Funding Opportunities

Here in the Asian Studies Program we offer several types of funding for our UB students and UB faculty.

We support undergraduate student study abroad in Southeast Asia and East Asia through our Asian Studies Study Abroad Award. The competition for this award typically runs in the spring, and winners are awarded flight cost reimbursements for their study abroad in the summer or fall programs. The Office of Study Abroad here at UB has several cooperative agreements with study abroad programs in China, Korea, Japan, and Singapore.

We also support undergraduate and graduate student language study abroad in India through our Rustgi South Asian Language Award. This award fully pays tuition, fees, flight costs, and possibly living expenses for the summer (and possibly academic year) American Institute for India Studies language programs in India. The competition for this award occurs in December, following the AIIS application process.

Faculty and graduate students are eligible to apply for our Asian Studies Research Award. Each fall we accept applications for research funding focused on or occurring in Asia.The awards are a maximum of $1,000 and we are able to fund several proposal per year. The Nila T. Gnamm Junior Faculty Research Fund is housed in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Study Center at UB, in conjunction with the Department of Geography and Asian Studies Program at the College of Arts & Sciences. This fund supports junior scholars and students affiliated with any department or academic program at UB for research related to the Southeast Asia region. Awardees of both research funds present their research during the following year in our Asia at Noon lecture series.

Read the stories of a few of our funded undergraduate students:

Cristina Czach ’19

Russell Guilbault ’19

Kayleigh Reed ’18

Carmila Stafford ’20

The Asian Studies Program invites UB College of Arts and Sciences, UB School of Architecture and Planning, and UB School of Social Work faculty and graduate students to apply for funding to support scholarly activity in or related to Asia. Requests for funding to support overseas research will be given priority. Requests to support attendance at an annual conference will be considered only for graduate students whose papers have already been accepted for a conference. All expenses must be incurred between July 1 and June 30. Please note: this funding opportunity is open only to UB College of Arts and Sciences, UB School of Architecture and Planning, and UB School of Social Work faculty and graduate students. Tenured members of the Asian Studies Program Executive Committee are not eligible for funding.

Research award recipients are expected to share their research at an Asia at Noon presentation in the following academic year.

The maximum award per applicant is $1,000. Requests for smaller amounts are encouraged. Since this award will not cover all costs associated with overseas travel, applicants are encouraged to seek additional funding from other sources.

Proposals are to be submitted to as a single pdf document and must include:

1. Proposal narrative (maximum of 5 double-spaced pages) with the following sections:
   • Background, including IRB application status if research includes human research subjectsl. Please note: some non-clinical research also requires IRB approval.
   • Aims of the research, including its significance/impacts and plans for sharing research results
   • Work plan, including knowledge of Asian languages relevant to project
2. Itemized budget: with short budget narrative including other funding secured or applied for
3. Curriculum vitae: short version of two pages or less
4. Optional: one-page bibliography (this does not count toward the 5-page limit)

Incomplete and late proposals will not be considered.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Study Center at UB, in conjunction with the Department of Geography and Asian Studies Program at the College of Arts & Sciences, invites proposals for funding from scholars and students affiliated with any department or academic program at UB to support research related to the Southeast Asia region.

Small grants between $500 and $1,500 will be awarded for expenses related to travel, per diem, conference fees, library research, data collection, and other research costs. Funding could also support visiting scholars, conference presentations, workshops, lectures, and similar scholarly activity at UB that is related to the research of a faculty member or graduate student. It is possible that funding may be available for grants of up to $2000 but justification for this will need to be established. The award period covers activities that take place during the period September 1 through August 30 of the following year and are to be fully completed by September 30of the following year.

In accordance with the Gnamm bequest, preference for funding will be given to: (1) proposals from junior faculty whose research focuses on Southeast Asia; (2) proposals of UB graduate students from Southeast Asia whose dissertation research focuses on their home countries; application in this category must be accompanied by a letter from the student’s dissertation advisor verifying that the student is at thesis or dissertation-writing stage of the graduate program, (3) research or academic projects that relate to quality-of-life issues in the region, and (4) initiatives conducted in or related to Southeast Asia.

Nila T. Gnamm received a BS in Philosophy and an MA in School Administration and Supervision from the University at Buffalo. Ms. Gnamm was employed by the Buffalo Board of Education and Police Department and traveled to many countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

An interested faculty member or graduate student should submit a proposal with the following guidelines:

1. The proposal should contain: (i) Name, title, department, affiliation, email, (ii) project/activity title, (iii) objective and summary of project/activity, (iv) work plan, expected outputs, and impact (not to exceed 1200 words), (v) other on-going applications and cost-sharing. The project should include 1 short paragraph that informs about the stage of the research under consideration. It should not exceed 1000 words.
2. If the applicant is a post-doc/graduate or professional student, please provide a letter from a UB academic advisor that: (a) indicates the student’s status and stage of the thesis project, and (b) evaluates the merit of the research or project.
3. Itemize budget in a table. The budget must specify clearly how and when the Gnamm funding is to be used. The table should include a time schedule, type and cost of research resources (books, journals, database, equipment, etc.), mode and cost of travel, cost of lodging per night or for the proposed period, per diem, and conference registration fee. For conferences, it is unlikely that expenses beyond three days will be covered.
4. Curriculum vitae (not to exceed 2 pages)

Applicants are asked to submit a single word or pdf file with all proposal materials included to: Professor Jessie Poon, Department of Geography, email: jesspoon@buffalo.edu.