The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is pleased to announce that Sweden has approved a grant of $2.1 million (up to SEK 19,000,000) to continue our project in support of scholars located in economically disadvantaged regions of South and Southeast Asia. Phase II of the “Cultivating the Humanities and Social Sciences and Supporting Underrepresented Scholars of Asia” (CHSS) initiative will run from Spring 2026 through December 2028 and continues its focus on supporting scholars from conflict areas and post-conflict countries; particularly junior faculty, graduate students, senior and independent scholars, women, and ethnic minority groups.

Through the CHSS project, AAS collaborates with six partners, which serve as regional hubs and focal points in a growing network of institutions and Asianists across under-resourced regions of Asia. During Phase I, carried out between March 2022 and February 2026, AAS awarded 47 research grants and two scholars-in-residence fellowships. It facilitated grantees’ attendance at AAS conferences and their publication in English peer-reviewed regional and international journals, including the Education About Asia journal published by AAS. Through this program, AAS and the implementing partners worked together to hold 36 capacity-building workshops that brought together more than 566 fellows from post-conflict and conflict areas. In collaboration with hosts in South Korea, Indonesia, and Nepal, AAS organized three symposia adjacent to three AAS-in-Asia conferences and six workshops for 155 scholars. Overall, the CHSS project has reached at least 1,000 scholars, students, and public intellectuals from 15 Asian countries.

Phase II proposes to maintain the project’s programmatic components and expand its network for greater impact. 2026-27 AAS President Elora Shehabuddin notes:

We are incredibly grateful for Sweden’s generous and continued support in advancing our mission of increasing collaboration with colleagues in Asia, especially South and Southeast Asia, and through our implementing partners, forging connections with scholars in areas and institutions that have not interacted with AAS before. I am excited to see what research projects emerge from these new relationships.

Continued and new partnerships with regionally-based partners will enable the CHSS project to further decentralize its programs away from major cities. In South Asia, AAS will continue working with the Faculty of Humanities at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) in India and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan. In Southeast Asia, AAS will also continue working with the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Chiang Mai University in Thailand and Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e in Timor-Leste.

For Phase II, AAS welcomes two new Southeast Asian partners, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Department of Language and Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences in Indonesia and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (USSH-VNUHCM). In close collaboration with these six institutions, this transnational project will cultivate knowledge production in direct support of marginal and vulnerable groups across the Asia Pacific.

The project gives underserved institutions in economically marginalized areas access to professional advancement and a vibrant transnational network. AAS Executive Director Hilary Finchum-Sung, reflecting on the impact of the project, notes:

We are thrilled to embark on Phase II of the CHSS project. Over the past few years, the project has significantly strengthened the engagement of South and Southeast Asian scholars across AAS initiatives, including our growing AAS-in-Asia conference. Sweden’s generous support has been crucial to advancing AAS’s strategic vision of fostering deeper collaboration, connection, and engagement throughout Asia.

By the end of 2028, we anticipate that a new generation of scholars will have acquired the tools and exercised their rights to contribute their scholarship in ways that will strengthen civil society and stimulate peace building, cooperation, and development between partners of underserved regions and beyond.

Read the announcement on the AAS Website here.

Announcements about research grants, fellowships, and awards will be made when applications open. For more information, please contact project consultant Dr. Krisna Uk at krisna.uk@beyondasia.org