IGEL Awards Inaugural International Collections Travel Grants

The Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship (IGEL) at the University of Kansas Libraries is pleased to announce te recipients of its inaugural International Collections Travel Grants for 2026. The grants support scholars from outside KU whose research requires access to KU Libraries' rich and diverse international collections — more than 1.5 million volumes and electronic objects spanning Africa, East Asia, Latin America, Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and beyond.

The 2026 recipients are Dr. Sanjiao Tang, an independent scholar and recent fellow at the National Library of Australia and the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, and Dr. Merve Fejzula, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Tang visited KU Libraries June 29–July 7 in support of his forthcoming monograph on CCP propaganda targeting Chinese youth during the Maoist era (1949–1978), drawing on rare training materials for propagandists and multimedia resources held in KU's East Asian collections that are unavailable in repositories elsewhere in the world.

Dr. Fejzula, together with documentary co-director Lendl Tellington, will visit KU Libraries to consult newsreel holdings for their documentary film The Age of All Women, which traces the remarkable career of a pioneering Senegalese artist and advocates for greater recognition of Black women's contributions to feminist Pan-Africanism.

Both projects reflect the kind of innovative, internationally significant scholarship the IGEL Travel Grant program is designed to support through increased access to KU Libraries' international collections.

The competition for 2027 IGEL International Collections Travel Grants will open in Fall 2026. Grants of up to $1,500 are available to scholars from outside the University of Kansas whose work requires access to KU Libraries' international collections. More information is available on the IGEL website travel grants page.