Collaborative Research Seminars

Collaborative Research Seminars (CRS) are designed to direct Berkeley’s unique intellectual resources toward large, cross-disciplinary topics, to encourage collaborative work among faculty and advanced graduate students, and to offer faculty the unique opportunity to engage in a large-scale team teaching effort at the advanced level and to encourage collaborative work with advanced graduate students.

A Collaborative Research Seminar may be proposed by any two ladder-rank Berkeley faculty members representing different departments. At least one of the two conveners must be from a department within the Division of Arts and Humanities; the other may come from any department or school at Berkeley. The seminars themselves will be team-taught by a group of 6 faculty, including the 2 conveners. Enrollment will be open to graduate students in the third year of study or beyond, to form a total seminar of approximately 18 participants, faculty and students combined. Departments whose faculty will co-teach the seminars will count participation as the equivalent of one gradate level course. (They may do this by assigning the faculty member to a 298, 299, or other suitable course number, according to departmental and decanal policies.) Student enrollments will be apportioned to the departments of participating faculty, or to their home departments in the case that their department is not represented among the faculty team.

Each pair of conveners will receive an award of $10,000 to be used for the development of course materials, teaching assistance (e.g. GSR or work-study help), intellectual enrichments (e.g. visiting speakers), or in any other way that is consistent with the aims of the research seminar and with University policies. The Townsend Center will schedule and host the meetings of the seminar and will provide basic web support for the group, including administration of a dedicated seminar web space that can later be continued or expanded by the group.

Download the 2010-2011 guidelines and application:
PDF
Microsoft Word

New 2010-2011 deadline, Stage 1: Friday, January 8, 2010 at 5:00pm
Stage 2: TBA

For questions about the program, please contact Fellowships Coordinator Bridgette Lehrer at blehrer@berkeley.edu.