The Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS) has announced the ninth cycle of its Small Grants Program, focused on the theme "Constantine Zurayk: Nation, Identity, and History: Towards New Agendas." Funded by the Constantine Zurayk Cultural Foundation, this program supports early-career researchers and advanced PhD students in the social sciences and humanities who are exploring themes connected to Zurayk’s legacy and work. The program is intended to foster innovative and interdisciplinary research grounded in questions of nationhood, identity, and historical narrative, drawing on Zurayk’s humanistic and critical approach.
This grant opportunity is open to a specific subset of Arab-identifying scholars: citizens of Arab League countries, refugees and stateless persons from the Arab region residing inside or outside of it, and non-Arab passport holders who can verify Arab origin. Applicants must be either within three years of completing a PhD or currently enrolled PhD candidates at the dissertation stage. The funding is designed for research proposals between five and six months in duration, with a focus on projects engaging Zurayk’s writings or archival collection at the American University of Beirut, although direct use of the archive is not required.
Grants of up to $3,000 are awarded for individual research projects, with two to three awards anticipated in this cycle. The funding may be used for fieldwork, living expenses, research assistance, or equipment, but not for conference participation. Applicants are required to submit detailed documentation including a research proposal, CV, budget and timeline forms, and academic credentials. The use of AI tools in proposal writing is explicitly prohibited.
Applications open on November 13, 2025, and close on February 12, 2026. Selected applicants will be notified in March 2026, and projects must commence between April and October 2026, with final deliverables due in November 2026. Grantees must also attend the Sixth Research Forum hosted by ACSS in Spring 2026 and are expected to produce a working paper as part of the ACSS Working Papers Series.
For additional information or technical assistance, applicants may contact Rebecca Daher at grants@theacss.org or Wassim Alam at alam@theacss.org.
Proposals must engage Zurayk’s legacy; AI tools are prohibited; outputs must include working paper.
