The Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute announces a seed grant competition for one award of $10,000 for the 2026-27 academic year. The objective of this competition is to support and promote new or early pilot research projects on human rights and to facilitate the writing of external grant proposals. The seed grant is open to all UConn full-time, permanent faculty in all disciplines at Storrs and the regional campuses. All proposals will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary committee chaired by the Director of the Research and Data Hub of the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute.
2026 Seed Grant Recipient
Sarah Willen
Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director, Global Health and Human Rights Program
“Public Health in Crisis: Tracing the Multi-level Impact and Human Rights Implications of Gender-Based Violence Prevention Program Closures at CDC”
About the Project
Public health in the United States is in crisis, and the implications for human rights and health equity will reverberate for years to come. Since January 2025, entire divisions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been eliminated, and over 2,000 employees have been terminated. Among the programs eliminated are two pillars of U.S. efforts to confront gender-based violations of health, human rights, and bodily integrity: the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) program, and the Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership Through Alliances program (DELTA). In this collaborative study, developed by three medical anthropologists in partnership with two organizations founded by CDC community members, we will document and analyze these multi-layered effects at the federal, state, and local levels in order to help build the knowledge base needed to reimagine and rebuild the U.S. public health workforce and infrastructure in keeping with core principles of human rights protection and health justice.
Impact
Current attacks on the funding, infrastructure, and credibility of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and broader U.S. public health infrastructure are harming people and populations across the U.S. As a collaborative team of social scientists and public health professionals, we plan to track some of these effects in order to help everyday people -- including policymakers and members of the public -- grasp the scope of the damage done to health and human rights and begin to envision a more just and equitable path forward.
Former Recipients
2024
- Asif Majid
Assistant Professor, Dramatic Arts & Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute
"Performing Muharram in Plurality: Art, Bodies, and Commemoration in Lucknow and Hyderabad"
2023
- Sara Silverstein
Assistant Professor, Department of History & Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute
"A Place to Exist: Histories of Statelessness from Empire to European Integration"
2022
- Manisha Desai
Professor, Sociology and Asian and Asian American Studies
"Women’s Rights, Land Rights, and Climate Justice"
2021
- Alaina Brenick
Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Science
"A Right to Housing, A Right to Health: How do Connecticut Constituents View the Homeless Community’s Right to Housing During and Beyond COVID-19"
Eligibility Criteria & Requirements
- Open to full-time, permanent UConn faculty in any discipline at any UConn campus.
- Applicant must be affiliated with UConn during the entire award period.
- Applicants may apply for both the HRI Seed Grant and the HRI Small Grant, but the recipient of the HRI Seed Grant will be ineligible to receive an HRI Small Grant in the same year.
- Disbursement of funds is contingent upon receipt of any required IRB approval.
- The grant holder agrees to:
- Submit a progress report (2 page maximum) on the research project by July 30, 2027.
- The Grant holder also agrees to present at a public HRI Research Talk in the year following their Grant.
- The seed grant may be used to:
- Support graduate assistant or undergraduate student labor costs at university-established rates.
- Contribute towards course replacement costs, following the model of the Research Excellence Program. This must be approved by your department head.
- Pay for direct costs associated with travel for research or research support costs.
How to Apply
Access the application via Microsoft Forms. The application requires the following materials:
- Narrative description of the research project (5 pages, double spaced, 12 pt. font);
- Brief explanation of plans to apply for outside grants (no more than a half page);
- Budget narrative (1 page maximum);
- Bibliography for the project (1 page maximum); and
- Current CV
Applications for the current cycle closed on April 17, 2026. Check back here in Fall 2026 for application instructions for the 2027 cycle.
Evaluation Criteria
The following criteria will be used in evaluating applications:
- Significance of the contribution that the project will make to knowledge in the field of human rights.
- Quality of the conception, definition, organization, and description of the project.
- Feasibility of the project, including rationale for the budget.
- Priority will be given to applicants who indicate clearly their plans to apply for external funding.
- Additional priority may be given to applications from junior faculty and to those faculty who have not received this grant in recent years.
- Applications that do not follow the guidelines for page length and supporting documents will not be considered.
Questions about the competition? Please email humanrights@uconn.edu or call 860-486-8739.