The Willson Center’s Research Clusters support groups of faculty who are organized to address large-scale humanities and arts questions through interdisciplinary partnerships. The program is designed to build research capacity in the humanities and arts and increase the profile and competitiveness of faculty for grants and support.

Nik Heynen, Distinguished Research Professor of Geography, founded the Research Cluster Salt Marsh Stories: Coastal Humanities, Abundance and Repair, in 2025. The cluster highlights the intersections of social science and humanities research with education being done on the Georgia coast through close partnerships anchored by UGA’s Cornelia Walker Bailey Program on Land, Sea and Agriculture, co-directed by Heynen and Maurice Bailey, and the UGA-based internship program of the Athens oyster shell recycling nonprofit Shell to Shore. [Photo of Bailey (L) and Heynen (R) courtesy of Rinne Allen]