Visiting Public Humanities Faculty Fellow

University of Toronto

The Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI) at the University of Toronto invites applications for a Visiting Public Humanities Faculty Fellowship (VPH) to be held in 2026-27. The JHI VPH Faculty Fellowship is intended to foster knowledge exchange between the academy and the public. The JHI VPH will be a mid-career, tenured faculty member from another institution who has a demonstrated track record of bringing humanities research out of the classroom and university press, and into the broader public realm for discussion, debate and examination across multiple media platforms, and who is experienced in addressing audiences outside the academy.

Eligibility
• Applicants must have achieved tenure by the beginning of the fellowship (July 1, 2026). Any award will be conditional on a successful promotion.
• Faculty members employed by the University of Toronto are not eligible.
• This fellowship is open to citizens of all countries. Application for appropriate visa documents is the responsibility of the Fellow.
• The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may further expand the range of ideas and perspectives.
• The Jackman Humanities Institute interprets “Humanities” as a broad category, including political theory, interpretive social science, music, and the arts.
 
Funding and Benefits
The Fellowship provides funding of $50,000 CAD plus benefits. This fellowship is most suitable for faculty members who will be on leave during their residency.

Responsibilities and Expectations
As a residential fellow, the VPH Faculty Fellow will:
• Hold an office at the JHI on the 10th floor of the Jackman Humanities Building
• Be in residence at the JHI while the JHI’s Circle of Fellows is meeting weekly (normally September to April)
• Participate regularly in JHI events, including weekly lunches, workshops and occasional public events
• Present a lecture at a fellows’ lunch seminar
• Participate in the life of the Institute
• Produce a brief report summarizing fellowship research by end of May 2027 for inclusion in JHI’s Annual Report
• Moving expenses are not provided. The JHI will provide an office, University of Toronto Library access, and administrative support

The VPH Faculty Fellow is also expected to:

• Propose, write, and publish innovative public humanities projects, some on the JHI’s annual theme, with the goal of taking humanities research into the public domain.
• Strengthen the U of T research network of publicly engaged humanities scholars by facilitating a workshop on public-facing research and writing in the humanities.

Application Components
All applicants are to complete the online application with the following documents, in this order, in a single PDF:

1. Letter of Application
2. Proposal for Public Humanities research relevant to the annual theme of Doubles, Doppelgangers
3. Curriculum Vitae
4. Writing Sample (academic) – a published book chapter or article
5. Communications Sample (public) – an article for popular press, a blog post, podcast, interview, or other media product. Provide URL link to audio or video files if you wish.
You will be asked to provide the names and email addresses of two referees who can provide confidential letters of reference. When you submit your application, your referees will receive an automated request for their letters, which will be due December 2, 2025. Please ask your referees to watch for our request email.
You will also be asked for a short bio and summary of your project (maximum 100 words each). If you are selected, these texts will be used for publicity purposes.

Selection Criteria
We are seeking individuals whose intellectual scope moves between formal academic research and public communications. The JHI is a site for interdisciplinary humanities research conversations, and we are therefore interested in candidates who have an interest in and capacity for presentation of their research across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. Candidates will be evaluated on the basis of commitment to the public humanities knowledge exchange, achievement as appropriate to their career stage, promise of excellence, and relevance of their proposed research project to the Annual Theme.

Application Timeline
• Application Open: Tuesday, September 2, 2025
• Application Deadline: Tuesday, November 25, 2025, at 4:00pm EDT
• Referee Deadline: Tuesday, December 2, 2025
• Fellowship Period: July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027

Contact and Additional Resources
• Check out our FAQs about the 2026-27 Visiting Public Humanities Faculty Fellowship: https://www.humanities.utoronto.ca/news/2026-27-visiting-public-humanities-faculty-fellowship
• Questions about this fellowship opportunity? Contact JHI Associate Director, Dr. Kimberley Yates: jhi.associate@utoronto.ca
• Technical questions about the application form or process? Contact JHI Communications Officer Sonja Johnston: jhi.communications@utoronto.ca

2026-27 Annual Theme: Doubles, Doppelgangers
Doubles, mirror images, and infinite recursive nesting of identical structures are omnipresent in nature and in culture. Our stories rely on concepts such as the play within a play, game within a game, dream within a dream, mise en abyme, self-representation, halls of mirrors, replicas/worlds in miniature, imposters, cycles, microhistories and metanarratives. Within our reflections on mind, thought, and metaphysics, we explore reality as (nested) simulation, infinite or eternal spaces or beings, cosmologies where each thing reflects/contains each other thing, hauntings/ghostly echoes/premonitions, and reflections into infinity. Our reflections of nature, whether human, biological, or computational, rely crucially on notions of recursion, recurrence, fractals, and the distortions that accrue across them (mutation, tradition, drift). In disciplines across the humanities, we observe the use of fractals, spirals, images contained in themselves, doubles, reflections (of reflections of reflections), and rhizomes. What might an exploration of doubles and recursion reveal about the ways that we reflect our realities?