Write@UMBC: A 14-Day Scholarly Writing Challenge
Co-sponsored by the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Graduate School
Supported by the Office of the Provost
In Collaboration with Dresher Center for Humanities, CS3, and CIRCA
What is Write@UMBC?
Write@UMBC
is a campus-wide writing initiative designed to help scholars and
scholar-practitioners build sustainable writing habits through protected
time, light accountability, and community support.
Who can participate?
Faculty, postdocs, graduate students, researchers, and administrators/staff across UMBC.
How it works
30 minutes of writing per day for two weeks
Any scholarly writing or part of the writing process counts
There will be no need to share your writing content
Optional community check-ins for light accountability and reflections
When is the challenge?
March 2–15, 2026
How do I participate?
Register for Write@UMBC using this registration form. You must have a NCFDD-account. To activate your free account using your UMBC email here: https://members.ncfdd.org/institutions/umbc
***Registration Deadline is February 22***
Hi All,
An webinar today on the current funding landscape which may be of interest to some. It's hosted by Betty Lai who wrote the book The Grant Writing Guide. https://scholarfoundations.com/index
Best,
John
How do you navigate the current funding landscape? How do you build a career today? There's no single right answer, but it helps to hear from different experts.
Join Betty Lai for a free webinar on Friday, February 13 from 12 - 1pm Eastern to learn from Dr. Laura Namy. Dr. Namy has a storied career. She's served as: a full professor at Emory, an NSF program officer, an NIH study section member, Executive Director of the Society for Research on Child Development, and as an Associate Commissioner within the Institute of Education Sciences. She's seen the changes happening with funding, and she's also navigated careers in and outside of academia.
Register HereI'll be asking Dr. Namy about her career path, her advice for scholars, and you'll have a chance to ask questions. The webinar will not be recorded, to make it easier for people to ask their questions about the current state of funding and science.
If you know someone who'd want to attend, would you mind forwarding them this email? Thanks for reading and believing that scholars deserve support for incredible ideas.
Betty
Stay in touch: The Newsletter and The Grant Writing Guide book.
The Public Health Research Center (PHRC) of CAHSS invites UMBC faculty from ALL UMBC departments to apply for Faculty Affiliate status--a three-year renewable term for scholars whose research aligns with PHRC's interdisciplinary mission to advance public health through collaboration.
As a PHRC Faculty Affiliate, you'll gain:
· Access and involvement with a vibrant community of health scholars
· Recognition on PHRC's website, annual report, and communications
· Priority access to PHRC grant services (grant review, Write On! support, GenAI assistance)
· Timely funding updates and research networking opportunities
· A chance to mentor junior investigators shaping UMBC's health research community
How to
apply:
Simply upload a single document (1-page
statement + current CV) to our PHRC Box folder found on the call or our website.
See attached call or our website for full information https://phrc.umbc.edu/
Reach out with any questions to PHRC@umbc.edu
What happens when faculty from different disciplines/fields come together to explore public health? The Public Health Collaboration Grants 2026 are designed toanswer this question!This opportunity invites all full-timeCAHSS faculty from the social sciences, humanities, and artsdisciplines to explore unexpected connections in their interdisciplinary expertise with the aim of developing novel public health research questions. Faculty with ongoing health research projects, as well as those with absolutely no prior health research experience, are welcome to participate.
Proposal Link: https://tinyurl.com/ywpfb3x2
The PHRC Collaboration Grants 2026 program offers a supportive cohort model to help interdisciplinary teams of faculty develop and submit competitive proposals for external funding. The five selected faculty teams will meet as a cohort monthly from January through April 2026 for facilitated workshops, writing time, and peer feedback. Team members will receive salary support for summer 2026 and present a project update in a mini symposium to cohort members, PHRC staff, and CAHSS dean's office staff in August 2026. By the end of the program, faculty teams will have both a well-prepared submission ready application and a community of colleagues for future success.
As part of this initiative, applicants will propose a team of two to four CAHSS faculty who will collaboratively submit a future externally funded public health grant. Need help identifying collaborator(s) for a faculty team? Participate in our October Research Meet-Ups or just contact us.
***Public Health Research Meet-Ups***
Thu. 10/23 11:00-12:00pm on Webex.
To facilitate emerging interdisciplinary faculty research collaborations/teams we are sponsoring two meet up events for all CAHSS faculty to gather and share interests/expertise in the broad area of health research. Join us at one or both of these events. Attendance is encouraged, but not required, for submission to the Public Health Collaborative Grant program.
Please RSVP by clicking on PHRC myGroups page or email to PHRC@umbc.edu .
For Questions: John G. Schumacher, PHRC Director, jschuma@umbc.edu
]]>