Innovation Farm Grants

The Innovation Farm program was designed:.

  1. To encourage networks of interdisciplinary scholars.
  2. To support the launching of innovative projects that enhance creative scholarship at the University of Arizona. Innovation Farm provides funding up to $15,000.

The 2018 Innovation Farm program invites applications from teams of 2-3 scholars (one a designated PI) from at least 2 of the following colleges: Architecture, Fine Arts, Humanities, Law, Health Sciences, Education, Science and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Projects should produce new interdisciplinary initiatives that lead to sustainable programs, research models, technology trials, community partnerships, and entrepreneurial ventures.

Innovation Farm projects depend on extensive collaboration and dedicated support to be successful. Working groups should be able to use project achievements as “proof of concept” for seeking additional funding from external agencies and donors to sustain their research projects. Director Javier Duran says of past projects, “Innovation Farm has helped launched several vital projects that have invigorated scholarship about human rights, Buddhist studies and documentary film making at the University of Arizona.”

2019 Topic: Inequality

Higher education is often at the forefront when it comes to efforts and scholarship in inclusion and anti-oppression. Such endeavors require sensitive understandings of the histories of inequalities, of higher education as a transformative space within itself and in broader society, and of working directly with those from diverse backgrounds and understandings, all without perpetuating the harm already committed. The Confluencenter invites University of Arizona faculty to develop the necessary visions, methodologies and challenges faced in addressing the root causes of inequality. The goal of each project should involve identifying a problem relating to inequality and then developing and trying out an application of that research to that problem. Creative applications in particular are encouraged. Examples could include:

  • Analyzing student retention on campus
  • Exploring how arts and community grapple with urban and rural dynamics
  • Contextualizing food insecurity in a city of gastronomy and its impact on UA students
  • Mapping health and social disparities in particular communities
  • Additional ideas could include workshops, seminars, skill shares, community collaborations, in addition to recordings, websites, social media fora, etc., that address any topic as it relates to the challenges, realities, and interventions of inequality.

Through the 2019 round of Innovation Farm proposals, Confluencenter seeks to support the development of new tools to address the harm done by perpetuated inequalities by using innovation and informed approaches.

Please see Call for Proposals below for full eligibility for Innovation Farm, in addition to proposal outline and additional details. The proposal deadline is February 15th, 2019 (no later than 5 p.m.). If you have any questions, feel free to email the Confluencenter.

 

2019 Innovation Farm Awardees Announced!

Projects will be funded for activities taking place the following semesters: Fall 2019, Spring 2020, and Fall 2020, with final reports due in January 2021