Call for Application - 2026 CALA Sheila Suen Lai Research Grant

Dear CALA members,

The CALA Best Research Awards Subcommittee (2025-2026) is pleased to announce that the 2026 CALA Sheila Suen Lai Research Grant is now open for application. See the call for application as follows.

Call for Application – 2026 CALA Sheila Suen Lai Research Grant

Deadline: Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Purpose:

The purpose of the Sheila Suen Lai Research Grant (hereinafter ‘Lai’s Grant’) is to encourage CALA members to engage in research activities that contribute to the library and information science, with a particular emphasis on Chinese American Librarianship.

An award of $1,000USD will be granted to the winner(s). Lai’s Grant may be used for conducting research projects, attending research-related conferences and workshops, developing research workshops and programs, assisting with research writing, or other activities consistent with the purpose of the award. Lai’s Grant shall not be used for personal purposes or to attend professional association conferences, such as ALA or CALA.

The expectation of Grant Recipient:

1. The award recipient shall receive an electronic certificate upon request after the award is announced
2. The award recipient shall submit a final report to CALA’s Executive Director detailing the outcome and performance of the specific project within one month of the project completion.
3. The award recipient shall actively participate in CALA activities, programs, and events.
4. The award recipient shall be a CALA member for at least five consecutive years from the date of the award.
5. The award recipient shall volunteer for CALA committees and taskforces.
6. The monetary award will be awarded after the awardee has fulfilled the required obligations.
7. The award recipient shall contribute their time and talents to CALA.
8. The award recipient shall acknowledge CALA’s support in their work (e.g., reports, presentations, articles.)
9. The award recipient shall present the project at the CALA annual meeting or at chapter meetings.

Eligible applicants for Lai’s Grant must:

Proposal Statement:

A good statement of the proposal should include:

Review process

• Applications are screened by the CALA best research award committee for completeness.
• All applicants will receive a notification.

Evaluation criteria:

Award committee members will evaluate applications using the criteria list below. The review committee will review applications holistically; not every point must be addressed, but applicants should be mindful of these criteria when preparing a competitive application:

• Significance. Does the project address an important research problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field? How timely is the research study in terms of research topic, methods, tools, or questions asked?
• Investigator/researcher readiness. Is the researcher qualified and well suited to carry out the project?
• Innovation/Intellectual Merit. How solid is the methodology, theoretical framework, literature review of the research project?
• Likelihood of Completion. Will the environment in which the work will be conducted contribute to the probability of success? Is the proposed project realistic?
• Publishability/dissemination plan: Does this study meet the basic research standards for eventual publication in peer-reviewed journals or professional venues?

Application:

To apply, please submit the following materials to the Best Research Award Subcommittee at best-research-chair@cala-web.org with “Sheila Suen Lai Research Grant” in the subject line and. Please submit one single (1) PDF document containing the items below in the order listed:

Application Deadline: Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Sincerely,

CALA Best Research Awards Subcommittee (2025-2026)

Yali Feng

Yanling Liu

Jinxuan Ma (Co-Chair)

Wei Zhang (Co-chair)

Meingjie Zou