PIIRS Regional Labs

Deadline

February 1, 2025

PIIRS hosts a small number of labs. These tend to focus on a given country/region as a geographic laboratory for evaluating a set of cross-cutting issues. A given country might be the site of democratic challenges, environmental crises, inequality and precarity, war and/or a host of other issues. The labs aim to bring together a multidisciplinary group of scholars with a shared country-based and regional expertise who have identified a core theme or themes that they want to explore collectively over a 3-year period.


Awards

Awards will vary depending on the scale of the enterprise being proposed. PIIRS will award each lab up to $450,000 spread over three years. Of course, smaller-budget proposals will also be considered. 


Application

Pre-proposal

To begin, PIIRS will seek only an initial two- or three-page pre-proposal describing the theme of the proposed lab and identifying other Princeton faculty who might be involved. Pre-proposals must be made by groups of at least three Princeton faculty members from at least two academic departments. It should indicate other participants who might be interested and why the proposed lab provides a unique and unprecedented opportunity to pursue this work at Princeton. Pre-proposals should be sent by December 1, 2024 to PIIRS Director Deborah Yashar.

Applications

Some pre-proposals received will be asked to develop a more detailed application. This more extensive application will consist of a 7-10 page application, due by February 1, 2025. The application should include the following:

  • A more detailed elaboration of the lab, its importance for regional and multidisciplinary knowledge, and plans for the three-year proposal — detailing the balance between research, teaching, and publicly organized activity.
  • A list and description of the faculty who have agreed to participate in the lab’s activities
  • A list of other faculty who might participate (including colleagues at other institutions around the world).
  • Labs should build, foster, and/or strengthen connections to colleagues and institutions in the country that is the focus of the lab. While most labs will not include their own postdoctoral fellows or long-term visitors, we strongly encourage outreach to local visitors around the campus. 
  • Labs should indicate if they are organically connected to either a) existing PIIRS regional research communities, b) other Princeton regional programs and centers, and/or c) Princeton departments.
  • A three-year budget not to exceed $450,000 over 3 years. Examples of sample budgets are available (please write Karen Koller).

Requests for Extensions

Under special circumstances, a lab might apply for continued funding. Success of a lab will be judged by the size of the engaged faculty community, attendance at its activities, publication results, curricular/pedagogical footprint, and the international networks it has established. Typically, communities seeking another cycle of funding will also need to demonstrate evidence of application for significant external or internal funding from sources other than PIIRS.

Further questions or inquiries about the PIIRS Regional Labs can be addressed to PIIRS Director Deborah Yashar (cc:ing Executive Director Trisha Craig).

Current Research Labs