notify the Dean of Arts and Humanities in writing upon receiving any other funding for their MPG supported project.

Proposals will be judged primarily upon the quality of the project, including the presentation of a realistic budget and timeline for expenditure, along with a clear account of the way in which the expenditures would advance the research project.

MPG grants may not be used to pay nine-month salary or summer salary to the grant-holder except in the case outlined above.  

Campus policies concerning reimbursement for travel, lodging, and per diem expenses may be found online at http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3420365

(link is external). Applicants should be aware that when campus provides funds for the purchase of books, hardware, and the like, those items are the property of the University of California. 

Campus policies concerning Graduate Student Researchers can be found online at http://grad.berkeley.edu/financial/graduate-student-employment/guide/#vii-graduate-student-research-gsr-appointments

Applicants are advised to bear in mind the following questions, which reviewers are likely to ask when considering a project for MPG funding.

  1. Are the methods and questions of the proposed work clearly humanistic in nature? 
  2. How will the work be disseminated, especially if not by publication? 
  3. Are all the elements of the proposed budget directly relevant to the outcome and success of the project? Is the budget detailed and reasonable? 
  4. Does the applicant have existing resources (e.g. startup/retention funds) that could be used toward this work?
  5. Is other funding available for this work, and has the applicant sought it? 
  6. If travel is proposed, is the length of stay required and appropriate? Have archival sources been researched for availability of relevant materials and access? 
  7. If collaboration is involved, is there documentation of the collaborators and a clear indication of their roles? 
  8. If special equipment will be purchased, what will happen to it after the project is completed? 
  9. If subjects are to be interviewed or other institutions are involved, has contact been made and permission granted?

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