The Milieux Institute and Applied AI Institute are partnering to provide seed funding to eligible students for AI research and research-creation. The projects must take place between June 1st and August 30th, 2025.
The purpose of this initiative is to encourage student-driven cultural research-creation, while also building a peer network around the Machine Agencies. Funded students are not meant to work in silos but rather are encouraged and required to assist each other, share knowledge and experience, and help build our infrastructure and research culture.
Students must be current members of Concordia University or the Hexagram network in order to apply.
Applications should include :
Project proposal (max 500 words)
CV
Projected timeline for the completion of work.
All projects will be considered for inclusion at the 2025 MUTEK Forum.
Selection criteria
The project proposal should adhere to the following criteria:
Projects should consider the experiential aspect of the work proposed, and public participation during the MUTEK Forum. The project should be a suitable scale and scope such that prototypes and/or results can be presented and discussed at the end of August 2024.
The project should include a plan for documentation, communication, and presentation/exhibition at the MUTEK Forum.
The proposal should include a detailed description of the software, services and hardware required for the project. Machine Agencies will attempt to support the project with infrastructural resources as available.
Projects must credit the support of the Machine Agencies, Hexagram and the Milieux and Applied AI Institutes at Concordia University. Co-authored collaborative projects are allowed.
Adjudication
Proposals are due by 12 May 2025 and should be submitted by email to Bart Simon, Milieux Director (bart.simon@concordia.ca). Anyone interested in submitting either for the current or future seed funding opportunities is also invited to signal their interest by email.
Proposals will be vetted by both Institutes and depending on the precise scope and requirements of the project funding will be allocated around $2,000 per project as an honorarium.
Projects selected for funding may undergo an additional round of consultation to further specify requirements for communication, exhibition, and knowledge exchange.
Machine Agencies is a research group focused on students, staff and faculty develop collaborative and personal research projects using generative AI, supported by Milieux and Applied AI Institute. Machine Agencies is an experiment between human and machine intelligences.
The research group encourages cooperation and play, resisting the antagonism of more instrumental approaches of AI. It engages with posthumanism, experience design, and public policy to find new formats, methods, and commons to sustain just, fair, and better worlds.
