The Sheridan Libraries Dean's Undergraduate Research Awards, or DURA, are available for students working on research projects that draw on primary source materials in the rare book, manuscript, and archival collections of the Sheridan Libraries at JHU. These collections span 5,000 years of rare and unique objects and texts, from ancient cuneiform tablets and Egyptian papyri fragments to illuminated medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, 20th-century African American photography, U.S. suffrage movement records, and a growing LGBTQ collection.
DURA supports research conducted over the summer months only (May to August), and grants are meant to be used as cost-of-living stipends for awardees for the duration of their research. In recent years, awards have consisted of $1,250 for a four-week research period and up to a maximum of $3,750 for a 12-week period of funding. Any additional research expenses during the research period must be drawn from the total amount of the student award, though some costs, such as digitization, may be possible without charge. Students typically live in Baltimore during this period and use the Sheridan Libraries' collections for intensive research. Research outcomes might take the form of a research essay, exhibition, digital project, film, or another production.
The awards are supported by the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute and the Singleton Center for the Study of Premodern Europe.
For the full announcement, including requirements and important links, see the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute website.
The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. on March 9. Send all materials via email to jplaster@jhu.edu. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed after this date.
