Call for Applications: Open Research Laboratory at Illinois

The Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center and the Slavic Reference Service at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are pleased to announce a call for applications to the Spring 2023 Open Research Laboratory (ORL). The program will take place January 17 - May 3, 2023. Funded in part by the U.S. Department of State's Title VIII Program, the ORL program provides research support for graduate and post-graduate level research on Central and East Europe and the Independent States of the former Soviet Union.

We will provide support for both in-person and virtual associateships for scholars to conduct research concerning all aspects of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Please note that the majority of Associateships will be in-person.

The ORL is a small, highly competitive program focused on providing support to researchers working on projects with upcoming deadlines that are best completed in the spring. Those with more flexible timelines are encouraged to apply to the Summer Research Lab (SRL), which supports a larger cohort of researchers over the summer. Specialists including advanced graduate students, faculty, independent scholars, and professionals in government and non-governmental organizations as well as library science are encouraged to apply.

The priority application deadline is December 7, 2022.

Awarded on a competitive basis, ORL support will include:

• Access to the physical and electronic collections of the University of Illinois Library
• Use of the Library's technological resources, including a free of charge duplication service for University of Illinois Library materials, limited to 20 pages per request and subject to copyright restrictions
• Invitations to participate in scholarly programming (lectures, workshops, conferences, etc.)
• The help of REEEC staff in answering logistical questions related to your stay or virtual visit
• Associates may apply for personalized bibliographic sessions with SRS (priority given to graduate students and early career scholars)

Applicants who are U.S. citizens and who are conducting policy-relevant research may apply for a Title VIII Research Award to support their associateships (in-person or virtual). These research awards provide:

• For in-person associates, a housing award furnishing accommodation on campus for up to 5 nights, travel support of up to $600 to offset transportation costs to and from Urbana-Champaign, and a research stipend of $1000 in support of their work
• For virtual associates, a research stipend of $500 in support of their work

For more information and to apply, please visit
https://reeec.illinois.edu/research/open-research-laboratory