Application Guidelines

The Center invites proposals from Workshop Coordinator(s) to conduct two-week research workshops at the Museum during the months of July and August. We welcome proposals from scholars in all relevant disciplines, including history, political science, literature, Jewish studies, philosophy, religion, anthropology, comparative genocide studies, and law.

Stage One applications are due October 11, 2013.

About the Workshops

Workshops consist of two weeks of intensive discussion, culminating in a public presentation of the group’s results. Morning sessions typically consist of presentations by participants on their particular research projects. Afternoon sessions are predominantly dedicated to in-depth discussions of the overarching research issues, priorities, findings, and conclusions, as well as some workshop-based research using the Museum’s collections.

The final public panel features presentations on (1) the importance of the work and the scholarly rationale for convening the workshop; (2) the issues discussed, approaches taken, and resources used by the group during the two weeks; (3) the issues and source materials identified by the group as the most significant for future work; and (4) the group’s collective results, findings, and conclusions.

Museum Resources

Participants have access to approximately 80 million pages of Holocaust-related archival documentation; the Museum’s extensive library; oral history, film, photo, art, artifacts, and memoir collections; and a Holocaust survivor database. In addition, participants have access to more than 100 million digitized pages from the holdings of the International Tracing Service (ITS), which include information on the fates of 17.5 million people who were subject to incarceration, forced labor, and displacement as a result of World War II. Many of these records have not been examined by scholars, offering unprecedented opportunities to advance the field of Holocaust studies.

The Center will assign to each workshop a staff scholar with expertise relevant to the proposed topic. The Center will also provide meeting space and access to a computer, telephone, and photocopier.

Awards

For nonlocal participants, awards include (1) a stipend to offset the cost of direct travel to and from each participant’s home institution and Washington, DC; (2) lodging for the duration of the workshop; and (3) $500 toward the cost of incidental expenses, which will be distributed within two to four weeks of the workshop’s conclusion. Local participants receive a stipend of $200 for the two weeks.

Application Process

The Summer Research Workshop program has a two-stage application process:

In Stage One, scholars submit a preliminary application, consisting of a one-page single-spaced description of the proposed workshop detailing the research project’s focus, significance, scope, methods, objectives, and expertise required from potential participants. Applications should include CVs for no more than two Workshop Coordinators.

The Center will evaluate preliminary applications according to their (1) potential contribution to scholarship in Holocaust studies; (2) potential to stimulate work in a new direction or productive area of research; (3) relationship to larger themes or issues in Holocaust studies; and (4) potential for new publications, collaborative research, or research endeavors directly resulting from the workshop.

Stage One applications are due October 11, 2013. We will notify applicants at the end of October whether they will be invited to proceed to Stage Two and submit a full proposal with the assistance of Center staff. Full proposals are due February 7, 2014. We will notify applicants of our final decisions in March 2014.

For More Information

Please address question regarding the Summer Research Workshop program and application process to: