The Jackman Humanities Institute will sponsor up to 12 (twelve) working groups during the 2025-26 academic year. Each working group will consist of graduate students and faculty that will conduct research or engage in other scholarly exchange. A working group will be funded for one year but may apply for renewal in future years based on success in the current year (with a limit of five years).
Eligibility
Members of the continuing, teaching, and tenured streams of the University of Toronto’s appointed faculty and doctoral students may apply to lead a JHI working group. If an application is made by a doctoral student, they must name a faculty member who will hold responsibility for managing the group’s funds.
Funding
Each successful application for JHI Working Group for 2025-26 will be awarded $3,000.
Support Considerations
Some possible activities for working groups include a:
- Local area working group drawing from other universities in the GTA
- Group exploring new collaborative links
- Group producing a joint publication
- Group linked to a larger conference or seminar
The JHI will NOT support: (see FAQ below for a detailed explanation of what a Working Group grant can support)
- Groups that properly should be supported by other programs or units
- Groups that support the research program of a single or a pair of faculty member(s)
- Groups whose primary function is to host a lecture series
- Costs greater than $500 for administrative support
- Costs greater than $500 paid to any individual student, whether as administrative support, honorarium, or any combination of duties.
- Costs greater than $1000 in combined payments to all students
Responsibilities and Expectations
All working groups will be expected to provide progress reports and a final accounting of how the funds were spent as well as a report on the activities of the group. The funds can support visitors, refreshments, materials, or other related costs. Each group is expected to meet at least four times a term, for a minimum of eight meetings a year. Funds should be spent by April 15, 2026 but may be held on request for expenditure by June 15, 2026. Unspent award funds must be returned to the JHI at the end of the 2025-26 academic year (June 30, 2026).
Groups must be interdisciplinary, and each group must have participation from at least three different units (departments, centres, institutes, or programs). Groups will have a minimum of six U of T members and include balanced numbers of graduate students and faculty. All members of the group are expected to participate fully in the group’s activities. Previously funded working groups are eligible to re-apply. Participants may work with no more than two groups per year. Working groups may be proposed by doctoral students, on the understanding that a faculty partner named in the application will be responsible for the management of the funds awarded to the group.
Preference will be given to groups that will hold at least one meeting per term at either the University of Toronto Mississauga or the University of Toronto Scarborough campus.
The JHI can provide space for meetings and small conferences on the first floor of the JHB, (JHB100 seating 100), and in the 10th floor seminar room (JHB1040 seating up to 25; this space is available only 9-4 weekdays). Topics for the working groups are NOT restricted to the JHI annual theme. A/V recordings of events funded by Working Groups should be included as a regularly budgeted item in the budget proposal if they are needed. An explanation of the research or pedagogical need for the recording should be included in the Description and Rationale. The responsibility for arranging recordings will lie with the event organizer.
Application Components
All applicants must complete the online application with the following documents in a single PDF:
- Description of the plans and rationale for the working group (max. 500 words – FIRM limit on length)
- List of all starting members with academic rank and unit affiliations (you are welcome to add members once the group is underway) and a short explanation of how each member was recruited. Use this format (include headings relevant to your group):
- Lead(s)
- Faculty Members, University of Toronto
- Faculty Members, Outside University of Toronto
- Graduate Students, University of Toronto
- Graduate Students, Outside University of Toronto
- Undergraduate Students, University of Toronto
- Undergraduate Students, Outside University of Toronto
- Staff, University of Toronto
- Community Members, Outside University of Toronto
- Other
- Proposed budget outline (include proposed honoraria for invited speakers; see above for recommended guidelines)
- If your application is for renewal of a JHI working group running in 2024-25, you must submit complete reporting, including financial information, before your application for renewal can be considered. Please adhere to length limits when providing reporting information
Selection Criteria
Working groups are chosen by the JHI’s Advisory Board
Application Timeline
- Application Open: March 18, 2025
- Application Deadline: May 13, 2025, 4:00pm EDT
- Selection Notification: Mid-June, 2025
- Award Period: July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026
Contact and Additional Resources
- Check out our extensive FAQs about the JHI Working Groups (below)
- Questions about this fellowship opportunity? Contact JHI Associate Director, Dr. Kimberley Yates
- Technical questions about the application form or process? Contact JHI Communications Officer Sonja Johnston
- JHI’s current Working Groups
Frequently Asked Questions
A working group is a group of scholars who have agreed to meet regularly to discuss a chosen topic. JHI funds working groups that include at least three different disciplines (not units) and equal numbers of faculty members and graduate students. In practice, this means that at minimum, a proposed JHI working group must include six individuals: three faculty members and three graduate students; and that at least three different disciplines must be represented in this group. A working group meets at least eight times during the academic year, normally monthly from September to April.
Members of the continuing, teaching, and tenured streams of the University of Toronto’s appointed faculty and doctoral students may apply to lead a JHI working group. If an application is made by a doctoral student, they must name a faculty member who will hold responsibility for managing the group’s funds.
Once the minimum requirements of three disciplines and equal numbers of graduate students and faculty members have been met, the leader(s) of the group may admit or invite any and as many members as they choose: staff, librarians, postdoctoral fellows, recent alumni, community members, researchers at other universities, and other subject experts are all welcome to participate.
Leadership is up to the group itself; the JHI will consider the applicant to be the leader unless otherwise instructed. The logistics of managing a group often work more effectively if the leadership is shared with 2-3 others. In some cases, groups share leadership among all members. Leadership must include at least one University of Toronto faculty member.
The minimum number, including leaders, is six. The maximum is up to the group and is often a result of the decisions about the scope and structure that the group chooses. In general, the most practical size is around 20. Small groups may find it challenging to maintain momentum, and large groups may find it difficult to maintain focus.
The working group is a flexible structure that can support a wide range of scholarly activities. Many groups work toward a capstone final event that may be open to the public. Some examples of activity include:
- Reading the corpus of a single author or a related group of authors
- Reading and providing feedback on the unpublished writing of the participants
- Reading and discussing texts that are of common interest to the group
- Planning for a major event or research project (i.e., the funding for the working group covers the costs of the planning meetings, but not the costs of the event or project itself)
- Engaging in discussions with external scholars and community professionals
- Inviting guests to speak to the group on a topic of interest
JHI Working Group funds are intended to support the costs of organizing and functioning as a group. Typical expenditures may include:
- Catering for meetings
- Cost of books/readings for graduate students
- Flight/accommodations/honorarium for a visitor
- Conference registration for student members of the group
- Administrative support (RAship max. $500)
The following items may not be covered with JHI Working Group funds:
- A full lecture series (if you need to fund a lecture series, please apply into the JHI Program for the Arts)
- Administrative costs of over $500
- A single honorarium for a speaker or performer (i.e., an honorarium at or near $3,000)
- Charitable donations to organizations outside the University of Toronto
- Costs stemming from the research project(s) of group member(s)
- More than $1000 in total for payments to multiple students for any form of labour and/or scholarly contribution including group facilitation
- Payment of more than $500 to any individual student for any combination of academic and/or administrative labour
- Payment to group leaders
- For panelists or participants in a round-table discussion, external to University of Toronto: we suggest $100 to $250 CAD with support at the higher end of this range for precariously employed individuals
- For invited speakers, external to University of Toronto: we suggest $500 to $1,000 CAD with support at the higher end of this range for precariously employed individuals
- We discourage the use of honoraria for internal panelists, participants, or speakers, and particularly for tenured members of the University of Toronto faculty
- We recommend social forms of recognition such as a restaurant meal with group members, when possible, as an alternative to honoraria
Yes, you may book either JHB1040 (the tenth-floor meeting room; seats 24) or JHB100 (the first-floor classroom; seats 100), depending on availability. Both rooms are equipped with screens, sound systems, and digital projectors. You are responsible for providing the adaptor required by the laptop you bring. You are welcome to arrange for catering of food or non-alcoholic beverages.
You may apply for funding for up to five (not necessarily consecutive) years for the same working group. Applications for renewed funding (years 2-5) must include a complete report on the activities of the group in the previous funded year. Leftover funds may not be rolled over; they must be returned after 30 June. If funding is granted again, a new grant will be issued.
Please record the date, attendance, and a brief description of each meeting’s activities. In April, you will be asked to provide a narrative report on the group’s activities, and a budget report on expenditures. Your reporting will be a part of the JHI’s Annual Report to donors and governance.