MIT Human Insight Collaborative

Page Contents:01.Who’s involved02.Funds and Opportunities 03.FAQs04.Events

A new focus on understanding the human element

The MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) will unlock the power of human insight to expand humanity’s horizons, to educate tomorrow’s leaders, and to unite top scholars in the human-centered disciplines with colleagues across the Institute to address the world’s greatest challenges.

MITHIC will foster creativity, inquiry, and understanding, and amplify impact on global challenges like climate change, AI, pandemics, poverty, democracy, and more. You can help to:

Energize Innovation and Inspiration with new resources for ambitious endeavors in the arts and humanities that broaden humanity’s horizons.

Empower Interdisciplinary Teams led by experts in human-centered disciplines with colleagues across the Institute to achieve large-scale, long-term impact.

Elevate Human-Centered Education across MIT with new tools and techniques that equip new generations of leaders with human-centered knowledge and skills. 

Want to keep up with MITHIC news and announcements? Subscribe to our mailing list. Contact us with questions.

Learn more about MITHIC’s focus on understanding the human element.

Discover the projects made possible through MITHIC funding.

Who’s Involved

Anantha Chandrakasan

Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, Dean of Engineering, Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Read more

Agustín Rayo

Kenan Sahin Dean, SHASS, Professor of Philosophy

Read more

MITHIC Staff

Meet the staff of the MIT Human Insight Collaborative.

Jenn Alton

Senior Program Manager

Elena Nosiglia

Program Coordinator 

  • Faculty Lead

    Keeril Makan, Associate Dean, SHASS, Michael (1949) and Sonja Koerner Music Composition Professor

  • SHASS+ Connectivity Fund Co-Chairs

    David Kaiser, Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics

  • Maria Yang, Deputy Dean of Engineering, Gail E. Kendall (1978) Professor of Mechanical Engineering

  • Humanities Cultivation Fund Co-Chairs

    Arthur Bahr, Professor of Literature and Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow

  • Anne McCants, Ann F. Friedlaender Professor of History, Director of the Concourse Program, Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, and SHASS Research Chair

  • SHASS Education Innovation Fund Co-Chairs

    Eric Klopfer, Professor of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program and The Education Arcade

  • Emily Richmond Pollock, Associate Professor of Music, Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, and SHASS Undergraduate Education Chair

  • Faculty-Driven Initiatives Co-Chairs

    Fontini Christia, Director, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Ford International Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Political Science

  • Caspar Hare, Associate Dean for Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing, Schwarzman College of Computing, Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy

  • Steering Committee

    Keeril Makan, Associate Dean for the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Michael (1949) and Sonja Koerner Music Composition Professor of Music

  • Iain Cheeseman, Herman and Margaret Sokol Professor of Biology

  • Fotini Christia, Director, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Ford International Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Political Science

  • Caspar Hare, Associate Dean for Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing, Schwarzman College of Computing, Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy

  • Yael Kalai, Ellen Swallow Richards (1873) Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

  • Erin Kelly, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Work and Organization Studies

  • Kenda Mutongi, Ford International Professor of History

  • John Ochsendorf, Class of 1942 Professor, Professor of Architecture, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Elsa Olivetti, Jerry McAfee (1940) Professor in Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering

  • Heather Paxson, Associate Dean for Faculty, MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Anthropology

  • Julie Shah, Department Head, H.N. Slater Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics

  • Susan Silbey, Leon and Anne Goldberg Professor of Humanities, Sociology and Anthropology, Professor of Behavioral and Policy Sciences, Sloan School of Management

  • David Singer, Department Head, Raphael Dorman-Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science

Funds

There are three funds launched under the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC): the SHASS+ Connectivity Fund, the Humanities Cultivation Fund, and the SHASS Education Innovation Fund. The funds will run for at least three years. For all funds, proposals are welcome for projects that are ready to begin as well as planning grants in preparation for future proposals.

SHASS+ Connectivity Fund

The SHASS+ Connectivity Fund is designed to support research that builds bridges between SHASS fields and other fields at MIT. Proposals require a project lead in SHASS and another project lead whose primary appointment is outside of SHASS. The fund will award $2 million per year across all projects.

Humanities Cultivation Fund

The Humanities Cultivation Fund will fund projects in the Humanities and Arts in SHASS. The fund will award $500k per year across all projects.

SHASS Education Innovation Fund

The SHASS Education Innovation Fund is intended to support new educational approaches in SHASS fields. Proposals must be led by SHASS and group proposals are encouraged. The fund will award $500k per year across all projects. 

Opportunities

SHASS Faculty Fellows

The SHASS Faculty Fellows Program offers faculty the opportunity to participate in a supportive intellectual community on campus. The program has three core aims: (1) to provide SHASS faculty with time to focus on their research, writing, or artistic production, and to receive collegial support for the same; (2) to foster social and intellectual community within the School, including between faculty and students beyond the classroom; and (3) to provide informal opportunities to develop intergenerational professional mentorships.

Faculty-Driven Initiatives (FDIs)

FDIs are programs that build community and scholarship on a defined topic of relevance to the humanities, arts, or social sciences. FDIs should bring together faculty or teaching staff from multiple units across SHASS or the Institute, collaborating on a common area of study or issue.

At least one faculty lead must have their primary appointment in SHASS. The faculty leads cannot all be from the same unit, and units outside of SHASS are welcome to be involved. Larger groups of faculty (5+) actively involved in the FDI are preferred. Teaching staff and research staff are eligible to be part of an FDI. Senior Lecturers and Professors of the Practice can serve as a faculty lead.

FDIs are not curricular; they do not offer majors and minors. MITHIC is seeking proposals from existing or new FDIs to the FDI Seed Fund. The Fund will award up to $500,000 to one FDI. Applications can be submitted online and are due April 8, 2025 at 12:00pm.

Session 1
Date: February 19
Time: 10 am- 11 a.m.
Location: Zoom

Session 2
Date March 31 
Time 4 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: Zoom 

Events

Meeting of the Minds

MITHIC’s “Meeting of the Minds” is an opportunity for MIT faculty and teaching staff to make connections around a specific topic or area of interest with colleagues they haven’t previously worked with. The hope is that these meetings will lead to joint proposals to MITHIC funds, which require collaboration between SHASS faculty and faculty outside of SHASS. Previous topics include:

Cybersecurity

Language/AI Incubator

Social History of Math 

Rebuilding Ukraine

Food Security

Language Across the Lifespan

Legacies for Our Future

Bioeconomy

To submit a Meeting of the Minds topic, please complete this form.

MITHIC Launch Event

This kick-off event was held October 28 in Building 10-250. It featured a conversation with Min Jin Lee, acclaimed author of Pachinko. She was joined by Linda Pizzuti Henry, CEO of Boston Globe Media, for a thought-provoking discussion about the intersection of storytelling, culture, and innovation. The program also featured brief talks by several MIT faculty members on MITHIC’s potential to spark new ideas and amplify MIT’s ability to do good in the world.

View the event recording and read MIT President Sally Kornbluth’s remarks on MITHIC.

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