Projects for Peace

Projects for Peace: At a Glance

Eligibility:

• First, second, third, and fourth-year students

Selection Criteria:

• Project should be creative, community-centered, and scalable
• Project would contribute in a meaningful way to the promotion of peace, conflict resolution and related topics

Candidates for Davis Projects can affirm the following: 

• My project is feasible in terms of scope, financing, and timeline
• I have secured a letter that documents the support of, and collaboration with a partner institution(s)/organization(s) on this project
• My partners and I possess the requisite skills to complete this project on time

Extensive Description

Projects for Peace is an initiative for undergraduate leaders to design and implement their own grassroots project that focuses on conflict resolution, reconciliation, building understanding, breaking down barriers which cause conflict, and finding solutions for resolving conflict and maintaining peace. Projects may be implemented anywhere in the world during the summer immediately following receipt of the grant. These projects may be designed either by individual students or undertaken collaboratively by a team of UChicago undergraduates.

This program is funded by Kathryn W. Davis, a renowned philanthropist who earned her BA from Wellesley and her PhD from the University of Geneva. The "project for peace" may be defined by the student and should encourage creativity, innovation and social entrepreneurship.

Note: UChicago does not allow projects to take place in countries with a State Department Level 3 or 4 Travel Advisory (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html).

Responsibilities

Recipients of the award must execute the proposed project during the summer immediately following receipt of the award.

After the conclusion of the project, recipients must submit a final report to the CCRF office by early September of their award year.

Eligibility Requirements

Open to all College students, but first year students may only apply in collaboration with second, third, or fourth year students. Fourth year students can undertake the project the summer after graduation. 

Undergraduates who are residents of International House are also eligible to apply through I-House.

Application Process

Students must apply for university nomination by the stated campus application deadline.  If you are applying as a group, each member of the group needs to complete the online application. Groups can upload the same proposal, budget, and letter of agreement, but each group member must have two letters of recommendation as a part of the complete application.  The online Campus Nomination Application is currently open in the Survey Monkey portal (https://ccrf-uchicago.smapply.io/prog/2025_projects_for_peace)

Students who are interested in this opportunity should email Johanna Best (bestjl@uchicago.edu) by December 6, 2024 to set up a meeting to discuss their project idea and the application process.