IGEL International Collections Travel Grants
International Collections Travel Grants
Eligibility
Applicants must not be affiliated with the University of Kansas. Strong preference will be given to applicants who live outside a 100-mile radius of Lawrence, Kansas. Grants are open to U.S. and international researchers, including faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and independent researchers. Research must focus on international or area studies and demonstrate a clear need to access KU Libraries’ collections.
International researchers are eligible to apply but should consider visa requirements and visa processing times.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the KU International Collections librarian responsible for the collection they plan to use before applying, to ensure the resources meet their research needs.
Award recipients may be asked to give a brief, informal presentation or public engagement activity about their research topic during their visit.
Grant Coverage
Eligible Expenses: Travel, lodging, and meals within per-diem limits, and research-related costs such as photo duplication or scanning while working with KU Libraries’ collections.
Not Covered: Personal expenses, equipment purchases, entertainment, or costs unrelated to research activities.
Maximum Award: Up to $1,500 per trip.
Payment Method: Funds are reimbursed after travel upon submission of receipts and required documentation.
Pre-Approval: All travel must be approved before arrangements are made.
Application Materials
Applicants should submit one PDF or Word document containing the following:
Proposed travel dates
Estimated budget
Current CV (2 pages maximum)
Research project description: A brief description of the project, its relevance to KU’s collections, and a list of specific materials to be consulted
To apply, email your application as a single PDF or Word file to igel@ku.edu.
Application Deadline and Selection Process
- Applications: Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
- Review and Notification: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with decisions typically made within two weeks. Timing may vary depending on application volume or other circumstances.
- Travel Period: Travel must take place within six months of the award approval date.
- Review Criteria: Applications will be evaluated by a KU Libraries committee based on scholarly merit, relevance to KU’s collections, and feasibility of the proposed research. To encourage broad engagement with KU Libraries resources, the committee may consider the overall distribution of awards across collections (e.g., Slavic, East Asian, etc.).
- Number of Awards: Approximately 3–5 grants will be awarded each year, depending on available funding.
Grant Expectations
By accepting this grant, recipients agree to:
Use funds solely for the approved research visit.
Participate in a public or campus engagement activity if requested.
Submit all required receipts and documentation for reimbursement.
Provide a brief post-visit report summarizing research activities at KU.
Include the following acknowledgment in any resulting work: “This project was supported by KU Libraries' Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship through an IGEL International Collections Travel Grant”
KU Libraries house one of the most extensive international collections in the Great Plains, serving as a National Resource Center supporting research and teaching across a wide range of global and regional studies. With more than 1.5 million volumes and electronic resources, these collections reflect decades of collaboration with KU’s area studies programs and language departments. Expert librarians provide specialized support for faculty and students engaged in international research.
Collection Highlights:
- African Collections – Over 80,000 volumes and 1,000+ serials focused on sub-Saharan Africa, with strengths in the social sciences and humanities and materials in English, French, Portuguese, and African languages such as Swahili, Hausa, and Amharic.
- East Asian Collection – Among the top 20 in the U.S., with 330,000+ items in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean; strong in art history, literature, religion, and Japanese women’s and visual culture, plus rare premodern prints and manuscripts at Spencer Research Library.
- Slavic & Eurasian Collection – 500,000+ volumes and 3,000 periodicals on Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, with particular strengths in Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Polish materials for research in languages, literature, and history.
- Spanish, Portuguese, Latin American & Caribbean Collection – Nearly 500,000 titles, including one of the nation’s top collections on Central America, with strengths in literature, culture, history, and the social sciences.
- Global Studies Collections – Support research on globalization, transnational issues, and cross-regional perspectives, with growing strengths in European, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and South Asian studies integrated across KU Libraries’ holdings.
Sanjiao Tang
Independent Scholar
Visit: July 2026
30 Years' Making of Communist and Nationalist Youth: Propaganda Targeting Young Chinese during the Maoist Era (1949–1978)
Dr. Tang is working toward a monograph that revisits and reexamines the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda targeting young Chinese during the Maoist era (1949–1978). His research explores how the CCP tailored its communist and nationalist messaging to youth audiences at different ages and across a rapidly changing political landscape — from the founding of the People's Republic through the end of the Maoist period. KU Libraries holds over 100 materials essential to this project, including rare early 1950s training materials for propagandists and multimedia resources for Chinese youth, many of which are unavailable in other repositories Dr. Tang has visited worldwide.
Dr. Tang received his PhD from the University of Auckland in 2021. He has held visiting fellowships at the Asia Center, Seoul National University; Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, Seikei University, Tokyo; Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm; and the National Library of Australia.
Merve Fejzula
Assistant Professor of History, University of Missouri
Lendl Tellington
Filmmaker and Visual Artist
Visit: October 2026
The Age of All Women: The Becoming of Younousse Seye
Dr. Fejzula, in collaboration with co-director Lendl Tellington, is producing a documentary film on Younousse Seye — a self-taught mixed-media artist, actor, and poet from Senegal whose career spans over six decades, yet whose contributions to feminist Pan-Africanism remain largely overlooked. The film draws on archival research, newsreel footage, and oral history interviews to tell the story of a vibrant era of feminist Pan-Africanism in West Africa from the 1950s to the present. KU Libraries' newsreel collections, including holdings from BBC, CBS, NBC, and Arte, make it a valuable destination for the documentary's archival research.
Dr. Fejzula completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge. She has been the recipient of prizes, including the Institute of Historical Research's Sarah Pollard Prize and the University of Cambridge's Sarah Norton Prize. Her research has been funded by numerous fellowships and grants, including the University of Chicago, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Harry Ransom Center, the Royal Historical Society, and the Beinecke Library, among others.
For questions about these grants or KU Libraries' International Collections, please contact:
Jon Giullian
Head, International Collections
785-864-8854
giullian@ku.edu
or the International Collection librarians related to your research area.
