The John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study is inviting proposals for programming that shine a light on areas of particular academic strength at Brown as they have been highlighted in the university’s strategic plan.  We welcome proposals for invited speakers, conferences, and other programs to be held in the 2024-2025 academic year.  We expect to offer awards of $3,000-$5,000 and will be able to provide administrative support and space for the events.  

The John Nicholas Brown Center (JNBC) became a center for advanced study effective July 1, 2023 with a primary focus on fostering the broad public discussion and the dissemination of academic research across the full range of disciplines.  This new plan expands the JNBC's scope and mission, elevating it beyond its previous focus on public humanities and positioning it as a catalyst for communicating the intrinsic value of academic scholarship in general to the wider public.

More specifically, the JNBC’s new mission is to champion the institutional significance of the university as an open space for critical inquiry, research, and public discourse where the liberal arts disciplines as well as the more applied fields in the humanities and the social, physical, and life sciences can work alongside one another to promote the public good.  The JNBC will also embrace the responsibility of academic research and scholarship to explain its relevance to the general public.  Through the newly conceived JNBC, Brown will signal its commitment to defending the university as an institution that promotes intellectual inquiry from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives while also explicitly addressing the question of why this work matters to the society that supports it.

Please send programming proposals to the JNBC's Director Kevin McLaughlin at Kevin_McLaughlin@Brown.edu with the subject line “JNBC programming 2024-2025," or email Kevin if you would like to discuss a proposal that you are considering. We will begin reviewing proposals on January 15, 2024.