GEOP Research Fellowships for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Candidates at POLIN - Museum of the History of Polish Jews

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute is offering three month doctoral fellowships and five month postdoctoral fellowships, which will begin in January 2020.

Successful doctoral candidates will receive a grant of $6,000 USD and post-doctoral candidates will receive $10,000 which will be paid in Polish zlotys. The program is financed through the Global Education Outreach Program, thanks to the support of Taube Philanthropies, the William K. Bowes Jr. Foundation and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute.

The program’s goal is to support research in the field of the history and culture of Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the countries at present within its borders. It aims at stimulating the development and expansion of the group of scholars specializing in this subject. Priority will be given to research that requires using collections of source materials kept in Warsaw.

Participants of the program will be able to make use of the resources of the POLIN Museum and the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute: the POLIN core exhibition and the POLIN collection, the Resource Center and the library of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, as well as of the archive, library and collection of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. They will also be able to visit all other institutions in Warsaw that hold archival and book collections.

Program participants will be able to:

• Consult with a mentor from the POLIN Museum, the Jewish Historical Institute or any other academic center in Poland on their project.
• Participate in the full program of lectures, workshops and conferences organized at the POLIN Museum and in the Jewish Historical Institute.

They will be obliged to:

• Conduct research primarily in the archives and libraries of Warsaw.

Requirements

Doctoral candidates may apply for a 3-month long stay, and postdoctoral candidates for a 5-month long stay. Fluency in English is required, as well as at least passive knowledge of the languages necessary to conduct the research that a candidate intends to pursue during the tenure of the fellowship. People engaged in all academic fields related to the history of Polish Jews may participate in the project. Doctoral candidates from the United States and Canada must hold ABD status. Those from Europe, Israel and elsewhere should have no more than two years left of their doctoral studies. Postdoctoral candidates should be scholars who obtained their PhD within the past 5 years ago, or 7 years if a candidate had a child after receiving a doctoral degree and/or took maternity leave.

Application Process

Applicants should fill in the application form downloadable in the call for applications. All documents should be in English and in PDF format and should be sent to the email address: geopfellowship@polin.pl.

Two letters of reference are required, to be sent directly by the referee to the email address: geopfellowships@polin.pl. Members of the selection committee (listed below) must not act as referees. Only two letters of reference will be considered.

People shortlisted by the committee will be invited for an interview (via skype). The list of fellowship winners will be announced on the basis of these interviews, which will be conducted in English and will concern the project that the shortlisted candidates plan to fulfill during their research fellowship.

• Applications should be submitted between 1 March 2019 – 19 May 2019
• Interviews will be held in the second half of June 2019 
• The final results will be announced on 28 June 2019 at the earliest
• Research fellowships can commence in January 2020, and must be completed no later than 15 December 2020

Selection Committee

• Antony Polonsky (Chair, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews)
• Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin)
• Michał Galas (Jagiellonian University)
• François Guesnet (University College London)
• Samuel Kassow (Trinity College)
• Erica Lehrer (Concordia University, Montreal)
• Artur Markowski (Secretary, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews)
• Mirjam Rajner (Uniwersytet Bar-Ilan)
• Moshe Rosman (Uniwersytet Bar-Ilan)
• Don Seeman (Emory University)
• Marc Slobin (Wesleyan University)
• Marcin Wodziński (University of Wrocław)
• Andrzej Żbikowski (E. Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw)
• Genevieve Zubrzycki (University of Michigan)
• Jolanta Żyndul (E. Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw)

The GEOP Research Fellowship is offered by POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in cooperation with the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute within the framework of the Global Education Outreach Program. This program was made possible thanks to the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture, the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.