Funding Opportunities with the American Council of Learned Societies

Published: October 5, 2016

Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships – October 26, 2016
ACLS invites applications for the tenth annual competition for the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships, which support a year of research and writing to help advanced graduate students in the humanities and related social sciences in the last year of Ph.D. dissertation writing. The program encourages timely completion of the Ph.D. Applicants must be prepared to complete their dissertations within the period of their fellowship tenure and no later than August 31, 2018. ACLS will award 65 fellowships in this competition, for a one-year term beginning between June and September 2017 for the 2017-2018 academic year. The fellowship tenure may be carried out in residence at the fellow’s home institution, abroad, or at another appropriate site for the research. These fellowships may not be held concurrently with any other fellowship or grant. The total award of up to $38,000 includes a stipend plus additional funds for university fees and research support. In addition to the monetary support that the fellowship offers, Dissertation Completion Fellows are able to apply to participate in a seminar on preparing for the academic job market. The seminar takes place over three days in the fall of the fellowship year. https://www.acls.org/programs/dcf/

Comparative Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society – November 9, 2016
These grants for collaborative work in China studies are funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. The program aims to promote interchange among scholars who may not otherwise have the opportunity to work together. In this cycle of competitions, ACLS invites proposals in the humanities and related social sciences that adopt an explicitly cross-cultural or comparative perspective. Projects may, for example, compare aspects of Chinese history and culture with those of other nations and civilizations, explore the interaction of these nations and civilizations, or engage in cross-cultural research on the relations among the diverse and shifting populations of China. The program supports collaborative work of three types: 1) Planning Meetings – Grants of up to $6,000 offer support for one-day meetings focused on topics selected by participants. These brainstorming sessions may extend to planning conferences or workshops, but that goal is not required. 2) Workshops – Grants of up to $10,000 to $15,000 offer support for workshops designed to promote discussion and the exchange of ideas on newly available or inadequately researched data or texts in a collegial, seminar-like setting. 3) Conferences – Grants of up to $25,000 offer support for formal research conferences intended to present significant new research that will be published in a conference volume. http://www.acls.org/programs/chinese-culture/

Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies – November 9, 2016
This program seeks to maintain the vitality of China Studies in North America 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 and Canada 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 four competitions: https://www.acls.org/programs/china-studies/
• Predissertation -Summer Travel Grants support graduate students who wish to conduct preliminary preparations in China prior to beginning basic research for the dissertation. The grants are for graduate students — with a Ph.D. prospectus in hand or developing one — to investigate the research currently underway in Chinese archives and field sites, to establish contact with Chinese scholars, and to secure necessary permissions for their own fieldwork or archival research. The award amount is $5,000.
• Postdoctoral Fellowships support scholars in preparing their Ph.D. dissertation research for publication or in embarking on new research projects. The award amount is up to $50,000.
• 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. The award amount is up to $15,000.
• Collaborative Reading-Workshop Grants support scholars of different disciplines to investigate texts that constitute essential points of entry to Chinese periods, traditions, communities, or events in contemporary or historical times. The award amount is up to $15,000. https://www.acls.org/programs/china-studies/#collab

The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies – November 15, 2016
• Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Dissertation Fellowships in Buddhist Studies will provide one year stipends for Ph.D. candidates to devote full time to preparing dissertations.
Stipends are for $30,000. The fellowship period may be used for fieldwork, archival research, analysis or findings, or for writing after research is complete. The fellowship tenure is 10 consecutive months devoted full time to the dissertation, and must be initiated by September 30, 2017. https://www.acls.org/programs/buddhist -studies/#diss
• Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships in Buddhist Studies will provide two years of funding to recent recipients of the Ph.D. for residence at a university for the purpose of revising the dissertation into a publishable manuscript, or for beginning the first new project after completion of the Ph.D. degree. The annual stipend is $55,000, and if required, it includes a relocation allowance of $5,000. The teaching of one course per year will be encouraged. Priority will be given to residence at universities or colleges providing a collegial atmosphere and working conditions enabling the postdoctoral Fellow’s entry into an academic career in Buddhist studies. The fellowship period must begin between July 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018, and must last for two academic years, subject to the regulations of the host institution. https://www.acls.org/programs/buddhist -studies/#postdoc
• Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Collaborative Research Grants in Buddhist Studies will support work that may be interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary. International and multilingual projects are encouraged. Especially welcome are projects that relate different Buddhist traditions to each other or that relate scholarship on the broad Buddhist tradition to contemporary concerns in other academic fields. Applications must propose a clear plan for the collaboration with a jointly- authored, research-based scholarly product. While scholars collaborate in many ways, such as reviewing each other’s work or sharing ideas at conferences, these grants will support only projects in which all principals dedicate a significant amount of effort to the joint work. Workshops may be proposed for team members and a small number of colleagues working on a similar topic. Conferences may also be proposed, but these must include public events for presentation of the work accomplished during the project. Proposals for such events must be applied for separately and will require detailed budgets. Up to $5,000 is available for workshops; up to $15,000 for conferences. The total amount of the grant, including funds for workshops and conferences, cannot exceed $200,000. https://www.acls.org/programs/buddhist -studies/#collab
• The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Research Fellowships in Buddhist Studies offer support for research and writing in Buddhist studies for scholars who hold a PhD degree, with no restrictions on time from the PhD. Fellowships provide scholars time free from teaching and other responsibilities so that they may devote full-time to research and writing on the project proposed. A fellowship period, during which no teaching, commissioned research on other topics, or administrative duties are allowed, may last up to nine months. It may be separated into two periods, each of which must be a minimum of three months. If the fellowship period lasts less than a total of nine months (minimum of six months), the stipend will be prorated. A Research Fellowship may be held concurrently with other fellowships and grants and any sabbatical pay, but the total received cannot exceed 125% of the Fellow’s academic annual salary. Tenure of the fellowship may begin no earlier than July 1, 2017 and must conclude by June 30, 2019. Stipends are for up to $70,000 but the exact stipend will be calculated based on the Fellows’ current academic salary. http://www.acls.org/programs/buddhist-studies/#research

ACLS Digital Extension Grants – January 25, 2017 (pending renewal of funding)
With the generous assistance of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this program supports digitally based research projects in all disciplines of the humanities and related social sciences. This program aims to help advance the digital transformation of humanities scholarship by extending the reach of existing digital projects to new communities of users. ACLS Digital Extension Grants will support teams of scholars as they enhance existing digital projects in ways that engage new audiences across a range of academic communities and institutions. The award amount is up to $150,000. If the Digital Extension Grants program is funded for the 2016-17 year, information will be available on the website in late October 2016. http://www.acls.org/programs/digitalextension/