EHRI invites applications for its fellowship programme (2016-2018).

The EHRI (European Holocaust Research Infrastructure) fellowships are intended to support and stimulate Holocaust research by facilitating international access to key archives and collections related to the Holocaust as well as archival and digital humanities knowhow. The fellowships intend to support researchers, archivists, curators, and younger scholars, especially PhD candidates with limited resources. The fellowships are funded by the European Union under the rules of transnational access and are thus principally open to applicants working at institutions established in member (the EU-28) and associate states. By EU regulations, participation by Fellows working at institutions in third countries is limited to 20% of the total amount of units of access provided by EHRI. It is not possible to apply for a Fellowship at an institution in the same country where one works. Candidates from Central and Eastern Europe are especially encouraged to apply. EHRI aims at creating an equal opportunity environment and thus does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnic or national origin, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

EHRI is offering Fellowships at one or more of the following EHRI partner institutions; each will be awarded on a competitive basis. For the first assessment period, the following numbers of weeks will be awarded:

• NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: 10 weeks
• Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society (CEGESOMA), Brussels, Belgium: 7 weeks
• Jewish Museum in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic: 7 weeks
• Center for Holocaust Studies at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich, Munich, Germany: 10 weeks
• King’s College London, Department of Digital Humanities, London, United Kingdom: 7 weeks.
  EHRI Fellowships at KCL’s Department of Digital Humanities are limited to researchers who wish to explore the application of digital tools and methods to Holocaust-related datasets. Access is provided to the Department’s unique methodological expertise in regard to digital scholarship.
• Yad Vashem – The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority (YV), Jerusalem, Israel: 14 weeks
  For EHRI Fellowships at YV, preference is given to archivists, conservation and preservation specialists, museum curators and the like wishing to engage in methodological access.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Washington (D.C.), United States of America: 14 weeks.
  EHRI Fellowships at the USHMM are restricted to collections infrastructure specialists, such as archivists, cataloguers, collection managers, conservators, curators, film and oral history specialists, librarians, digital curators, and others wishing to expand their knowledge and gain expertise in museum practices, collections access, and infrastructure development. Duration of fellowships should be between 4–6 weeks. For USHMM fellowships designed for scholars to support significant research and writing about the Holocaust, please see:http://www.ushmm.org/research/competitive-academic-programs/fellowship-competition.
• Bundesarchiv, Berlin / Ludwigsburg / Freiburg / Koblenz / Bayreuth, Germany: 10 weeks
• The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide, London, United Kingdom: 8 weeks
• International Tracing Service (ITS), Bad Arolsen, Germany: 10 weeks
• Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute / Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. Emanuela Ringelbluma (ŻIH), Warsaw, Poland: 10 weeks
• The Shoah Memorial – Museum, Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation, Paris, France: 10 weeks
• Wiener Wiesenthal Institut für Holocaust-Studien / Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI), Vienna, Austria: 10 weeks
• Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, Bucharest, Romania: 4 weeks
• Foundation Jewish Contemporary Documentation Center / Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC), Milan, Italy: 10 weeks

EHRI fellowships include a stipend for housing and living expenses as well as travel to and from the inviting institution. These stipends follow the practices of the inviting institution or institutions. Recipients are responsible for securing visas if necessary. Fellows will have access to the research infrastructure of the respective EHRI partner institution including access to a computer. The duration applicants can apply for is flexible – the minimum unit for stays is one week, while very long stays over 4-6 weeks will remain exceptional. The fellow may extend the stay at his/her own expense and in accordance with the host institution and visa regulations. Fellows will be expected to spend 3 days a week at the host institution to conduct research on their research project. Research at other institutions in the vicinity of the respective host is encouraged. At the end of the stay, a report will be required by each EHRI Fellow on the research conducted during the stay(s).

All application materials must be submitted in English. The application must include the following:

• A completed application form.
• A curriculum vitae (maximum – ! – 2 pages).
• A four to five page (1,250 to maximum – ! – 1,500 words) detailed research project proposal related to the Holocaust (including its antecedents and aftermath) that the applicant plans to undertake during the term of the fellowship as well as an explanation of which institution(s) an applicant wishes to apply to and why this choice fits the chosen research topic.
• A letter of recommendation from a reputable academic who is familiar with the applicant’s work. A letter of recommendation should include evaluation of the applicant’s proposed research as well as the overall quality of the applicant’s work. The letter may be sent by email as a scan (including the recommenders signature and letterhead) with the application or directly by the recommender. The letter must be received before the application deadline.
• Applicants must also designate a second recommender in the application form. The recommender may be contacted directly by EHRI.

All application material can be sent as an email attachment in DOC or PDF format to bennett@ifz-muenchen.de. Please send all application material at one time. EHRI is offering an open call, with evaluation cut-off dates every nine months, i.e. on 30 September 2015, 30 June 2016, 31 March 2017 and finally on 31 December 2017 – any proposal submitted after the evaluation cut-off date will automatically be included in the following evaluation round. After checks by EHRI staff whether all proposals are complete and eligible, the proposals will be evaluated for scientific excellence by an independent panel of experts. The applied for duration of the Fellowships may be amended during the evaluation process. In cases of equal evaluation, shorter Fellowships have precedence (as they provide for a higher number of Fellows); the fact whether a Fellow had previous access to the institution or would not have access if not awarded the Fellowship will also be taken into account. Applicants will receive feedback within 2-3 months from the cut-off date.

More information

The application form for the EHRI Fellowship can be found in Annex 1: Application form.