RESEARCH
AWARDS
The Canadian Friends of Sufi Arts, Culture, and Knowledge™ (CFSACK®) Research Awards Program supports research and scholarly or creative projects that advance the study and understanding of Sufi arts, culture, and knowledge.
For the 2026 award cycle, with the support of the American Friends of Sufi Arts, Culture, and Knowledge (AFSACK), eligibility has been expanded to include applicants affiliated with eligible institutions in both Canada and the United States.
The Research Awards are intended to support rigorous and meaningful inquiry across a broad range of disciplines and areas of practice. Eligible activities may include fieldwork, archival and collections-based research, community-engaged research, scholarly or creative production, conference participation or organization, and the development and dissemination of research outputs.
Important Dates
Award Launch: September 4, 2026
Application Deadline: October 25, 2026 at 23:59 PDT
Notification of Results: By the end of December 2026
Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
Eligibility
Applicants must be one of the following:
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Undergraduate students
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Master’s students
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Doctoral students or candidates
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Postdoctoral fellows
At the time of application, applicants must be enrolled at or formally affiliated with an eligible Canadian or U.S. post-secondary educational, research, or cultural institution, including a university, college, research institute, museum, or archive.
Applicants must also have a supervisor or principal investigator who can confirm the applicant’s institutional affiliation and provide appropriate oversight of the proposed project. For postdoctoral applicants, this must be a host-institution supervisor or principal investigator.
Citizenship is not an eligibility requirement.
Applicants must be in good academic standing at their institution and must meet all other requirements set out in the 2026 CFSACK Research Awards: Purpose, Eligibility, Guidelines & Terms.
Areas of Research
The CFSACK Research Awards welcome proposals across a broad range of disciplines and areas of practice relating to Sufi arts, culture, and knowledge.
Fields may include, but are not limited to: Art and art history, Anthropology, Archaeology, Architecture, Classics, Cultural studies, Curatorial practice, Ethnomusicology. Fine arts. History, Literature, Philosophy, Psychology , Religious studies Sociology, and Related interdisciplinary fields.
Projects should demonstrate scholarly, creative, cultural, or community significance and make a clear contribution to the applicant’s field or area of practice.
Award Amounts
Undergraduate and master’s students: up to CAD 2,000
Doctoral students/candidates and postdoctoral fellows: up to CAD 5,000
Requests should be proportionate to the scope, duration, and needs of the proposed project.
Eligible Uses of Funding
Award funding may support activities including:
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Fieldwork and site visits directly related to the proposed research
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Archival or collections-based research
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Community-engaged or participatory research
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Creative production or curatorial work
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Travel associated with attendance at, presentation at, or organization of academic conferences, symposia, or workshops
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Development of digital or multimedia research resources
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Publication, submission, reproduction, or dissemination costs directly associated with research findings
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Research tools, instruments, or equipment required for the proposed project
Where equipment is purchased with CFSACK Research Award funds, ownership will rest with the recipient’s eligible host institution.
Requests for expenses not otherwise identified in the program guidelines may be considered in exceptional circumstances. Applicants wishing to request an exceptional expense should contact research.awards@cfsack.org before submitting an application.
Ineligible Expenses
CFSACK Research Award funds may not be used for:
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University tuition or PhD write-up fees
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Personal stipends or general living expenses
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Institutional overhead or indirect costs
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Publication subventions for books or monographs
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Expenses unrelated to the approved project
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Costs incurred outside the approved award period unless expressly authorized by CFSACK
Additional restrictions are set out in the official program guidelines.
Project Period and Reporting
Projects must normally be completed within one year of the approved project start date.
Recipients must submit a satisfactory final report within three months of project completion. The report must summarize the activities undertaken, project outcomes, dissemination activities, and the use of CFSACK funds.
Musée d’Art et de Culture Soufis MTO®
Award recipients may, upon request and subject to approval by the Musée d’Art et de Culture Soufis MTO™, be granted research access to the Museum in Chatou, France. Depending on the nature of the project and availability, this may include complimentary admission, consultation with members of the Museum’s curatorial or research teams, and access to relevant collections or research resources. Access is not guaranteed and is subject to the Museum’s policies, staff availability, collections requirements, and other applicable conditions.
Application
Applicants must submit their application through the official online application portal by the published deadline.
For questions regarding the Research Awards Program, please contact: research.awards@cfsack.org
Please review the following materials carefully before applying:
AWARDS COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Dr. Angela Andersen
Dr. Angela Andersen holds a doctorate in the history of art. She has worked with not-for-profit organizations, museums, and educational institutions to focus on the role of architecture in human rights and community wellbeing. Her research engages the inter- and intra-religious interactions that take place via the built environment in Muslim contexts, with a focus on the architecture of minority and marginalized groups, including Sufi orders and Alevi lineages. Her publications examine the development and use of Alevi ceremonial sites known as cemevis, the social and legal ramifications of the oppression of these ceremonial settings, and the collection and analysis of oral history and verse as tools for examining the meaning of religious architecture. She teaches courses that explore both contemporary and historical art and architecture. Dr. Andersen was awarded the Margaret B. Ševčenko Prize in Islamic Art and Culture by the Historians of Islamic Art Association and fellowships with SSHRC, the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria, the Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art, and the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT. She is an Associate Editor with the International Journal of Islamic Architecture and the Program Coordinator of the Epidemic Urbanism Initiative.
Negah Angha
Negah is a Ph.D. candidate at King’s College London, where her research focuses on adab (ethical self-discipline) and khedmat (service) in Sufi communities, exploring their roles in fostering communal well-being and interfaith harmony. She has held academic appointments at King’s College London, Harvard’s Institute of Politics, and the UK Defence Academy. Negah previously served in senior roles at the U.S. State Department and the National Security Council, and later worked in strategic advisory and global market expansion at The Cohen Group. In addition to her academic and policy work, Negah currently serves several nonprofit boards in the U.S., U.K. and France, including the Musée d’Art et de Culture Soufi MTO (MACS MTO) in France and was a founding board member of the American Friends of Sufi Arts, Culture, and Knowledge (AFSACK) from 2019 to 2024.
Dr. William Rory Dickson
Dr. Dickson is an associate professor of Islamic Religion and Culture in the Religion and Culture Department at The University of Winnipeg. He completed a joint-PhD in Religious Studies (2012) at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo, with a specialization in Islamic Studies. As an SSHRC Doctoral Fellow (2010-2011), Dr. Dickson attended the University of Toronto and the University of Copenhagen’s Graduate Research School in Damascus, Syria. His research focuses on contemporary Islam in general and Islamic mysticism (Sufism) in particular. His first book, Living Sufism in North America: Between Tradition and Transformation, explores the ways in which Sufi leaders in North America negotiate Sufism’s to Islam, authority, and gender. He is currently preparing a manuscript with Meena Sharify-Funk for an innovative introductory text on Sufism while continuing a number of research projects on Contemporary Islam. He has travelled throughout the Middle East, including Syria, Egypt, and Morocco.
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Dr. Majid Doroudi
Dr. Majid Doroudi is the Chair of the Board of Directors of CFSACK and its representative on the Research Awards Committee. He is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Doroudi has taught Anatomical Sciences, including Gross Anatomy, Embryology, Neuroanatomy, and Histology, to medical, dental, and allied health students for over thirty years. He has been awarded numerous grants to advance the medical curriculum by implementing integrated modules. His passion for this field led him to apply digital media in anatomical sciences education, where he established a YouTube channel to distribute his dissection videos to anatomy learners globally. He has presented his pedagogical research at both national and international conferences. Recognized for his excellence in teaching, he has received the Killam Teaching Award, ten Medical Undergraduate Society Teaching Awards, and the Excellence in Teaching Award from the UBC Faculty of Dentistry. He is the co-author of the textbook M&M Essential Anatomy.
Nooshin Esmaeili - Committee Chair
Nooshin is a Registered Architect in Canada, a sessional instructor, and a Ph.D. scholar at the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape (SAPL) at the University of Calgary. After earning her Master of Architecture and before returning to academia, Nooshin worked at several leading architectural firms. She focuses on exploring the 'Sense of Self' within transcendental architecture, investigating how spaces can bridge the inner and outer worlds to foster a state of eudaimonia. She specifically delves into Persian architecture and spirituality, examining them through the lens of Sufism to enrich her research. Nooshin was awarded the prestigious 2023 OBEL Teaching Fellowship that enabled her to teach a 6-month Architectural Studio course on the "Importance of Wellbeing in the Built Environment” at the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB), College of Science and Technology (CST). Additionally, Nooshin is the Chair of the Canada Chapter of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA), a member of the Transdisciplinary Advisory Committee at the University of Calgary and serves as the president of the Graduate Student Committee for the Canada SSHRC grant, which supports a pan-Canadian partnership focused on “Quality in Canada’s Built Environment: Roadmaps to Equity, Social Value, and Sustainability.”
Dr. Payam Yousefi
Dr. Payam Yousefi (PhD Harvard, 2023) is an assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Florida, specializing in the intersections of music and politics in the Middle East and the US. His work explores the arts, music, and cultural history of Iran and beyond. He is currently a 2025–26 Fellow at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he is completing his book Subversive Sounds: Music and Authoritarianism in Modern Iran, based on eight years of fieldwork. The book examines how musicians’ ethically grounded practices mediate social movements and envision alternative social/political futures. Yousefi’s long-term research on traditional female vocalists in Iran has received multiple awards from the Society for Ethnomusicology, including the Charles Seeger Prize (2019), James T. Koetting Prize (2018), and the Religion, Music, and Sound Section Paper Prize (2023). His forthcoming chapter in Iran Amplified: One Hundred Years of Music and Society (ed. Siamdoust & Chehabi) explores how Iranian women’s vocal performances generate alternative publics that engender contrasting notions of respectability, limiting authority’s power to enforce restrictions. At the University of Florida Yousefi is also affiliate faculty in the Center for Global Islamic Studies and the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship. In addition to this he founded and directs the UF’s Persian Music Ensemble.
Dr. Meena Sharify-Funk
Dr. Meena Sharify-Funk is a Professor in the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University. Dr. Sharify-Funk has written and presented several articles and papers on Sufi hermeneutics, women and Islam, and the role of cultural and religious factors in peacemaking. She has also written, co-authored, and co-edited several books including Muslim Women in Contemporary North America: Controversies, Clichés, and Conversations (2023), Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture (2018), Unveiling Sufism: From Manhattan to Mecca (2017), Encountering the Transnational: Women, Islam, and the Politics of Interpretation (2008), Contemporary Islam: Dynamic, Not Static (2006), and Cultural Diversity and Islam (2003).
FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
For any additional questions or clarifications, please contact research.awards@cfsack.org. Please check this section from time to time, as new questions received will be answered here.
Who is eligible to apply?
Undergraduate students, master’s students, doctoral students/candidates, and postdoctoral fellows who are enrolled at or formally affiliated with an eligible Canadian or U.S. post-secondary educational, research, or cultural institution may apply.
Applicants must meet all eligibility conditions set out in the official program guidelines.
Is Canadian or U.S. citizenship required?
No. Citizenship is not an eligibility requirement. Applicants may be of any nationality, provided they meet the applicable institutional-affiliation and applicant-status requirements.
Can I apply if I am studying or conducting research outside Canada or the United States?
Yes. Your research or studies may take place outside Canada or the United States, provided you remain formally affiliated with an eligible Canadian or U.S. institution and meet all other program requirements.
Are online or remote students eligible?
Yes. The mode of study does not affect eligibility, provided the applicant is formally enrolled at or affiliated with an eligible Canadian or U.S. institution and meets all other program requirements.
Do I need previous research experience relating to Sufism?
No. Previous Sufism-related research or project experience is not required. The proposed project must, however, relate meaningfully to Sufi arts, culture, or knowledge and satisfy the program’s assessment criteria.
Do I need a supervisor or principal investigator?
Yes. Applicants must have a supervisor or principal investigator at the time of application.
For postdoctoral applicants, this must be a host-institution supervisor or principal investigator overseeing or supporting the proposed research.
Is there a minimum GPA?
CFSACK does not prescribe a universal minimum GPA. Applicants must, however, be in good academic standing at their institution.
Can a research team apply?
The Research Awards are primarily intended for individual applicants. Applicants considering a collaborative or team-based project should contact research.awards@cfsack.org before applying to confirm eligibility and application requirements.
Is there an application fee?
No. There is no fee to apply for a CFSACK Research Award.
May I submit more than one application?
No. Each applicant may submit only one application in a given award cycle.
Can previous applicants or award recipients apply?
Yes. Previous applicants and award recipients may apply. Previous award recipients must have fulfilled all reporting and other obligations associated with earlier CFSACK funding.
First-time applicants may be given priority where applications are otherwise of comparable merit in order to broaden the reach of CFSACK support.
What is the application deadline?
The application deadline for the 2026 Research Awards is October 25, 2026 at 23:59 PDT.
Late applications will not be considered.
What materials are required?
Applicants should refer to the official application portal for the complete application form and current checklist of required materials.
Required supporting documentation includes a curriculum vitae or résumé and a reference letter submitted directly by the referee. Additional information and supporting materials may be required through the application form.
What are the requirements for the reference letter?
Reference letters must:
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Be written on official institutional letterhead
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Be signed
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Include the referee’s full contact information
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Be submitted directly by the referee to CFSACK
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Be received by the application deadline
Letters submitted by applicants themselves, letters that do not meet the required format, and letters received after the deadline may result in the application being deemed incomplete.
Can I edit my application after submitting it?
Applications may be edited through the application portal until the submission deadline, where permitted by the platform.
After the deadline, applications will be locked and no further changes will be accepted.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their application and all required supporting documents are complete by the deadline.
What happens after I apply?
Eligible and complete applications are reviewed by the CFSACK Research Awards Committee in accordance with the approved assessment criteria.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome by email. CFSACK expects to issue notifications by the end of December 2026.
How much funding may I request?
Undergraduate and master’s students may request up to CAD 2,000.
Doctoral students/candidates and postdoctoral fellows may request up to CAD 5,000.
Applicants should request only the amount reasonably required to complete the proposed project.
Can award funds be used for tuition, stipends, or living expenses?
No. CFSACK Research Award funds may not be used for university tuition, PhD write-up fees, personal stipends, general living expenses, or institutional overhead.
Please consult the official program guidelines for the complete list of eligible and ineligible expenses.
How are award funds paid?
Unless otherwise determined by CFSACK, awards are paid directly to the recipient.
Recipients will normally receive 50% of the approved award at the beginning of the project. The remaining 50% will be released following CFSACK’s acceptance of a satisfactory final report and any required financial documentation.
CFSACK may vary the payment arrangement where appropriate.
What happens if I miss the application deadline?
Applications and required supporting documents received after the deadline will not be considered for the 2026 cycle.
Applicants are welcome to apply during a future award cycle.
How will I know whether I have received an award?
All applicants will be notified directly by email following completion of the adjudication and approval process.
For additional questions, please contact research.awards@cfsack.org.