Results – year 2022

This year’s Kidd fellowships were awarded to three pairs of applicants who responded to the challenge of finding ways to facilitate cooperation within Europe between scholars from LAS programmes and scholars from mono-disciplinary programmes at different institutions:

Richard Jong-A-Pin (University College Groningen, Netherlands), Kim Leonie Kellermann (Technical University Braunschweig, Germany) – Political Economy Challenges of the 21st century

Femi Odebiyi (LCC International University, Klaipeda, Lithuania), Harald A. Mieg (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany) – Creative Interdisciplinary Conversation on Undergraduate Research (CICUR)

Tom Bailey (John Cabot University, Rome, Italy), Tsarina Doyle (National University of Ireland, Galway) – Philosophical Thinking and the Liberal Arts

 

Results – year 2021

This year’s Kidd fellowships were awarded to three pairs of applicants who responded to the challenge of finding ways to facilitate cooperation within Europe between scholars from LAS programmes and scholars from mono-disciplinary programmes at different institutions:

Gábor Molnár (McDaniel College, Budapest, Hungary), István Berszán (Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania) – The Human Animal: a Course in World Literature

Andrea Buratti (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy), Emilie Frenkiel (University of Paris Est-Créteil, France) – «Freedom of expression in the web»: toward an interdisciplinary teaching methodology

Siarhei Liubimau (European Humanites University, Vilnius, Lithuania), Mateusz Błaszczyk (University of Wroclaw, Poland) – Participatory Urban Research Model for Small Monofunctional Towns

 

Call for applications 2021 – second round (2021/22)

Partnership between two scholars: one from Liberal Arts and the other from single-discipline programme

 

Undergraduate education in Europe is in a crisis. The vast majority of Bachelor degrees are in single-discipline studies and the courses consist of lectures in large classrooms combined with 1-2 often multiple-choice exams. This kind of education is ill-suited to preparing students for their futures. At the same time, a small number of Liberal Arts programs offer a different kind on education, which is characterized by multidisciplinarity, a more active pedagogy, and a more relational approach to teaching. It is this combination that improves students’ educational experience and enhances soft or intellectual skills. Hence one may wonder if there are elements of the Liberal Arts that can be incorporated into traditional Bachelor programs. We believe that conversation between scholars from the two groups can result in narrowing the gap between the two models. The 2021/2022 J.J. Kidd Fellowships aim to facilitate initiatives that see to foster cooperation between LAS and traditional programs.

The post-Covid period offers an opportunity for educators and administrators from single or mono-discipline programs and those familiar with the Liberal Arts model to re-evaluate Bachelor education in light of recent experience. Are there elements of the liberal Arts that can be incorporated into traditional Bachelor programs? We believe that conversation between scholars from the two groups can result in narrowing the gap between the two models.

The Liberal Arts and Sciences have stressed the importance of student-centered teaching and small seminar classes combined with numerous extracurricular activities. It is this combination that improves students’ educational experience and enhances soft or intellectual skills. We have warned about the status of the Bachelor degree in Europe in the ECOLAS Manifesto. Its assertions have become even more urgent with the Pandemic. Thus, we want to make it the common ground for applicants for this year’s Julie Johnson Kidd Fellowship.

The 2021/22 Fellowship seeks to facilitate cooperation between scholars from Liberal Arts and mono-discipline programs within Europe. It offers 4-5 scholarships for joint projects designed between 2 scholars – one from the Liberal Arts programme and the other from any single discipline department. The two scholars should come from different institutions and special consideration would be given to applicants from different European countries. Who can apply for J.J. Kidd Fellowship:

A) Either a scholar from a Liberal Arts programme might seek collaboration with a colleague from a single-discipline department from a different university;

B) alternatively, a teacher-scholar from a single discipline department teaching Bachelor students seek a scholar from Liberal arts program.

(ECOLAS is willing to help find such a contact from among scholars in our network of Liberal Arts institutions.)

The application should outline how key elements of Liberal Arts learning might be implemented within a single-discipline Bachelor programme in the context of a joint course that can be offered to both LAS and mono-disciplinary students.  The development of the course should be the result of a conversation focused on the ECOLAS Manifesto and its content should reflect the principles outlined therein.

ECOLAS will organize a bi-monthly online meetings among the scholars participating in the JJK Fellowship program in order to exchange their experiences and offer feedback to other participants. At the end of the project, all the participating scholars would be invited to a workshop to discuss their results.

5^th Round (2019) – Selection Results

The fifth round of Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship has attracted a large number of  applications from institutions  throughout Europe. As we announced earlier the number of granted fellowships each year is limited.  Nevertheless, our evaluators were able to select the following proposals for funding from among the many strong applications. Here is the list of successful applicants in 2019 and their projects:

Simon J. Buechner (University College Freiburg, Germany) – Case Study Teaching in Liberal Arts and Sciences

John Friedman (University College Roosevelt, The Netherlands) – Intersections: LAS Senior Seminar and Book Series

Beatriz Gómez Baceiredo (University of Navarra, Spain) – Reading Mentors: reengaging with reading

Anastasia Hacopian (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) – Does diversity stick? Mapping diversity in global liberal education

Maria Ioannou (University College Groningen, The Netherlands) – Deeply divided societies: conference presentation / participation

Braiens (Brian) Mārtiņš Lapsa (University of Oxford, UK) – „Liberal Arts on the Baltic“ (Artes liberales Baltijā)

Dave Vliegenthart (University College Maastricht, The Netherlands) – PRO3000 Spirituality Project: Challenging Secular Religion

We congratulate the 2020 grantees and express our gratitude to all who applied.

5^th Round (2019) – Call for applications

The Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowships aim to assist faculty engaged in the Liberal Arts and Sciences in projects that contribute to informing classroom teaching. While the focus of ECOLAS remains in the areas of Teacher Training and Professional Development, Undergraduate Research and, Quality Standards for Liberal Arts and Sciences programmes, this year we also encourage proposals that include collaborative efforts in curriculum development.

Projects may include: work leading towards a scholarly or artistic product such as a peer reviewed article or conference presentation or; travel costs and attendance at a workshop, confernce, meeting or seminar. Approved applications will receive a grant of max. 1500€. Grants may not be used to cover expenses for capital or software purchases, attendance at professional meetings or administrative expenses.

To be considered for a Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship, please fill out the application form which asks to provide 1) project title and dates; 2) a project description (2 pages maximum) which will include the purpose of the project, its relationship to Liberal Arts and Sciences or to one or more of the topics listed above, the expected outcome or product and a brief statement about how the project will contribute to your development as a teacher-scholar. You will also be asked for budget information and any other external funding sought. Upon completion of the project each Fellow will submit a brief (2 pages maximum) executive summary of project results.

In order to apply, fill in application form and send it to info@ecolas.eu. Applications should be endorsed by dean or department head to ensure that the proposed activity is consistent with the candidate’s ongoing professional development. A brief support letter can be sent either by e-mail or as a letter. Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Is the application complete and comprehensive?
2. The merit of the proposed project and its potential for success.
3. The relationship of the proposed project to the general aims of the Liberal Arts and Sciences.

There will be up to 7 fellowships awarded this year.  Deadline for submission of applications is 15 December, 2019. The selection results will be published by 15 January, 2020.  The awarded applicants will be contacted through ECOLAS office.

Julie Johnson Kidd

Mrs. Kidd has been President of The Endeavor Foundation, New York, formerly Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation, for nearly forty years. The foundation was founded in 1952 by her father, Christian A. Johnson. Throughout those years, Mrs. Kidd has believed that the most important work which the Foundation could undertake is in the field of education.

Mrs. Kidd also believes that only through education can we make the world a better place. Within the education field, she has staunchly adhered to supporting and strengthening interdisciplinary study in the liberal arts and sciences at the undergraduate level, both in the United States and in many other countries. Additionally, Mrs. Kidd has emphasized the development of cross-cultural understanding amongst people of all nations. She believes that without such understanding, mankind will not be able to protect this planet for future generations of all living things. Thus, she has expressed her deep gratitude for the naming of this Fellowship in her honor, which will promote the values which she holds so dear.

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4^th Round (2018) – Selection Results

The fourth round of Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship has attracted 18 applications coming from institutions in 7 European countries. Since the number of granted fellowships is limited, our evaluators were forced to select those of highest quality and relevance to ECOLAS activities. Here is the list of successful applicants in 2018 and their projects:

Tim Burnett (University of Warwick, UK) – Learning and Sharing Best Practice in the Introduction and Use of Complex Systems to Teach Liberal Arts

James Griffith (Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts, Slovakia) – Architecture, the city in the Liberal Arts

Tim Hoff (University of Hamburg, Germany) – Liberal Arts in Europe – Variances of ownership and knowledge in interdisciplinary curricula

Maria Ioannou (UC Groningen, The Netherlands) – Undergraduate research: The fairer side of chocolate

Ignas Kalpokas (LCC International University, Klaipeda, Lithuania) – Students’ Algorithmic Selves: Shedding Light on Social Media’s Representational Affordances

Rianne van Lambalgen (Utrecht University, Liberal Arts and Sciences, The Netherlands) – Evaluation of using the conavigator collaboration tool to support undergraduate interdisciplinary research in teams

Christopher May – Ryan Wittingslow (UC Groningen, The Netherlands) – Concretising Critical Thinking

Florentine Marnel Sterk (Utrecht University, Liberal Arts and Sciences, The Netherlands) – Teaching science communication to undergraduate degree students

Chad Weidner (UC Roosevelt, The Netherlands) – Interdisciplinary curricular innovation in environmental studies and design

We’d like to congratulate the grantees who are contacted by our office in order to proceed with the fellowship’s fulfilment. We’d also like to thank the other applicants for their time and efforts and ancourage them to participate in future activities of ECOLAS network.

4^th Round (2018) – Information

The Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowships aim to assist faculty engaged in the liberal arts and sciences in research projects that contribute to informing classroom teaching. Preference will be given to proposals that address one or more of the three project areas of our recent Erasmus+ BLASTER project:

• Teacher Training and Professional Development in the Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Undergraduate Research
• Quality Standards for Liberal Arts and Sciences programmes

Projects may include: work leading towards a scholarly or artistic product such as a peer reviewed article or conference presentation or; travel costs and attendance at a workshop or seminar. Approved applications will receive a grant of max. 1500€. Grants may not be used to cover expenses for capital or software purchases, attendance at professional meetings or administrative expenses.

To be considered for a Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship, please fill out the application form which asks to provide 1) project title and dates; 2) a project description (2 pages maximum) which will include the purpose of the project, its relationship to liberal arts and sciences  or to one or more of the topics listed above, the expected outcome or product and a brief statement about how the project will contribute to your development as a teacher-scholar. You will also be asked for budget information and any other external funding sought. Upon completion of the project each Fellow will submit a brief (2 pages maximum) executive summary of project results.

An additional feature of this fellowship is that selected successful project holders will be further supported to organize a short workshop for faculty and students at their university.

In order to apply, fill in application form and send it to info@ecolas.eu. Applications should be endorsed by dean or department head to ensure that the proposed activity is consistent with the candidate’s ongoing professional development. A brief support letter can be sent either by e-mail or as a letter. Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Is the application complete and comprehensive?
2. The merit of the proposed project and its potential for success.
3. The relationship of the proposed project to the general aims of the liberal arts and sciences.

Deadline for submission of applications for the second round is 26 November, 2018. The selection results will be published by 13 December, 2018. There will be up to 10 fellowships awarded in the programme’s fourth year, 2018. The awarded applicants will be contacted through ECOLAS office.

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3^rd Round (2017) – Selection Results

The third round of Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship has attracted 15 applications coming from 7 European countries. Since the number of granted fellowships is limited to 10, our evaluators were forced to select those of highest quality and relevance to ECOLAS activities. Here is the list of successful applicants in 2017 and their projects:

Inez Flameling (UC Roosevelt, Netherlands) – Science Podcasting Workshop

Bettina van Hoven (UC Groningen, Netherlands) – Break Out: Exploring in-and exclusion from urban spaces… from the inside out

Andrew Jones (LCC International University, Lithuania) – eduScrum, Political Communication and the Integration of Research in Liberal Arts Education

Patricia Kennon (Maynooth University, Ireland) – Enhancing Pedagogy and Scholarship with New Research Methods Through the Lens of Children’s Literature Studies

Dagmar Kusa (BISLA, Slovakia) – Narratives of Peace conflict and Justice: Transitions to Democracy in South Africa and Central Europe

Aliaksei Makhnach, (European Humanities University, Lithuania) – EHU Symposium in Florence

Christopher May and Ryan Wittingslow (UC Groningen, Netherlands) – Assessing  Aisthesis as a Novel Quality Standard for Liberal Arts and Sciences Programs

Femi Odebiyi (LCC International University, Lithuania) – Two for One:  Faculty/Student Reserch Collaboration in a Meta-Analysis Study

Carolina Sanchez De Jaegher (UC Roosevelt, Netherlands) – Territories in dispute: epistemologies, resistances and spiritualties

Kathy-Ann Tan (Bard College Berlin, Germany) – Critical Diversity and Decolonial Methodologies in the Liberal Arts Classroom

We’d like to congratulate the grantees who are contacted by our office in order to proceed with the fellowship’s fulfilment. We’d also like to thank the other applicants for their time and efforts and ancourage them to participate in future activities of ECOLAS network.

3^rd Round (2017) – Information

The Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowships have been developed to assist faculty engaged in the liberal arts and sciences in research projects that contribute to informing classroom teaching. This year, projects eligible for consideration will be limited to themes related to the three project areas of our recent Erasmus+ BLASTER grant:

1.) Teacher Training and Professional Development in the Liberal Arts and Sciences

2.) Undergraduate Research

3.) Quality Standards for Liberal Arts and Sciences programmes

Projects may include: work leading towards a scholarly or artistic product such as a peer reviewed article or conference presentation or; travel costs and attendance at a workshop or seminar whose subject corresponds to one of the above areas.

Approved applications will receive a grant of 1500€. Grants may not be used to cover expenses for capital or software purchases, attendance at professional meetings or administrative expenses.

To be considered for a Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship, please fill out the application form which asks to provide 1) project title and dates; 2) a project description (2 pages maximum) which will include the purpose of the project, its relationship to one or more of the topics listed above, the expected outcome or product and a brief statement about how the project will contribute to your development as a teacher-scholar. You will also be asked for budget information and any other external funding sought. Upon completion of the project each Fellow will submit a brief (2 pages maximum) executive summary of project results.

An additional feature of this fellowship is that selected successful project holders will be further supported to organize a short workshop for faculty and students at their university.

In order to apply, fill in application form and send it to info@ecolas.eu. Applications should be endorsed by dean or department head to ensure that the proposed activity is consistent with the candidate’s ongoing professional development. A brief support can be sent either by e-mail or as a letter. Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Is the application complete and comprehensive?
2. The merit of the proposed project and its potential for success.
3.  

Deadline for submission of applications for the second round is 30 November, 2017. The selection results will be published by 15 December, 2017. There will be up to 10 fellowships awarded in the programme’s third year, 2017. The awarded applicants will be contacted through ECOLAS office in Bratislava.

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J. J. Kidd T. R. Fellowship – 2^nd Round

The Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowships have been developed to assist faculty engaged in the liberal arts and sciences in research projects that will contribute to informing classroom teaching. Projects eligible for consideration include:

a) projects leading towards a scholarly or artistic product such as a peer reviewed article or conference presentation,

b) projects aimed at improving pedagogy or expertise in a specific field through attendance at a workshop or seminar or study at a research or cultural site,

c) travel costs linked to a conference, workshop or lecture related to liberal arts and sciences.

SELECTION RESULTS – 2nd Round

The second round of Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship has attracted 19 applications coming from leturers at institutions in 5 European countries. Since the number of granted fellowships is limited to 10, our evaluators were forced to select those of highest quality and relevance to ECOLAS activities. Here is the list of successful applicants in 2016 and their projects:

Agnes Andeweg – Humanities Research Methods in a Liberal Arts & Sciences context

Merel van Goch – How do they do it? Fostering students‘ creativity in European Liberal Arts & Sciences institutions

Tim Hoff – Teaching about Liberal Education, Teaching for Liberal Education, Teaching as Liberal Education

Astrid van Kimmenade – Liberal Arts and Sciences Double Degree: developing pedagogy

Daniel Kontowski – A comparative study on the idea of European Liberal Arts – consultations

David Kretz – Liberal Education under Financial Pressure: The Case of Germany

George Legg – Remembering the Docklands Bomb

Emil C. Toescu – Development of a Liberal Arts and Sciences Skills Portfolio

Chad Weidner – “Thinking like a Mountain”

Monique Yoder – An interdisciplinary approach to implementing Writing Accross the Curriculum (WAC) writing pedagogy at Liberal Arts institutions

We’d like to congratulate the grantees who are contacted by our office in order to proceed with the fellowship’s fulfilment. We’d also like to thank the other applicants for their time and efforts and ancourage them to participate in future activities of ECOLAS network.

Information about the 2nd call for applications

Approved applications will receive a grant of 1500€. Grants may not be used to cover expenses for capital or software purchases, attendance at professional meetings or administrative expenses.

To be considered for a Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research award, please fill out the application form which asks to provide 1) project title and dates; 2) a project description (2 pages maximum) which will include the purpose of the project, its relationship to liberal arts and sciences teaching, the expected outcome or product and a brief statement about how the project will contribute to your development as a teacher-scholar. You will also be asked for budget information and any other external funding sought.

In order to apply, fill in this application form and send it to info@ecolas.eu.

Applications should be endorsed by dean or department head to ensure that the proposed activity is consistent with the candidate’s ongoing professional development. A brief support can be sent either by e-mail or as a letter. Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Is the application complete and comprehensive?
2. The merit of the proposed project and its potential for success
3. The relationship of the proposed project to the general aims of the liberal arts and sciences.

The new feature of this fellowship is that a few successful project holders would be further supported to organize a short workshop for faculty and students at their university.

Deadline for submission of applications for the second round is 20 September, 2016. The selection results will be published here by 10 October, 2016. UPDATE: Since we’ve received more applications of high quality than expected, their thorough assessment and selection by our evaluators takes more time than expected. The results will come very soon, we are sorry for the delay.

There will be up to 10 fellowships awarded in the programme’s second year, 2016. The awarded applicants will be contacted through ECOLAS office in Bratislava.

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Selection Results for J. J. Kidd Fellowship 2015

The first call for applications for Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship has attracted 22 grant requests by teachers from 13 separate institutions in 6 European countries. While we were gratified by the number of strong research applications that we received, we are only able to fund 10 fellowships at this time.

The list of selected applications:

Anar K. Ahmadov, Leiden University College The Hague, The Netherlands

Aliel Cunningham and Sanda Tomuletiu, LCC International University, Klaipeda, Lithuania

Tim Hoff, Leuphana University Lüneburg

Daniel Kontowski, University of Warsaw, Poland

Matthew Martin, St Mary’s University College, Belfast, UK

Ulrike Mueller, University College Maastricht, The Netherlands

Eri Park, University College Roosevelt, The Netherlands

Gabriela Pleschová, BISLA, Bratislava, Slovakia

Aaron Rosen, King’s College London, UK

Gavin Schwartz-Leeper, University of Warwick, UK

The Selection Committee consisted of ECOLAS Executive Board members Hans Adriaansens, Laurent Boetsch and Samuel Abraham. Watch our website for more news about this one and following years of J.J.Kidd Fellowship programme. A call for new proposals will be forthcoming in early 2016.

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Scholarship for the Advancement of Collaborative Teaching

Selection Results 2016

The first call for applications for Advancement of Collaborative Teaching Scholarship has attracted seven grant requests. Six proposals were selected and accepted for funding. These projects are considered as a useful contribution to the development of teaching skills in liberal arts and sciences.

The list of selected applicants:

Yorick Birkhölzer, ATLAS University College Twente, The Netherlands

Emma Cohen de Lara, Amsterdam University College, The Netherlands

Tim Hoff, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany

Ladislav Koreň, University Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

Liesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens, Erasmus University College, The Netherlands

Femi Odebiyi, LCC International University, Klaipėda, Lithuania

The Selection Committee consisted of ECOLAS Executive Board members Hans Adriaansens, Laurent Boetsch and Samuel Abraham. 

The purpose of this scholarship scheme is to support teachers at Liberal Arts and Sciences institutions in advancing their teaching and student learning. The goal is to support course innovation projects centred on improved student learning through both innovative and more traditional teaching methods. The projects shall pair a junior teacher and a senior teacher who will act as a mentor guiding the junior colleague throughout the process of course innovation. Similarly the projects can pair two teachers who teach the same course at different institutions and who tailor the course in innovative ways based on the learning environment and student needs at their respective institutions. In either case the collaboration should take 2-3 months throughout the summer semester 2015/2016.

As a result of the innovation project, the scholarship recipients are asked to prepare a written report (2,000 words) in which they summarise the design of the project and evaluate its outcomes on student learning. A necessary condition for awarding the scholarship is that the teacher collects and evaluates the evidence on how student learning has changed after introducing an innovation. As sources of this evidence, teachers can use examples of student work (assignments, essays, projects, written exams, etc.), student feedback questionnaires, interviews with student focus groups, peer observation summaries from colleague teachers, student grades, teacher’s reflections as noted in his/her teaching diary, etc. Ideally, several examples from these sources shall be collected and evaluated in the report. Comparison of the outcomes of the innovation with findings from existing literature on university student learning as published in academic journals and books is strongly encouraged.

Application requirements

The applicants are required to submit a design of their innovation project (600-800 words) describing the problem they wish to address, and the specific nature of the innovation together with expected impact on student learning. In addition, they should describe what kind of partnership they will form (junior-senior colleague or teachers from different institutions) and how their collaboration shall take place (regular face-to-face meetings, phone talks, online “meetings”).

Applications should be endorsed by dean or department head to ensure that the proposed activity is consistent with the candidate’s ongoing professional development. A brief support can be sent either by e-mail or as a letter. Deadline for submission of applications is extended to March 6, 2016. The selection results will be published here no later than March 10, 2016. There will be up to 7 scholarships of EUR 1500 / project awarded in the programme’s first year, 2016. The awarded applicants will be contacted through ECOLAS office in Bratislava.