Faculty Research

The purpose of these grants is to fund research that helps us develop a deeper understanding of conflict, including how it may be transformed. Other elements of the broader grant received by Middlebury focus on developing skills for transforming conflict for high school, college, and graduate students and through community engagement.

We are interested in a wide range of research on conflict. Core to our understanding of conflict transformation is the belief that conflict can be productive, generative, and crucial for social change. We are also interested in research in the field of conflict studies. We will give preference to projects that ask new and interesting questions about conflict; how one might transform dominant understandings of it; projects that demonstrate how research can be useful for understanding and addressing conflict; and proposals that make clear how this funding will allow applicants to extend their research beyond what they have done before. We welcome proposals from all fields.

Among other aspects, strong proposals might:

• Recognize that conflict is pervasive in society and presents opportunities to create change processes that increase justice (Lederach 2003)
• Highlight creative solutions to conflict-based systems and situations (conflict resolution) and/or help build something new (moving to transformation)
• Emphasize how a particular field, approach, or discipline approaches conflict transformation, especially within specific contexts
• Discuss whether the project is focused on macro, meso, micro, and/or “me-cro” (individual) scales of conflict transformation
• Demonstrate a recognition of the past/history in creating present patterns/structures – and consider how moving into the future means creating new relationships
• Explore the application of key practices in Conflict Transformation, such as: seeing issues as a window, integrating multiple time frames, posing conflict energies as dilemmas, making complexity part of the process, and hearing/engaging multiple perspectives (Lederach 2003)

For specific questions about budgets, please email the Collaborative in Conflict Transformation. The Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs may also need to be consulted in certain cases.

Budgets must follow all institutional policies surrounding budgets and expenditures.

Yes. Summer and/or sabbatical salary is available for those setting aside time dedicated to the project. The number of hours that will be committed to the project should be included in your budget justification. Please refer to Middlebury’s guidelines for budgeting in these categories. Successful awardees must follow all institutional procedures for receiving grant-supported salary payments (e.g., submit a Time & Effort Form; view the guidelines here.).

If you are planning to request sabbatical salary for a full academic year, please note that the CT Collaborative research grant period follows a calendar year basis by default. You should include your request for academic year sabbatical salary in your application; if approved, your grant period will be adjusted to accommodate the academic year schedule. PIs approved for academic year sabbatical salary should contact the CT Collaborative to confirm the adjusted grant period.

Also note: if you are requesting sabbatical salary for a full academic year, the grant cannot pay your salary over a single semester. It must be distributed across the full academic year.

This funding cycle covers the calendar year 2025 (between 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025). Any funds awarded but not spent by December 2025 will return to the CT Collaborative to be reassigned, unless an extension has been approved by the CT Collaborative in advance. You may reapply for funding annually, though priority will be given to new awardees.

In addition to following our reporting guidance at the end of the grant, we expect successful recipients to:

• Execute administrative processes associated with running their grant activities
• Proactively monitor their budget balances; PIs will be set up to receive monthly automated reports showing their grant expenses and transactions
• Supervise any student hires
• Reach out to the CT Collaborative with questions, concerns, or proposed changes to the grant’s scope/budget allocations

We will send a survey to all recipients asking about their work at the end of the funding period. Additionally, success of these grants is measured in terms of scholarly output. This might include conference presentations, traditional peer-reviewed publications (including academic journal articles, book chapters, or books), or public-facing scholarship that describes accomplishments or lessons learned for policy or practice; thus, we ask that you keep the CT Collaborative updated on dissemination. We will reach out annually to ask grant recipients for their related citations, etc., though recipients are also welcome to share updates on an ad-hoc basis. Grant recipients may also be asked to present their research via CT Collaborative convenings.