In 2020, the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts began sponsoring an annual research theme to support scholarship “of timely importance to society.” Over the past five years, the annual research theme program has awarded more than $275,000 to 67 different projects by graduate students and faculty in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
During the 2025-26 academic year, and in line with our expanded vision, the Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good will begin hosting programming that creates further opportunities for engagement with the annual research theme. In addition to awarding grants to faculty and graduate students, the institute will host the inaugural Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day Culture and the Public Good Symposium in April 2026. This annual symposium will provide a forum for a diverse slate of speakers to respond to a question derived from the Franco Institute’s annual research theme.
As we begin planning for next year’s grant cycle and symposium, we invite faculty in the College of Arts and Letters to submit recommendations for the Franco Institute’s 2025-26 annual research theme via this Google form. Please submit your recommendations by March 15, 2025.
Timeline
- March 2025 - Faculty in Arts and Letters submit recommendations to the Institute.
- April 2025 - The Franco Family Institute advisory board, which includes Notre Dame faculty representatives and the institute director, will choose a research theme from these faculty recommendations at their annual meeting.
- May 2025 - The 2025-26 Annual Research Theme will be announced to A&L faculty.
- September 2025 - The application portal for the 2025-2026 annual research theme grant will open.
- April 2026 - The Franco Institute will host the Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day Culture and the Public Good Symposium.