The Bhushan & Santosh Khashu Research Award, established with a generous contribution from Dr. Bhushan Khashu and & his wife, Dr. Santosh Khashu, both prominent physicians and philanthropists from New York, supports graduate students pursuing research projects focusing on the life and legacy of Rabindranath Tagore. The award provides for one grant of $5000 for research travel to South Asia. Students may propose to conduct research in Santiniketan, West Bengal or at another location relevant to Tagore’s life. Priority will be given to mid-career graduate students conducting research toward a Master's thesis or dissertation proposal. Graduate students at UC Berkeley and other University of California campuses will be given priority.
The application process will begin on February 1, 2025 with the deadline for submission of application materials for travel to take place during the summer of 2025 (i.e., May through August 2025) or the 2025-26 academic year (i.e. August 2025 through May 2026), is April 1, 2025 by 5 pm.
APPLICATION PORTAL FOR RESEARCH TRAVEL
To apply please click the link above.
In your application please include the following:
- A cover letter stating the need for travel (750 words or less)
- A 2-page project proposal (double-spaced) (PDF format)
- A budget (only for research) (PDF format)
- A CV (PDF format)
- One letter of support from your advisor (PDF, sent by the recommenders directly)
- Please Note:
- One award of upto $5000 will be given for Research Travel to South Asia.
- Students may propose to conduct research in Santiniketan, West Bengal or at another location relevant to Tagore’s life.
Please submit applications through the application portals provided above. Emailed applications will not be accepted.
For questions, please email: Puneeta Kala at pkala@berkeley.edu
Awardees
| 2024 | Astrid Hallaraaker (PhD Candidate, Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center) Project: A Refuge for Purer Politics: Tagore's Influence on Gandhi's Political Stamina |
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| Pratiti Ketoki (PhD Student, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota at Twin Cities) Project: The Travelling Poet: Tagore as a Global Figure |
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| 2022 | Anirudh Karnick (PhD Candidate, Comparative Literature and South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania) Project: Like Tears Softening Pebbles: Tagore in the Making of Modern Hindi Poetry |
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| 2021 | Devin Choudhury (PhD Candidate, Department of Rhetoric, UC Berkeley) Project: Writing on the Land: Narrative, Agriculture, and Ecology in Bengal (Grant Report) |
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| 2020 | Apala Das (PhD Candidate, Department of English, University of Toronto; Junior Fellow, Massey College) Project: Modernist Askesis in the Works of Rabindranath Tagore (Grant Report) |
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