What is the Asian Scholarship Foundation?

The Asian Scholarship Foundation (ASF) is an Asian-led non-profit organization funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation that is mandated to:

  • strengthen regional capacity to produce scholarly research on Asian societies
  • create a network of Asian specialists on Asian Studies in Asia
  • develop a regional perspective among scholars working in the field of Asian Studies

ASF grants are made available to scholars, researchers and professionals who are citizens of and residents in any of the following participating countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Republic of Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

ASF makes it possible for young and middle-level scholars, researchers and professionals to undertake a research project or do a study, to conduct seminars and workshops, to help build a network of Asian scholars in Asia in the field of Asian Studies and/or to write papers in the Arts, Culture, Humanities, Social Sciences in another Asian country in any of the grant categories described below.

The grants cannot be used for completing an academic degree.