KUIA awards 34 grants for research and collaboration abroad

LAWRENCE — KU International Affairs has awarded more than $72,000 in travel grants to 28 KU faculty members and six graduate students to support research and collaboration abroad.

These competitively awarded funds were disbursed among University of Kansas faculty and students in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the schools of Architecture & Design, Education & Human Sciences and Music. Through these funds, faculty and students will travel to 23 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 and expand the impact of KU research, further student success or promote healthy and vibrant communities.

Recipients will use the funds before June 30, 2026.

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.

Sunyoung Cheong, assistant professor of visual art, will travel to South Korea to examine the synergy between ottchil, Korean traditional lacquer, and digital technology. 

Brian Gordon, professor of health, sport & exercise science, will travel to Japan to develop and foster the institutional partnership between the KU and Hosei University, focusing on strengthening research collaborations and student and faculty exchange programs.

Eungsik Kim, assistant professor of economics, will travel to South Korea for collaborative research aimed at designing policy interventions to mitigate present bias and its economic consequences.

Silvia Park, assistant professor of English, will travel to South Korea for research to develop the protagonist's background as a Korean adoptee for a science fiction novel.

Hannah Park, associate professor of visual communication design, will travel to South Korea to research health design with a focus on senior care.

Midori Samson, assistant professor of the bassoon, will travel to Japan for research on her debut album and art installation focusing on historical trauma.

Akiko Takeyama, director for the Center for East Asian Studies, will travel to Mongolia to strengthen the institutional partnership between KU and the National University of Mongolia, focusing on future research collaborations, faculty exchange, language and study abroad programs.

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.

Glenn Adams, director for the Kansas African Studies Center, and Luciano Tosta, director for the Center for Global & International Studies, will travel to Mexico to strengthen and expand the institutional partnership between the KU and El Colegio de México, furthering research engagements, language instruction and international studies opportunities, and student and faculty exchange programs.

Ryan Clasby, curator at the Spencer Museum of Art, will travel to Peru to conduct research for a new exhibition on cultural achievements and struggles of Indigenous Amazonians.

Bartholomew Dean, professor of anthropology, will travel to Peru to develop and foster the institutional partnership between KU and the Peruvian Ministry of Health strengthening collaborative research, student exchange, service learning and new initiative development.

Margaret Marco, professor of oboe, will travel to Guatemala to serve as a guest artist for the Central American and Panama Festival.

Ingrid Stölzel, associate professor of music composition, will travel to Brazil to serve as the featured guest composer for the Brasília Orchestral Summit.

Obed Garcia, assistant professor of anthropology, will travel to Guatemala for fieldwork on the evolution of Dengue virus among Indigenous peoples of the region.

Eduardo Garcia-Novelli, director of choral studies, will travel to Argentina to serve as a guest composer for the Lagun Onak Choir of Buenos Aires.

Peter Herlihy, professor of geography, and Taylor Tappan, assistant teaching professor of geography, will travel to Panama for exploratory research on recent accelerated migration to and through the region.

Ian Lewis, associate professor of physics & astronomy, will travel to Mexico to conduct research on particle physics and dark matter.

Ninel Valderrama Negrón, assistant professor of Spanish & Portuguese, will travel to Argentina to conduct archival research on how visual culture and print media shape transnational identities and rural narratives.

Benjamin Rosenthal, associate professor of expanded media, will travel to Brazil for an artist's residency at FoNTÉ and to Argentina to conduct research on how colonial and white-supremacist imagery shapes LGBTQIA2S+ discourse.

International Travel Fund for Humanistic Research

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

Vitaly Chernetsky, professor in Slavic, German & Eurasian studies, will travel to Switzerland and Germany to research the experiences of exile and diasporic displacement as depicted and explored by writers of Slavic and Eastern European origin. 

Majid Hannoum, professor of anthropology, will travel to Algeria to conduct archival research on the relationships between secularist colonial states and Islamic institutions.

Sheyda Jahanbani, associate professor of history, will travel to England and France for archival research on transnational anti-nationalist activism in the aftermath of World War II.

Jonathan Lamb, associate professor of English, will travel to England, Belgium and France to conduct archival research for a new critical edition of William Shakespeare’s play "Love’s Labour’s Lost."

Joshua Miner, associate professor of film & media studies, will travel to France for archival research and reference photography in development of a feature film about the early history of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. 

Paul Scott, professor in French, Francophone & Italian studies, will travel to South Korea to research the cultural significance of zombies in graphic novels. 

Jeremy Shellhorn, professor of design, will travel to Ireland to investigate the impact of graphic design in communication and sustainability among outdoor recreationists, focusing on national parks, wildlands and heritage sites.

Rami Zeedan, associate professor of Jewish studies, will travel to Israel to examine generational shifts in language usage and social self-identification among Druze youth. 

Graduate Grants

International Enhancement Travel Grant

International Enhancement Travel grants support semester or summer-long internationally focused academic or training opportunities that do not duplicate opportunities or coursework at KU in Africa or Latin America.

Ridwan Aribidesis Muhammed, graduate student in history, will travel to Mexico to participate in a seminar that will enhance his research on systemic health inequalities in academics and policy.

Ajetunmobi Umar Olansile, graduate student in communication studies, will travel to Nigeria to attend a seminar focusing on Muslim spiritual health beliefs, enhancing both his cultural competency and informing future research plans. 

Mary Self, graduate student in global & international studies, will travel to Brazil to attend a Portuguese language learning course tailored specifically for Spanish speakers at Escola Bem Brasil. 

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.

Israel Ogundumila, graduate student in history, will travel to Nigeria and Ghana to establish a foundation for a comprehensive investigation into how airplane technology shaped the colonial and postcolonial British West Africa.

Emmanuel Sithole, graduate student in history, will travel to Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique to perform exploratory research on primary and secondary learners, teachers and parents within cross-border communities in the region.

Matheus Romanetto, graduate student in sociology, will travel to Brazil to perform exploratory archival research on the rise in familial conflicts over politics in the region.

For more information, visit the International Affairs website.