The deadlines for these competition have passed. The descriptions below are for information purposes only. Award recipients will be announced in the spring.
The Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies seeks to maintain the vitality of China Studies in the U.S. through fellowships and grants designed primarily for scholars early in their careers. Studies on and in China have developed over the last 30 years in the United States into a robust field, but current conditions pose daunting problems, especially for scholars just before and just after the dissertation. To address this situation, the program will offer three competitions:
Pre-dissertation Grants for Research in China, enabling young scholars to gain familiarity with work underway in archives and field sites in China and to establish formal and informal relations with Chinese institutions and colleagues;
Postdoctoral Fellowships, supporting scholars in preparing their Ph.D. dissertation research for publication or in embarking on new research projects; and
Collaborative Reading-Workshop Grants, providing opportunities for scholars of different disciplines to share in-depth investigation of texts that are essential points of entry to Chinese periods, traditions, communities, or events in contemporary or historical times.
Applications in all disciplines of the humanities and related social sciences are welcome.
This program is made possible by funding from the Henry Luce Foundation.
Pre-dissertation Grants for Research in China
The deadline for this competition has passed. The description below is for information purposes only. Award recipients will be announced in the spring.
- Amount: $5,000
- Tenure: 3-4 months (in 2013) in China in preparation for full time research
- Eligibility:
1) An applicant must be enrolled in a Ph.D. program at a university in the United States.
2) An applicant must have completed all requirements for a Ph.D. except the dissertation by June 1, 2013.
- Deadline: Completed applications must be submitted through the ACLS Online Fellowship Application system no later than 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, December 6, 2012 (extended due to Hurricane Sandy).
- Notifications will be sent by May 1, 2013.
- Final report required on completion.
Pre-dissertation grants provide funding for doctoral candidates to explore venues and make preliminary research arrangements, and to gain advice from potential collaborators regarding subsequent research in China.
Application essays must provide the rationale for the research agenda as stated in the applicant’s dissertation prospectus, with particular attention to the evidence needed to answer research questions. The essay should present a plan for travel in China, identifying the individuals, institutions, and research sites to be visited. Inclusion of correspondence with potential contacts in China is desirable.
A working knowledge of Chinese is required.
Stipends may be used for costs associated with travel to China for research: air and ground transportation, visas and living expenses.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
The deadline for this competition has passed. The description below is for information purposes only. Award recipients will be announced in the spring.
- Amount: up to $45,000
- Tenure: maximum of one academic year and minimum of one semester (beginning from June 2013 to September 2014).
- Eligibility:
1) An applicant must hold a Ph.D. from an institution in the United States or be a U.S. citizen with a Ph.D. from any institution. The Ph.D. degree must be completed by November 15, 2012 (including defense and revisions) and conferred by May 31, 2013. (If the date of conferral is after the application deadline, the application must include an institutional statement attesting that all requirements for the Ph.D. have been fulfilled. Successful applicants will be asked to submit proof of conferral.)
2) An applicant who is not a U.S. citizen must have an affiliation with a university or college in the United States.
3) An applicant must hold a Ph.D. degree conferred no more than eight years before the application deadline.
- Deadline: Completed applications must be submitted through the ACLS Online Fellowship Application system no later than 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, December 6, 2012 (extended due to Hurricane Sandy).
- Notifications will be sent by May 1, 2013.
- Final report required on completion.
Postdoctoral fellowships support work based on the applicant’s research in China that aims to produce a scholarly text in English.
A working knowledge of Chinese is required.
Stipends may be used for travel, living expenses, and research costs. Other support may be accepted (sabbatical leave or other grants) but the total received cannot exceed the 125% of the fellow’s annual salary. There is no financial support for dependents.
Collaborative Reading-Workshop Grants
The deadline for this competition has passed. The description below is for information purposes only. Award recipients will be announced in the spring.
- Amount: up to $15,000
- Tenure: Workshops must be held between June 1, 2013 and September 2014.
- Eligibility:
1) Each member of the organizing team must hold a Ph.D. from an institution in the United States or be a U.S. citizen with a Ph.D. from any institution.
2) Workshops must be held at a location in the United States or Canada.
3) No formal eligibility requirements for participants.
- Deadline: Completed applications must be submitted electronically to chinastudies@acls.org no later than 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, January 14, 2013.
- Notifications will be sent by May 1, 2013.
- Final report required on completion.
These grants provide support for collaborative reading of texts in a workshop format that is interdisciplinary and crosses scholarly generations. A wealth of often complex and challenging texts is a distinctive feature of the Chinese cultural record. The reading and exploration of texts in their historical and cultural context is a core practice of the humanities. Collaborative reading by a group of scholars who can bring to bear their own research and expertise can yield new insights and interpretations.
Collaboration refers primarily to the sustained, collective examination of texts. But collaboration may also characterize the conceptualization of the workshop, drawing upon the diverse experience and disciplinary sophistication of several organizers. If there is more than one organizer, a principal organizer should be named who will be responsible for correspondence with ACLS on behalf of the group, for signing the grant letter and receiving funds, and for signing the final report. Workshop participants should be drawn from several different institutions.
The formats of workshops proposed may vary, but each should be based on a series of texts that can illuminate period, tradition, culture, location, or event. At the workshop each text may be introduced by one or two participants, with other participants being asked to read and explicate a portion thereof. Close reading and careful translation are thus the basis for discussions of the themes and issues described in the texts.
Awards may be used to support travel and lodging costs of participants, acquisition of materials, communications, and local arrangements. Funds may not be used for salary replacement, honoraria, or institutional indirect costs. Funding will not be provided for events that constitute elements of a series or colloquium, or that otherwise form part of the annual cycle of a university program. Luce/ACLS-funded workshops must bring together scholars who would not otherwise have the opportunity to work together.
The primary objects of study should be written texts, but these may be supplemented by investigation of images and objects such as archaeological artifacts.
The principal objective is a new understanding of the texts and the subject matter they illuminate. A publication might result, but it is not a requirement of the reading-workshop grant. No additional financial support for publication is anticipated.
Selection Criteria
- The significance of the texts chosen for illuminating aspects of the study of the cultures, histories, and societies of China.
- Interdisciplinarity in the study of texts, for example, by inviting sociologists and literary scholars to read historical documents, historians to join the reading of philosophical manuscripts, etc.
- Including graduate students and scholars from Chinese institutions is encouraged.
Awards will be made based on the rationale for the type of event(s) planned and the prospect for new interpretations of the texts selected for reading.
A final report is required, written in a form that may be published on the ACLS website.
To download the application for Collaborative Reading-Workshop Grants, please click here.
(If you wish to keep a paper copy of the application for your records, use the ‘print as image’ option in your printer settings for best results.)
Appropriate fields of specialization include but are not limited to: American studies; anthropology; archaeology; art and architectural history; classics; economics; environmental studies; film; gender studies; geography; history; languages and literatures; legal studies; linguistics; musicology; philosophy; political science; psychology (excluding clinical or counseling psychology); religious studies; rhetoric, communication, and media studies; sociology; and theater, dance, and performance studies. Proposals in the social science fields listed above are eligible only if they employ predominantly humanistic approaches (e.g., economic history, law and literature, political philosophy, history of psychology). Proposals in interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary studies are welcome.