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Working Group Information & Application

What is a Working Group?

The Humanities Institute invites your proposals for collaborative interdisciplinary working groups. Under the auspices of our Collaboratory, we offer funding, meeting spaces in Hagerty Hall, publicity, and organizational support. Past groups have designed one- or two-year interdisciplinary collaborative programs, and though they have taken distinctive shapes, programming should include at least two presentations a year, alongside other possible events, activities, and outcomes. These could include:

  • conference
  • publication(s)
  • course proposal or redesign
  • digital work
  • other appropriate forms

Working groups have a long history in the Humanities Institute. Over the past two decades, they have provided a forum for cultivating emergent and exciting interdisciplinary research and for developing ideas that do not yet have a footprint at the university.

Working group proposals must emphasize interdisciplinarity but are not limited by topic or focus. However, we have a particular interest in projects that:

  • promote action-oriented approaches to collaborative work between our Centers
  • propose novel perspectives on and/or solutions to pressing issues in our communities and society at large

We strongly believe that as scholars working in and beyond the academy, we are stronger together. We aim to promote work that facilitates new forms of collaboration and engagement across a range of communities.

Working Group proposal applications will reopen on December 1st, 2025, and will be due February 13th, 2026.

Below you’ll find additional information about how to participate in a Working Group. You can also find information about current Working Groups and a list of our archived Working Groups through the menu on the right. 

Looking for potential collaborators? Go to our research connector database tool through this link and start exploring potential connections with OSU faculty and graduate students. 

Read some reviews from our colleagues about past working groups: 

"The Humanities Institute was a welcome home for the Global Mediterranean Initiative that brought faculty together from across the Arts and Sciences for working group conversations, invited lectures, and symposia." - Dana Renga, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

"Looking back at my years at OSU from the vantage of my recent retirement, my scholarship certainly profited from the opportunities the Humanities Institute offered, especially through discussion groups on comparative religion, such as the one on Religion and Violence with which the Institute reacted to the events of September 11." - Fritz Graf, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Classics.

"Being part of this working group was one of the best experiences I have had as faculty at Ohio State. I hope to be part of more such collaborations!" - Molly Ferrell,  Associate Professor, Department of English.

For more information, please contact the Humanities Institute Director, Ryan Skinner. Working Group proposal applications will reopen on December 1st, 2025, and will be due February 13th, 2026.

Information for working group leaders and members

Working group leaders may use this form in the initial stages of planning events (this form is accessible only to directors and leaders). Find the form here.