Research

Documenting the history and presence of racism with rigor, precision, and nuance. Making our studies and findings freely available and accessible for public use to change minds, practices, and policy.

The Institute's Research Program is anchored in the healing and reparative power of interdisciplinary research on racism. Because every step toward healing from racism is grounded in academic research. From innovating diagnostic tools that uncover and dissect racial inequity and injustice; to scholars discovering the causes of the inequity and injustice; to evidence-based narratives that reorient blame away from the most victimized groups to structural causes; to developing antiracist solutions that mitigate or eliminate the causes of inequity and injustice and prevent their repetition—all these steps and many, many more require sustained and intense academic research on racism and antiracism.   

oward University historian and public intellectual, Rayford Logan (1897-1982) with his Howard students.
Howard University historian and public intellectual, Rayford Logan (1897-1982) with Howard students.

The Institute’s Research Program is assembling a team of full-time researchers, Howard student research assistants, and Senior Fellows who pursue descriptive and prescriptive research studies. Our research findings are open access and freely shared with the public (1) through reports on the Institute website; (2) through investigative reports in The Emancipator; (3) through accessible graphics and information on the Institute's media channels. 

Senior Fellowships. Senior Fellowships are available to researchers at Howard University and around the United States who are currently principal investigators on a funded project related to the Institute's mission. The Institute does not have the means to provide funding for Senior Fellows, but we will serve as an institutional home for a funded project. If you have a funded project and are interested in being a Senior Fellow, then express your interest at AdvancedStudy@Howard.edu. 

Rayford W. Logan Grants. The Institute for Advanced Study is proud to support Howard University faculty researching racism and antiracism. The grants are named after Dr. Logan, a history professor at Howard from 1938 until his retirement in 1965. During this period, he emerged as one of the more important academic voices examining and exposing the harms of racism in the United States and abroad alongside his comrades W.E.B. Du Bois and Carter G. Woodson. Dr. Logan authored a number of books that documented racism, including The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir, 1877 to 1901 (1954). 

Howard student working on her laptop in the library

Logan Grants are limited to full-time Howard faculty studying racism: assistant professors, associate professors, full professors, and lecturers. Faculty from every school and college can apply. The maximum grant request is $2,000. Logan Grants can fund (1) a research trip, (2) research assistance, (3) costs associated with the publication or production of research, (4) presentations at a conference, or (5) costs associated with bringing to Howard a speaker who examines race and racism.  

To apply for a Logan Grant, submit a CV, a 500-word funding request, and a budget to AdvancedStudy@Howard.edu. 

The deadline for fall grants is September 4. Logan Grant recipients are notified by September 11. 

The deadline for spring and summer grants is December 15. Logan Grant recipients are notified by January 15.  

Additional Guidelines 

  • Funding is limited. Not all applicants will receive Logan Grants. 
  • Faculty outside of Howard University are ineligible for Logan Grants, but we invite them to apply to become Howard Fellows at the Institute. 
  • Howard faculty can only receive one Logan Grant in a four-year span.  
  • Howard faculty cannot apply in two successive application cycles.  
  • An application requesting funding for more than $2,000, funding for something outside of the five aforementioned listed items, or that isn’t related to the examination of racism, will be declined without exception.  
  • More than one Howard faculty member can apply for one Logan Grant. 
  • A Howard faculty member can apply on behalf of a department or unit to help sponsor a speaker. 
  • An applicant can request less than $2,000.  
  • A budget can involve multiple items (e.g. a research trip and research assistance).  
  • Due to our limited staff, the Institute cannot provide feedback on each application before submission or after decisions are made.