Are you a skilled writer with an interest in the humanities? The Humanities Research Institute (HRI) is seeking a creative, motivated communicator to support and expand our efforts amplifying the research, programs, and opportunities of the institute as well as the Humanities Without Walls consortium, a Mellon grant-funded initiative headquartered at HRI. Read more>>>

The Humanities Research Institute (HRI) is pleased to announce that its 2025–26 Fellowship year theme is “Story and Place.”

HRI welcomes applications from all disciplines and departments with an interest in humanities and humanities-inflected research. HRI is especially interested in fostering interdisciplinary work, both within the humanistic disciplines, and between the humanities and the arts. The application portal opens September 1, 2024. Read more...

Applications are now open to PhD students in the humanities for a yearlong (AY 2024–25) RA-ship with the We CU Community Engaged Scholars Program (We CU). We CU empowers undergraduate and graduate students to make a positive impact in the community while building their resume and enriching their university experience. We CU honors students for their community-based work and provides them with training, connection to like-minded peers, access to service opportunities with partner organizations, and support from We CU program leaders.

A partnership between HRI and the Office of Undergraduate Research, the selected HRL courses are offered each spring semester to undergraduates of any major. The spring 2024 courses were just announced! Read more

We are excited to announce the new slate of HRI Research Clusters. Congratulations to the groups selected for 2023–24! Read more...

HRI is excited to announce the awarding of its annual Summer Faculty Fellowships to nine faculty members for 2023. These fellowships are designed to help faculty maximize the summer in service of their ongoing professional development. 

HRI is also pleased to announce the 2023–24 Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in Public Humanities as Social Practice. This fellow will spend a one-year term in residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, participating in the yearlong HRI Fellows Seminar and in the variety of publicly engaged humanities work ongoing at HRI and on campus. Read more

Congratulations to this year's recipients of HRI's Prizes for Research in the Humanities! These prizes recognize outstanding humanities research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Join us to celebrate at the Prizes for Research Ceremony and Reception on Thursday, May 4, 4:00–5:30 p.m. at Levis Faculty Center, Room 422.

See list of recipients

The Humanities Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will host award-winning poet Nikky Finney on campus for two evening events: a CultureTalk on April 19 and poetry reading and book signing on April 20. Finney will be joined by Ruth Nicole Brown, chairperson of the Department of African American and African Studies at Michigan State University, for the CultureTalk event. Both events are free and open to the public. Read more

Humanities Research Institute Director Antoinette Burton has been named to the Illinois Humanities board of directors. “As we head into 2023, I am so honored and excited to be joining the Board of Illinois Humanities,” Burton said. “I look forward to supporting the amazing public humanities work being done there and bringing ideas and energy from east central Illinois to the table.” Read more

Deadline: 5:00 p.m. on February 10, 2023  Applications are now open to PhD students in the humanities for a yearlong RA-ship with the We CU Community Engaged Scholars Program (We CU). We CU empowers undergraduate and graduate students to make a positive impact in the community while building their resume and enriching their university experience. We CU honors students for their community-based work and provides them with training, connection to like-minded peers, access to service opportunities with partner organizations, and support from We CU program leaders. More>>