Application Deadline: 1 December 2026
The global Open Call for two Asymmetry PhD Fellowships in the Comparative Study of Chinese Diasporic Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (IFA) for entry in autumn 2027 will open shortly. The fellowships form the foundation of the Asymmetry Chinese Comparative Diasporas Lab Initiative, part of a new partnership between Asymmetry and the IFA dedicated to advancing scholarship on Chinese diasporic art through a transnational and comparative framework. The initiative will support doctoral research examining Chinese and Sinophone diasporas in relation to geographies and communities around the world.
About the fellowships
At the centre of the initiative, the PhD fellows will pursue original research that expands conventional geographic and disciplinary approaches to the study of Chinese diasporic art, while drawing on the IFA’s strengths in Asian, African, South American, Caribbean, and contemporary art. The initiative will encourage students to consider the movement of artists, objects, ideas, and cultural practices across regions and to explore how migration and exchange have shaped visual culture.
The fellows will also have opportunities to engage with the IFA’s extensive network of museum and cultural partners in New York. Through collections and archival research and potential curatorial projects, students will be able to connect art-historical inquiry with the study of primary materials and museum practice. The IFA’s longstanding relationships with institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art offer an especially rich environment in which to undertake this work.
An annual symposium on comparative Chinese and Sinophone diasporas will provide a public and scholarly forum for the initiative. Bringing together researchers, curators, students, and other specialists, the symposium will explore intersections among migration, histories, artistic exchange, and visual culture across different geographic contexts. The fellows will have the opportunity to present their research alongside established voices in the field, fostering new conversations and collaborations and contributing to a growing body of scholarship on diasporic art.
Alongside their placements at the IFA, the fellows will also become part of Asymmetry's wider community of curators, scholars, artists, writers, researchers and cultural practitioners. Joining a close-knit cohort of fellows and scholars, they will participate in an ongoing programme of research, conversation and peer exchange across Asymmetry's international network of partner museums and universities. Throughout the PhD, the fellows will also be encouraged to develop and present their own research through Asymmetry's programme to test ideas publicly while contributing to discursive or exhibitionary programmes, critical inquiry, research, writing and exchange.
About the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU
Founded in 1932, the Institute of Fine Arts is a centre of graduate training and research in art history, archaeology, and conservation. The Institute has a faculty unrivalled in the breadth and depth of its expertise and in the range of its adjunct lecturers from top museums, research institutes, and conservation studios. The Institute has conferred more than 4,000 degrees, and its alumni hold leadership roles as professors, curators, museum directors, archaeologists, conservators, critics, and institutional administrators throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Requirements and application
All potential candidates are required to apply through NYU's Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Please refer to the Institute of Fine Arts’ PhD Admission Requirements page for full details.