Digital Humanities Summer Fellowship

Eligibility

UW doctoral students who have completed their master’s degrees by the deadline for application.

Graduate students who have already received digital humanities summer fellowships may apply again in subsequent years. Projects may be supported over multiple years, but fellows must apply for each summer of support separately.

Collaborative projects are strongly encouraged, and joint applications to this fellowship are welcome. These might take the form, for example, of two doctoral students working together, each with a full fellowship, or one faculty member and one doctoral student working together, each with a full fellowship.

Description

Digital Humanities Summer Fellowships support scholars pursuing innovative work in the digital humanities. Supported projects may include those that make intensive use of digital technologies (understood broadly to encompass a wide range of non-traditional digital techniques and media), in furtherance of humanities research, analysis, and publication. Supported projects can also include explorations of the cultural, societal, and historical implications of digital technologies.

This program welcomes applications from both newcomers and veterans in the field of digital humanities. All applicants are encouraged to schedule a consultation with Eric Johnson (ejred@uw.edu), who will lead the Simpson Center’s 2026 Digital Humanities Summer Fellowship program, for assistance in developing a feasible and competitive proposal.

Criteria

The review committee bases its award decisions predominately on the scholarly merit of the application, while also factoring in the level of preparation demonstrated by applicants toward successfully undertaking their projects.

Terms of Award

The fellowship carries a stipend of $7,500. The explicit intent of this support is to allow fellows to devote much of their work time during summer 2026 to their proposed projects. It is an expectation that fellows will not have significant competing work demands such as teaching during the month of July.

In addition, students are encouraged to request support of up to $3,500 total in three broad categories:

1) collaborators, contributors, and hourly support (for example, a fixed price agreement for website development and hourly support for graduate and undergraduate students)

2) digital tools (for example, hardware and software for purchase and licensing agreements) and training (online course fees, workshop costs, and, if necessary, travel to in-person educational opportunities)

3) research travel expenses (for example, giving a talk at a conference on the digital project).

Please consult with Julie Stoverink, Simpson Center Administrator (scfiscal@uw.edu) if you envision potential expenses not included in these categories. A budget template (included below) and a rationale for these expenses must be included with the proposal.

Note that projects do not necessarily have to be completed during the summer fellowship term.

Campus Meetings and Summer Residency

Award recipients are required to participate in person in all meetings of the summer fellowship cohort. During the summer fellowship period, cohort meetings will be held twice per week during the month of July. This fellowship is therefore not appropriate for those who are unable to meet on campus during July 2026.

In addition, two gatherings will be held on campus in spring and fall, as a way of bookending the fellowship term. Please note that tentative dates for those meetings have been set as follows:

Introductory Meeting: Friday, May 29, 2026
Project Showcase: Friday, October 23, 2026