ACLS Names 2025 Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies Fellows and Grantees

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to announce the 2025 Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellows and Travel Grantees in China Studies.

The 30 fellowships and grants awarded build on the 2023 strategic redesign of the Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies, which is generously supported by a $3 million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to sustain the program through 2028. This year’s cohort reflects the program’s commitment to broadening the field of China studies by supporting scholars representing a wide range of methodological approaches and institutional backgrounds, including public and private universities, liberal arts colleges, and independent scholars.

• Fourteen Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellowships in China Studies support emerging scholars whose research examine topics such as the politics and ethics of aging, Sino-Arab cultural exchanges in the Cold War, and the intersection of medieval landscape painting and poetry. This year’s awards include eight long-term fellowships of up to $45,000, which allow recent PhDs to take leave from university responsibilities for research and writing toward a scholarly text, and six flexible fellowships of $15,000, which enable scholars with heavy teaching and service responsibilities to advance their projects.

• Sixteen Luce/ACLS Travel Grants in China Studies provide $5,000 for graduate students in a PhD program and non-tenure-track scholars at any career stage to visit research sites in China or China studies-related collections or archives anywhere in the world. The 2025 grantees plan to undertake transnational fieldwork in China, Tibet, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Ecuador, and Russia, among other research sites.

“This year’s Early Career Fellows and Travel Grantees reflect the continued dynamism of the China studies field at a critical juncture,” said Deena Ragavan, ACLS Director of International Programs. “In this moment, we need researchers who can connect scholarship on Chinese cultures, histories, and societies to contemporary issues facing society. The innovative approaches of these talented scholars enhance our understanding of China by challenging entrenched assumptions.”

“The Henry Luce Foundation shares in the excitement of ACLS in announcing this year’s outstanding awardees,” said Yuting Li, Program Director for Asia at the Foundation. “We believe that the Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies will continue to preserve and strengthen the academic infrastructure that supports a nuanced, multidimensional perspective on China.”

The 2025 Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellows in China Studies will participate in a professional development workshop on engaged scholarship led by Lindsay Krasnoff. This workshop will help fellows develop skills for communicating their research to broader audiences through public writing, digital media, and speaking engagements. Now in its second year, the workshop aims to extend the impact of scholarship on China and enrich public understanding of China and its global role.

The Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies continues to promote long-term change in the field through the Collaborative Grant in China Studies, and the China Studies Digital Mapping Project, which recently launched a new website highlighting open access and free resources for China studies research.