Research Grants

Grant activities might include exploring how artificial intelligence could impact different aspects of the grantee's professional practice, incorporating AI tools into their work, and/or critically examining AI's broader implications. We look forward to supporting projects across a diverse array of academic disciplines, creative practices, and campus endeavors. The funding period will last up to one year.

Grant Categories

Explore AI Grant

Maximum funding: $1,000
These grants support initial exploration and engagement with AI tools and applications. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Subscriptions to AI platforms and specialized tools
• Books, resources, and learning materials
• Visits for collaboration with AI researchers or practitioners 
• Student research assistants

Project Seed Funding 

Maximum funding: $3,000
These grants provide support for specific AI-related projects and investigations. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Software licensing for project-specific AI tools
• Equipment for AI-enhanced research or creative work
• Survey research and data collection costs
• Student research assistants

Full Project Grant 

Maximum funding: $10,000
These grants support comprehensive AI-related projects that require substantial resources and extended development. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Creation and curation of training datasets for AI-based projects.
• Computing capacity for training machine learning models.
• Subscription to specialized AI tools for the research domain
• Student research assistants

Request for Student Summer Support

The Hastings Initiative will train a group of Fellows who can provide support for AI-related topics in research or teaching. Faculty can apply for up to 20 hours of student support per week for up to eight weeks. These student Fellows support full AI-related projects, exploratory project ideas, or AI training. Students will be jointly supervised by members of the Hastings Initiative.

Support and Consultation

If faculty or staff would like to discuss any aspect of their proposals, please send an email to Hastings.Committee@bowdoin.edu. We will pair you with a supportive member of the initiative, such as one of our post-baccalaureate or post-doctoral associates, who may provide limited technical assistance or project support to grant recipients.

Apply

To apply, complete the application form.

Applications for exploratory and seed funding will be accepted on a rolling basis up until the application deadline of April 15, 2026. The committee normally meets on Fridays and will respond within two weeks of the initial Friday when we received your application. The application deadline for the full project grant and for student summer fellowship support is March 23, 2026. 

Exploratory grant applications can be as short as a single paragraph. For seed funding and student summer fellowship support, we ask applicants to briefly describe their project in a few paragraphs. For full project grants, please submit a two to four page project description and a detailed budget. If you want to discuss potential projects, contact the committee.

Results 

These grants are intended to provide entry level insights or enabling benefits to recipients. With that in mind, we will look to provide opportunities for sharing grantees' insights in ways that seem most appropriate to each individual project. Beyond that, we ask that each grantee provides a short report on their experience at the end of the granting period. Reports will typically be published on our website, though you will have the option to keep your individual report private. Our intention is that any reporting requirements will be minimal.