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Request for Proposals: Consultant on Structural Racism

The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO) promotes and supports digital research and teaching across arts and humanities disciplines. In doing so, it draws together humanists engaged in digital and computer-assisted research, teaching, creation, dissemination, and beyond, in all areas reflected by its diverse membership.

In June 2020, ADHO publicly stated that Black Lives Matter and that we stand in solidarity with people around the world protesting against structural racism and other forms of oppression and discrimination. ADHO recognizes that as an organisation we have work to do in our own digital humanities communities in order to become a fully anti-racist and non-discriminatory organization.

As part of this statement, ADHO is committed to conducting a systematic review of its policies and organizational culture by engaging a paid external consultant with past experience and expertise in addressing systemic racism within organizations. ADHO will make the results of this review public and will commit to taking action based on the review.

With this request for proposals, ADHO invites individuals and organisations to provide a proposal for the following scope of work while adhering to the listed minimum requirements.

Proposals will be accepted from any part of the world. The working language will be English.

Scope of Work

  • Conduct a systematic review of ADHO’s structures as they relate to how it
    • creates and sustains its policies and organizational culture;
    • conducts its governance and chooses its leadership;
    • organizes and conducts events, such as the annual ADHO conference;
    • engages with publications.

The review should be conducted within the scope of ADHO’s Statement on Black Lives Matter, Structural Racism, and Establishment Violence.

Requirements applicants must adhere to:

  • They must not be a member of one of ADHO’s Constituent or Associate Organisations.
  • They must be able to demonstrate experience and expertise in conducting external reviews aimed at addressing structural racism within the context of academic organisational cultures and policies.
  • They must also show how their code of conduct and/or professional principles align with the context provided in the statement. 
  • They must submit a proposal of no more than 4 pages for how the scope of work would be approached, including:
    • an overview of how they meet the requirements;
    • a proposed timeline for conducting the systematic review;
    • a daily or per-project rate for conducting the consultancy;
    • a brief description of the review’s output (e.g. documentation, recommendations).

Submission deadline

Submit a proposal by 30 November 2020 07 December 2020 15 January 2021 23:59 UTC to secretary@adho.org.

Selection and appointment process

Proposals received will be initially reviewed by ADHO’s Executive Board (EB) to ensure that the above requirements are met. The complete list of proposals received will be presented to ADHO’s Constituent Organization Board (COB) for final selection and ratification. Questions or clarifications regarding this request for proposals are encouraged and may be addressed to adho@adho.org or to secretary@adho.org.

We aim to respond to all applicants by 31 December 2020. ADHO reserves the right not to make an appointment.