Past Awards

The AAS Annual Conference draws 3,000 participants who network with scholars from all over the world and participate in interdisciplinary dialogues. GHF will fund travel to the March 2026 conference in Vancouver, B.C. for up to twelve scholars specializing in Ming and Ming-adjacent research. The grant is open to graduate students, contingent and part-time faculty, tenure-track faculty, and independent scholars, regardless of membership or participation in a session.

GHF will support travel for eight to ten PhD students participating in “Ming Studies in Five” at the Society for Ming Studies’ Annual Meeting, which takes place during the AAS Annual Conference. Students will present a five-minute talk on their current research and engage with audience members during a poster and social session to gain public-facing presentation experience and increase their professional visibility.

Funding from GHF will earmark Friends of the Princeton University Library Grants for Ming scholars. During this three-year pilot program, a selection committee will award up to three Ming-focused grants to scholars who wish to conduct research at the Princeton University Library’s Special Collections, including the in the East Asian Library (Gest Collection). These grants, which have a value of up to $6,000 plus transportation costs, are meant to help defray expenses incurred in traveling to and residing in Princeton during the tenure of the grant. 

Funding supported membership dues, conference travel, lodging, and registration for at least five scholars of Ming or Ming-adjacent fields to attend the Modern Language Association of American Conference in Philadelphia from January 4-7, 2024. Preference was given to graduate students, contingent faculty, independent scholars, faculty at poorly resourced institutions, and international scholars.

To support emerging scholars, the Society for Ming Studies hosted a roundtable on new books by international Ming scholars at the Society’s meeting-in-conjunction at the Association for Asian Studies Conference in Seattle. Funding from GHF allowed three junior scholars who are based at institutions outside of North America and have recently released books with non-US publishers to travel to the conference to participate in the roundtable.

The Association for Asian Studies offered grants of up to $2,000 for scholars of the Ming dynasty and Ming-adjacent peoples to attend, either virtually or in person, the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference in Boston. Preference was given to contingent and part-time faculty, students, and independent scholars.

Nine graduate students gave ten-minute presentations on their research at the Society for Ming Studies’ Annual Meeting, highlighting their primary arguments, key sources, and the ways in which their research connects to the Ming. The initiative aimed to encourage Ming research and engagement at the junior scholar level, and bring to the fore questions, research materials, and methodologies that productively challenge and enlarge the study of Ming China.

GHF made an award to the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) to support travel to the 2022 annual conference in Honolulu, Hawaii for as many as 15 scholars specializing in Ming studies and Ming-adjacent research. The goal of the travel grants was to encourage greater participation in the annual conference by scholars specializing in early modern China, who have been underrepresented at recent conferences. Priority was given to contingent or part-time faculty, students, and independent scholars.