Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities | 20231011 DOI DOC

Opportunity Information: Apply for 20231011 DOI DOC

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), through its Office of Digital Humanities, is offering a discretionary grant program called "Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities." The opportunity is designed to fund humanities-based research that looks closely at how technology intersects with society, culture, and everyday life. A central goal is to support projects that take technology seriously not just as a set of tools or innovations, but as a force that shapes values, behaviors, institutions, and public debates. NEH is especially interested in work that connects technology to pressing social and cultural issues happening now, encouraging applicants to examine both the potential benefits and the potential harms of technology in a broad sense.

This program is framed around the idea that technologies do not exist in a vacuum. Instead, they influence and are influenced by history, ethics, politics, language, art, religion, law, and other core areas of the humanities. Competitive projects will likely show how humanities methods (such as historical analysis, textual interpretation, critical theory, philosophy, cultural studies, rhetoric, media studies, and related approaches) can illuminate the stakes of technological change. The "technology" under this call is broadly defined, which opens the door to many possible topics, including but not limited to digital platforms, artificial intelligence, algorithms, surveillance systems, data infrastructures, automation, biotechnology, climate and energy technologies, communication systems, and the social systems built around them. The emphasis is on understanding technology's role in shaping human experience and social life, including the ways it can create new opportunities while also introducing new risks or reinforcing older inequities.

The award is structured as a grant with an award ceiling of $150,000, and NEH expected to make about 12 awards under this competition. The funding activity category is listed as Humanities, and it is associated with CFDA number 45.169. The opportunity number is 20231011 DOI DOC. The program was created on July 25, 2023, with an original application deadline of October 11, 2023. In practice, this means applicants would need to propose a well-scoped research plan that can be credibly carried out within the funding limit, and that clearly fits the program's intellectual focus on technology's dangers and/or opportunities as viewed through humanities questions and methods.

Eligibility is broad and includes multiple types of organizations: state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education). This range suggests NEH is open to proposals coming from universities as well as cultural, civic, and community-based organizations, so long as the proposed work is rooted in humanities inquiry and speaks to the program's themes. Overall, the opportunity supports projects that can bring historical context, ethical clarity, and cultural understanding to contemporary technological issues, helping the public and scholarly communities better grasp what technology is doing to society and what society is doing with technology.

• The National Endowment for the Humanities in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.169.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 25, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 11, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 12 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for 20231011 DOI DOC

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