Current Funding Opportunities

Application deadline: March 25, 2025
Notification: by April 15, 2025
Grant start date: July 1, 2025 
Grant amount: Maximum $10,000

The UC Reimagining Refuge Network invites proposals for scholarly, activist and/or creative projects that critically address the impacts of current US (and global) immigration and asylum procedures, creatively construct a vision for the future of US migration and asylum, and/or identify pathways to just futures for 21st-century migrants. Recipients may propose traditional research projects, art, films, or community-based programs, reaching scholars, policymakers, activists, and/or migrant communities themselves. Recipients must be based in California, but projects may address these issues in California and/or in comparative or transnational contexts.

Eligibility
Grants are open to:

1. Artists, activists, and/or NGOs based in California
2. Graduate students enrolled at the University of California (any campus) who have completed coursework for their area of study as of Fall 2025.
3. Faculty employed at the University of California (any campus) as of Fall 2025

Background
Recent federal policy and local policing in the US have been dominated by the vilification, exclusion, caging, and banishment of (im)migrants. Meanwhile, community-based organizations, artists, and immigrants continue to defy such exclusion and strive to build more just futures. There is an urgent need for scholars to work with migrant communities to imagine and develop applied solutions to the current assaults on migrants and forge new forms of refuge.

Funded by the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), Reimagining Refuge: California for Just Migrant Futures is a four-year initiative (2025-2028) aimed at establishing a network of emerging research, arts projects, activism, and community-based programs that critically analyze the current US migration regime and identify paths to migrant justice, particularly those rooted in California. Our projects center migrant perspectives, agency, and epistemologies and are led by California’s immigrant scholars and communities. 

Grant Amount
The maximum amount per award is $10,000. The grant can be used to complete an entire project, to provide seed money to start a larger project, or to accomplish smaller tasks of a larger project. We are especially interested in projects that engage communities as partners, are led by activists, artists, or scholars from immigrant families, and/or involve (im)migrant populations of California. Due to the competitive selection process, the final amount awarded may be less than the proposed budget. All funds must be spent by June 30, 2026.

Funds may support arts materials, research travel, books, living expense stipends (as taxable and financial aid reportable income), or other research or project-related expenses. Please note that any equipment purchased must be pre-approved and will be considered the property of the University of California (grants may not be used for the purchase of equipment, books, and/or materials for personal use).

Expectations & Outcomes
Recipients are responsible for two products:

1. Grantees will attend the Reimagining Refuge Convening on October 17-18, 2025 at the University of California-San Diego. At the convening, grantees will share their work (completed or in progress) with one another and the public, generating a diverse array of rigorous evidence and best practices to build a more just migration and asylum system in California, the US, and beyond. The Network will cover grantees’ travel and lodging expenses for this convening, on top of the award amount.
   1. Note: If travel to San Diego County is difficult due to immigration status, grantees may attend via Zoom or defer to a future convening in Irvine (2026), Berkeley (2027) or Santa Barbara (2028).
2. Each grantee will share a final product with the network no later than June 30, 2026. Products may include scholarly papers (such as a whitepapers, journal articles, book chapters, etc), policy briefs, artwork, films, plays, poetry, best practices graphics, advocacy and know-your-rights toolkits, or community-based programs or interventions, among others. To support publications, we will provide a professional editor to give feedback on written products. As appropriate, final projects may be posted on the UC Reimagining Refuge Website.

Note: All research involving human subjects must be reviewed by a UC Office for the Protection of Human Subjects (IRB) to ensure the protection of participants’ rights and welfare in the research process.

Application Checklist

To apply, please complete the form at the following link: https://forms.gle/mNmBJ9HxUaWo6LXj9 

The application form includes the following:

1. Name and contact information
2. Project title
3. Proposal: ONE attachment, in PDF format, including the following items. Please title your file Lastname_Firstname.pdf
   1. Project description. 500-700 words. Please identify specific plans and outcomes these funds will make possible.
   2. Budget overview: One page max. Please use a bullet point list by category. Detailed itemization or explanations are not necessary.
   3. CV - 3 pages max
4. For UC graduate students only:
   1. Signed support form from UC faculty advisor

Questions
Please direct questions to the project PI, Dr. Abigail Andrews, alandrews@ucsd.edu 

For more information about the Reimagining Refuge Network and the grant initiative, please visit https://ccis.ucsd.edu/programs/reimagining-refuge.html