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Cross-national Interdisciplinary Research Grant

Overview

The Harvard-Yenching Institute is offering a small number of Cross-national Interdisciplinary Research Grants to HYI alumni for the 2024 calendar year. This grant is offered for two or more Asia-based HYI alumni to collaborate on a small (2-4 person) cross-national, cross-disciplinary research project, likely to result in a publication. This is a new initiative intended to encourage more communication across countries, disciplines, and generations. It is required that proposed projects should involve HYI alumni from multiple countries or regions and should be interdisciplinary. 

Each project should involve at least 2 HYI alumni, and may include 1-2 other Asia-based scholars who are not HYI alumni. 

Terms and Conditions

Grants will be offered for the 2024 calendar year (January 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024). Applicants should be HYI alumni from the visiting scholars and visiting fellows, training programs and doctoral scholarship program. The research group may also include 1-2 other scholars who are not HYI alumni. Grant recipients will remain in Asia and may collaborate in person or remotely. 

Grant proposals of up to $35,000 will be considered.  A detailed budget for research expenses to cover such items as field work costs, procurement of research materials, inter-Asia travel and project meetings, hiring research assistants or editors, etc. should be submitted with the application.  The need for each requested budget item should be clearly explained in the project proposal. 

Each project must identify the primary PI and their institution on the application. Please note that this grant does not allow overhead charges. The PI should confirm in advance that their home institution’s financial office is able to accept the grant from the HYI and process payment for the members of the research team. 

Grantees are encouraged to participate in HYI remote activities. They will submit an interim report to HYI, and will give a public presentation at the project’s conclusion. 

The collaborative research projects should take place within a year following the HYI’s approval and receipt of the grant funds. The project must be started by June 2024 at the latest, and must finish within one year.

Eligibility

Applicants must be HYI former visiting scholars, former visiting fellows or former training program fellowship as well as doctoral scholarship recipients, and must be currently affiliated with an academic institution in Asia as full-time faculty or researchers. The project may also include one or two non-HYI alumni participants. An application for this Cross-national Interdisciplinary Research Grant must meet the following requirements: 

  1. The participants must be full-time faculty or researchers affiliated with institutions of higher education in different countries/regions in Asia. 
  2. The proposed research project must be interdisciplinary. 
  3. The PI must be affiliated with an institution that is able to process payments to the members of the research team. 

A proposal submitted by HYI alumni from one country/region working in the same discipline/field of humanities and social sciences will not be considered.

Please check with HYI before applying 1) if you have any questions about eligibility or are uncertain if you are eligible based on your position; 2) for information on the process of making payments, if your application were approved, through the financial office of the PI’s home institution. 

Application Process

The deadline for this program is October 15, 2023. Please submit one application for the group by the deadline.  The application must include: 

  • Application form (each collaborating participant should fill out their own form) 
  • One research proposal (for the whole group) with a tentative schedule
    • What is the subject of your research plan? Please specify respective contributions each participant will make to this cross-national, cross-disciplinary research project. Give a description in English in about 3-5 pages, explaining your group research plans. 
  • Each collaborating participant’s abbreviated CV (curriculum vitae), in English, 2-3 pages maximum, including:
    • Significant honors such as fellowships, scholarships, or grants,
    • Academic appointments (including the date from which you have held your present faculty position)
    • Publications (please list major titles in the original language as well as English)
  • A budget for research-related expenses 
    • Including inter-Asia travel, hiring research assistants or editors, carrying out fieldwork, procuring research materials, etc. 
    • The maximum budget is US$35,000. 
  • One recommendation letter (written in English or translated into English) for each applicant in the group (HYI alumni and non-HYI alumni alike) is required. Each letter should be from a scholar familiar with both the applicant’s research/scholarship and the area of specialty that the group’s research project proposes to cover. Applicants should share a copy of their collaborative and interdisciplinary proposal with letter writers and ask that their references comment specifically on the merits of the proposed collaborative project. Letters should be emailed directly to hyiprog@fas.harvard.edu by the application deadline. 

One group member can send all application files together to hyiprog@fas.harvard.edu by the application deadline. 

Once the grant is approved, HYI will work out detailed arrangements with the recipients.