Research Expansion to Southeast Asia Awards
Funded by Bringing Southeast Asia Home, an initiative sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation Initiative on Southeast Asia, these funds are intended to allow faculty whose research is located in a geographical domain outside of Southeast Asia to expand their work into the region or with populations associated with the region. These funds are appropriate for, for example, a historian of Europe who wants to investigate linkages with Southeast Asia at a particular period in history or a public health researcher who has worked with Latinx communities in NC and wants to extend an intervention to Southeast Asian American populations.
Each award is in the amount of $4,000. If this award amount is not appropriate to the needs of the project, please contact the Assistant Director of Southeast Asian Initiatives to consider alternatives. These funds may be used for travel, accommodations, equipment and supplies, rental space, and visa costs, but unfortunately they cannot be used for participant incentives, including direct payments and gift cards, nor to hire research assistants. If you have any questions about whether a proposed expense is allowable, please ask.
This award is open to faculty members of any rank at any UNC system institution. For faculty at UNC system institutions outside of UNC-CH, the award will likely have to be processed as a subcontract. This means
- The institution will be eligible to require up to 10% in indirect costs. Please account for this in your budget.
- There may be up to a four-month delay in being selected and receiving the funds. For example, non-UNC-CH faculty who apply in November should not plan to use the funds before March. Please plan your research schedule accordingly.
The next deadline to apply for these funds is November 3, 2023. Applications can be submitted to the CAC’s Assistant Director of Southeast Asia Initiatives, Becky Butler.
To apply for a Research Expansion to Southeast Asia Award, please submit:
- Two-page description of the research to be undertaken. Please address why you plan to extend your research to Southeast Asia and/or Southeast Asian communities.
- CV
- Detailed budget, justifying the requested amount
- Timeline of the activities to be undertaken
Within two weeks of completion of activities funded by the award, you must submit a one-page report summarizing and evaluating the research activity with consideration of future directions. You are also required to present the work undertaken at the next annual Southeast Asia workshop, which is held in mid-May each year. Participation at the workshop should be cost neutral for you, so if you are outside of the Chapel Hill area, either travel funds will be provided or you may attend virtually. This can be determined on a case-by-case basis with the assistance of the Assistant Director for Southeast Asian Initiatives.
Proposals for funding are welcomed from UNC-CH faculty and should be focused on one or more of the eleven countries of Southeast Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam) or a Southeast Asian diaspora community.