KU International Affairs Awards 13 Grants for Research, Collaboration Abroad

LAWRENCE — KU International Affairs has awarded more than $26,000 in travel grants to 11 KU faculty members and two graduate students to support research and collaboration abroad.

These competitively awarded funds were dispersed among faculty and students in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the schools of Architecture & Design, Journalism and Music. Through these funds, faculty and students will travel to nine countries on four continents to conduct research, access archives, collaborate with colleagues and develop or maintain international partnerships. All funds prioritize projects that help to grow or expand the influence of KU research, further student success or promote healthy and vibrant communities.

Recipients will use the funds between now and June 30, 2024.  

Faculty Grants

South, Southeast and East Asia Fund 

The South, Southeast and East Asia Fund supports the development or maintenance of institutional partnerships, exchanges and academic collaborations between KU and counterparts at selected postsecondary institutions within Asia. This fund also supports faculty research projects. Grant recipients:

Jae Chang, professor of architecture, who will travel to South Korea to develop, strengthen and renew opportunities for KU students and faculty that promote institutional exchange, partnerships and academic collaborations with partner institutions and industry leaders.   

Utako Minai, associate professor of linguistics, who will travel to Japan to research the acquisition of linguistic knowledge of Japanese preschool children.

Hyunjin Seo, Oscar Stauffer Professor of Journalism, who will travel to Seoul, South Korea, to collect interview data for a research project on digital communication technologies. 

Latin America Fund 

The Latin America Fund supports the development or maintenance of institutional partnerships, exchanges and academic collaborations between KU and counterparts at selected postsecondary institutions within Latin America. This fund also supports faculty research projects. Grant recipients:  

Bartholomew Dean, associate professor of anthropology, who will travel to Peru to review the collections in the museum the Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion to assess the cultural significance of visual media associated with the country’s internal war between 1980 and 2000.

Jeremy Martin, professor of mathematics, who will travel to Chile to work on two mathematic research projects with collaborators from Pontificia Universidad Católica and Universidad Andrés Bello, which will result in a joint publication.

International Travel Fund for Humanistic Research 

The International Travel Fund for Humanities Research supports KU faculty pursuing international interdisciplinary humanistic research abroad. Grant recipients: 

Elise Kirk, assistant professor of photography, who will travel to Italy to research and complete photographic work at the intersection of the humanities and ecological thinking in Sicily, a location that is a hybrid landscape of rural agrarian life and global petrochemistry manufacturing.

Brad Osborn, associate professor of music theory, who will travel to the United Kingdom to conduct interviews and archival research for the second edition of his book “Everything in its Right Place: Analyzing Radiohead.”

Sean Seyer, associate professor of history, who will travel to London to gather research at the Royal Air Force Archives and the National Archives that will result in two scholarly publications, including an article on transnational technology transfer and a second manuscript on the development of the American aircraft industry from World War I through the Cold War.  

Maya Stiller, associate professor of Korean art and visual culture, who will travel to South Korea to collect art-historical research material at Buddhist monasteries and museums and to collaborate with faculty at Korea University and Seoul National University.

Dave Tell, professor of communications studies, who will travel to Berlin to participate in the Obermayer Foundation’s Widen the Circle visiting program, a research, collaborative and immersive educational opportunity that will add international perspectives to research on memory studies.   

Kyoim Yun, associate professor of East Asian languages & cultures, who will travel to South Korea to perform ethnographic research on Templestay, where visitors stay at Buddhist temples to engage in daily activities as a form of wellness tourism amid the prevailing social malaise.  

Graduate Grants 

Pre-Dissertation Travel Grant 

Pre-Dissertation Travel Grants support six- to eight-week trips for preliminary dissertation field activities taking place in Africa or Latin America. Grant recipients:

Alicia Houser, graduate student in history, who will travel to Tanzania to investigate access to political party and municipal government records, court cases and oral histories of Moshi. 

Ifeloju Olusanya, graduate student in architecture & design, who will travel to Nigeria to explore the perspectives of residents, experts and business owners on cultural heritage resource development. 

For more information, visit international.ku.edu.