Call for Applications: 2016 Dissertation and Thesis Development Workshop on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union

Elana Jakel Discussion

Application deadline: March 31, 2016

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum invites applications for a Dissertation and Thesis Development Workshop that is focused on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union.  This workshop will be held from July 18-29, 2016 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. 

This workshop will help prepare early doctoral students interested in the Holocaust in the Soviet Union for successful academic careers.  Participants from North America and the former Soviet Union, with the guidance of Jeffrey Veidlinger (Joseph Brodsky Collegiate Professor of History and Judaic Studies, University of Michigan) and Mandel Center staff, will discuss pre-circulated project proposals and research strategies.  Participants also will attend sessions devoted to historiography and central career development issues.  In addition, participants will have ample opportunity to conduct research in the Museum’s extensive library and archival collections, which include more than 200 million pages of material in physical and digital formats.

In addition to young scholars from North American institutions of higher education, the Museum welcomes applications from early Ph.D. students enrolled at universities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.  Applicants should clearly articulate a potential dissertation topic focusing on the Holocaust as it occurred in the former Soviet Union, but should not yet have conducted significant archival research or have started writing. 

Applications must include: (1) the online application form; (2) a current curriculum vitae; (3) a maximum 1000-word summary of a proposed dissertation topic; and (4) a confidential recommendation letter from the applicant’s advisor that addresses the applicant’s potential and relevant interests, background, training, and qualifications.  Recommendation letters may be in English, Russian, or Ukrainian; all other application materials must be in English.  For details, see the application form available at www.ushmm.org/diss-workshop.

Application materials may be sent by email attachment or fax to Dr. Elana Jakel, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ejakel@ushmm.org or Fax +1 (202) 479-9726.  To preserve the confidentiality of recommendation letters, faculty recommenders must send their letters directly to Dr. Jakel; recommendation letters cannot be submitted by applicants.  All application materials must be received by Thursday, March 31.  We will notify applicants of our decision by April 15. 

Participants must be in attendance each day of the workshop.  Workshop sessions will be conducted in English.  Participants will be required to submit a dissertation proposal of 8-10-pages in English for pre-circulation by Friday, June 17. 

The Museum will accept a maximum of 16 participants.  Awards include (1) a stipend toward the cost of direct travel to and from each participant’s home institution and Washington, D.C.; (2) shared lodging for the workshop’s duration; and (3) a stipend toward the cost of meals, local transit, luggage surcharges, and other incidental expenses, which will be distributed after the workshop’s conclusion via direct deposit or international wire transfer.  It is the sole responsibility of each participant to acquire the appropriate visa to enter the United States and to pay for any costs associated with securing that visa.