Applications Open: November 13, 2025 | Application Deadline: March 12, 2026
The deadline has been extended until March 12th, 2026 for this call.
To view this call in French, press here.
The Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS) is pleased to launch the ninth cycle of its Small Grants Program and the second on the theme of “Constantine Zurayk: Nation, Identity, and History: Towards New Agendas.”
This grant, with a duration of 5-6 months, supports individual researchers up to three years out of the PhD and PhD students in advanced stages of their studies, in the social sciences and humanities, to conduct a research project on the Arab region on the theme of “Constantine Zurayk: Nation, Identity, and History: Towards New Agendas.”
A grant of up to USD3,000 is available for individual researchers; two to three grantees will be selected to benefit from the grant in the second cycle.
This program supports research proposals based on new or ongoing projects, including:
This program is funded through a grant provided to the Arab Council for the Social Sciences by the Constantine Zurayk Cultural Foundation for a program entitled “Constantine Zurayk: Nation, Identity and History: Towards New Agendas”.
The program aims at promoting research that is inspired by the seminal work of Dr. Constantine Zurayk (1909-2000). The program encourages young scholars to explore and build on Zurayk’s scholarship, revolving around questions of nation, identity, and history.
Zurayk’s writings included historical studies as well as theoretical reflections on history writing and making. They were inspired by the dramatic events that he witnessed, from the Nakba of 1948 and the defeat of 1967 up to the wars and civil wars of the region. Zurayk’s work was characterized by intellectual rigor as well as moral probity and courage, engaging the realities of the region and addressing the concerns of the moment. He advocated an Arab nationalism that was humanistic and non-essentialist and rejected all forms of determinisms. His humanist and interdisciplinary work speaks to our times and inspires new reflections on nation, identity and history.
In November 2011, Zurayk’s daughters Drs. Huda, Afaf, and Hanan Zurayk donated his papers to the American University of Beirut Library and the description of the archive can be found now under the title “Constantine Zurayk Collection, 1909-2000”: https://www.aub.edu.lb/Libraries/asc/Collections/Documents/FindingAids/ConstantineZuraykCollectionFA.pdf
The ACSS Constantine Zurayk program supports research on his legacy: this could be work on the archived collection mentioned above or the study of some aspects of his work. The program encourages as well, new explorations of the notions of nation, identity and history broadly construed. However, those have to establish a clear link with Zurayk’s work and research. In the past fifty years, scholars have used feminist, transnational, postcolonial cultural, and indigenous theory and methods (among others) to push our conceptions of nation, identity, and history. Through their scholarship, they have questioned both the significance of these categories, the power they carry, and their meanings both on a global and intimate levels. The program is particularly interested in scholars whose research pushes the bounds of these themes both theoretically and methodologically. Candidates are encouraged to utilize a broad range of scholarly methods and approaches in their projects, and should not be limited to disciplinary or national boundaries.
The program encourages applicants who wish to work on the Constantine Zurayk Archive housed at the American University of Beirut’s library. However, using the archive is not a requirement for proposal acceptance.
This call is open to:
1) Citizens of an Arab country (defined as a country belonging to the League of Arab States),
2) Refugees and/or stateless individuals from Arab countries residing in the Arab region,
3) Researchers residing outside the Arab region who hold Arab citizenship or are refugees and/or stateless individuals from the Arab region, and
4) Applicants residing outside the Arab region who carry a non-Arab passport but are originally from an Arab country.
This program targets only:
1) Scholars who are 0-3 years out of a PhD program in the social sciences or humanities (obtained from within or outside the Arab region). Applicants should have obtained their PhDs at the time of application. Applicants who received their PhD before the year 2022 are not eligible to apply to this program.
2) PhD students at advanced stages of their studies in the social sciences or humanities (dissertation write up stage) enrolled at universities within or outside the Arab region.
Applicants are required to create an account and a Profile Page on the ACSS Applications Platform, then apply to the grant using the online application form for the Small Grants Program – Constantine Zurayk, and provide the following supporting documents:
The Grants and Fellowships Unit at the Arab Council for the Social Sciences will review each budget on a case-by-case basis. Please note that the total and detailed approved budget may not necessarily correspond to the one requested.
The Small Grants Program is open to any discipline in the social sciences and humanities and allied and interdisciplinary fields. Core disciplines include anthropology, demography, economics, history, political science, psychology, sociology, philosophy, literary studies and art history. Allied and interdisciplinary fields include architecture, geography, education, law, public health, gender studies, cultural studies, media studies, development studies and urban studies.
Suggested proposals can be based on fieldwork or archival research. Support can be provided for write -up or analysis of already collected data.
Proposals should include the following components:
For more information on proposal writing guidelines, click here.
Outputs may include, but are not limited to, research papers and/or articles for publication, archival studies, book manuscript, blog or e-zine essay, proposal for funding a new project, chapter in a dissertation, pedagogical resources and digital archives or databases. In addition, the ACSS requires grantees to produce a working paper within the ACSS Working Papers Series.
A multidisciplinary Selection Committee composed of distinguished Arab scholars with established research and publication records and experience in regional research and teaching will review and select proposals for funding. The selection procedures abide by the highest standards of academic and ethical judgment.
The committee evaluates proposals based on the following evaluation criteria:
The use of AI in writing the proposal is prohibited.
Two to three grantees will be selected to benefit from the grant this second cycle.
By submitting the electronic application, applicants affirm that they agree, without any objections, to the evaluation and selection results as decided and announced by the Selection Committee and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. Applicants who are unsuccessful will not be informed of the specific reasons for rejection.
Results will be communicated to applicants in March 2026.
Successful applicants are expected to comply with the following project requirements:
The budget should not exceed USD3000 and cannot include: travel expenses for conference participation or registration fees and participation in workshops.
The budget should clearly indicate whether other sources of funding are already available or have been applied for and which items would be fully or partially covered by other sources. The Selection Committee and the ACSS staff will review each budget on a case-by-case basis. Please note that the total and detailed budget may not necessarily correspond to the one requested.
November 13, 2025: Application forms are available online.
March 12, 2026: Deadline for submissions.
March 2026: Decisions are communicated to applicants.
April 2026: Accepted applicants sign their contracts.
April 2026 to October 2026: Grant duration of 5-6 months within this period.
November 2026: Submission of final reports and grant outputs.
Spring 2026: Attend and present research results during at the Sixth Research Forum.
Applicants are advised to consult the Frequently Asked Questions and the Checklist prior to submitting their application.
For inquiries about the grant, please direct your questions to the Senior Grants and Fellowships Coordinator, Rebecca Daher, on the following email address: grants@theacss.org
For questions related to the online application process and technical issues, please contact the IT Officer, Wassim Alam, on the following email address: alam@theacss.org
