Luce/ACLS Collaborative Grant in China Studies

Luce/ACLS Collaborative Grant in China Studies

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: American Council of Learned Societies
Amount: Up to US $120,000
Last Updated: March 04, 2026

Summary

The Luce/ACLS Collaborative Grant in China Studies offers up to $150,000 for innovative pilot activities aimed at addressing pressing challenges in China Studies over 12 to 18 months. The grant encourages collaborative proposals that enhance teaching resources, develop open-access materials, and promote professional development. Successful projects may lead to new networks, sustainability plans, or white papers. This initiative aims to foster transformative change within the academic community focused on China.

Overview

NOTE: Letters of Intent are optional. Applicants who are NOT responding to one of the prompts listed below are strongly advised to submit a Letter of Intent prior to submitting a full proposal. Between 2021 and 2023, ACLS engaged in a series of strategic planning activities bringing together more than 100 scholars, administrators, journalists, librarians, curators, artists, and readers of research and writing on China through steering committees, focus groups, institutes, and more. In response to the challenges identified in these consultations, ACLS is offering a new collaborative grant for innovative pilot activities that initiate long-term transformative change in the field of China Studies. The group may apply for a grant of up to $120,000 to design and pilot activities that solve specific, pressing challenges in the field over a 12- to 18-month period. The collaborative grant will serve to test and refine promising solutions; to produce recommendations for those activities to be adopted at scale in universities and colleges; and to identify strategies for long-term sustainability. Outcomes may include a pilot program, a new cross-institutional network, a plan for scaling and/or sustainability, or a white paper. Recommendations for action produced by grant-funded activities will be shared with the ACLS Board and the ACLS Research University Consortium. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals in response to the following prompts: Teaching and Curricular Resources – Developing and/or making accessible course syllabi and teaching resources (e.g., texts, media, primary sources in translation) aimed at diversifying undergraduate and/or graduate curricula, supporting early career and teaching faculty, and/or enhancing programs in China studies. Open-Access Resources – Expanding open-access digital resources for teaching and research through digitization, preservation, and platform development, including increased accessibility to existing digital databases and strengthening print collections.Cross-institutional Cohort-building – Providing cohort-based professional development that promotes the diversification of faculty in China studies, opportunities for China scholars at under-resourced institutions, and professional support for at-risk researchers.  Language Training – Expanding access to language training, especially for less commonly taught languages (e.g., Tibetan, Uyghur), for students and faculty at under-resourced institutions while drawing on technologies and best practices for language pedagogy and remote instruction developed during the COVID pandemic. Digital Research Methods – Training China scholars in digital skills and research methods to foster new methodological approaches and cross-disciplinary collaborations.Securitization – Building capacity among China scholars and institutions of higher learning to develop responses to securitization, anti-China bias, and the community impacts of state pressure, including through engagement with university administrators and civic organizations.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Project teams may comprise up to six members.The project’s principal investigator must have a PhD in the humanities or interpretive social sciences or equivalent AND be based at an institution (e.g., college, museum, university, library) in the US or Canada.Project teams must represent more than one institution.Grant funds may be used for planning activities, living expenses, or research costs, including, but not limited to:workshops or convenings for project teamsresearch leave, course releases, or summer salaryfunds for research (e.g., research assistants, database access, travel to libraries)Other support may be accepted for the proposed project.

Ineligibility

No indirect costs or institutional overhead is permitted.