AISEES announces the availability of two fellowships for senior scholars, defined as someone who is more than five years beyond the Ph.D. One fellowship of $5000 will be awarded to a university faculty member or independent scholar based in the USA, and one fellowship of $3000 will be awarded to a faculty member or independent scholar based in southeastern Europe. The fellowships will be used to support research in southeastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia). The research project must be conducted within the 12-month period of April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025. Projects in all fields in the social sciences, humanities and related disciplines are eligible.
Proposals will be judged on their quality and on the potential of the research to strengthen scholarship in southeastern Europe. The purpose of the fellowship is to help cover travel, living expenses and/or applicable research expenses in southeastern Europe. By the end of their term of study in southeastern Europe, fellows will submit a 3000 word paper and a PowerPoint or similar graphic presentation on a subject related to the research project to the AISEES website. The fellow will acknowledge AISEES in any publication that emerges from the research carried out during the fellowship period.
Application requirements: Please send a single PDF containing the following information to us at AISEESorg@gmail.com:
1) Contact information: name, U.S. or local mailing address, institutional affiliation, citizenship
2) Project statement of approximately 1500 words
3) Detailed overall budget of the project that specifies how the AISEES funds will be spent
4) CV/resume
Two letters of recommendation by scholars familiar with your research must also be submitted
All information must be received by December 15, 2023, in order for the applicant to be considered for the fellowship.
ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- Fellows must complete their fellowship projects within 12 months of receiving the award. Any unused portion of the stipend must be returned to AISEES after this date.
- A 3000 word report that was developed during the fellowship period is required to be submitted to AISEES within 30 days after the fellowship completion and no later than April 30, 2025. $500 of the fellowship stipend will be withheld until the recipient submits the Final Report on the fellowship.
- All applicants must be either faculty appointed at accredited degree-granting programs in the US or SE Europe, or PhD holding scholars whose focus in on SE Europe. For US-based applicants, preference will be given to scholars who are regular members of AISEES or whose institutions are members of AISEES.
- All applicants must have obtained their PhD at least five (5) years prior to the application date (during the current application cycle, December 1st 2018).
- Scholars are responsible for organizing their own legal paperwork while traveling in the countries.
- Given changing travel restrictions and/or travel warnings to many countries, fellows should contact AISEES prior to purchasing airfare. Fellows are encouraged to
use https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en.html for the latest government information regarding travel. - For research involving human subjects, proof of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval must be provided, if relevant, upon receipt of fellowship.
- Fellows are required to supply AISEES with proof of health insurance as well as emergency evacuation and repatriation of remains insurance before leaving the United States.
- Fellowship recipients are eligible to apply for a second Fellowship three years after their most recent award.
- AISEES does not advise fellows on tax questions concerning their stipend.
AISEES does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, age, or status as a covered veteran.
SELECTION PROCESS
Fellows will be selected by the AISEES grants panel consisting of scholars with experience conducting regional and trans-regional research in southeastern Europe. Please note that readers/panelists may not be specialists in your field. Applicants will be judged according to the following criteria:
- Merits of the proposal for significance, relevance, and potential contribution to regional and/or trans-regional scholarly research;
- Applicant qualifications;
- Research design and methodology;
- Significance to the applicant’s field;
- Significance to needs and interests of host country and AISEES;
- Feasibility in terms of resources and amount of time allocated to the project;
- Need for residence in host country to accomplish the project;
- Proficiency in languages required to complete research project, if applicable.
IMPORTANT NOTES REGARDING APPLICATIONS
- AISEES’s method of submission is via email. Once an application is submitted it cannot be resubmitted or edited. This also applies to letters of recommendation.
Notification of fellowship status will be made available to each applicant via email by the end of February 2024. Fellows whose projects require access to museum collections, archives, and other research materials are advised that it can take up to two months to obtain the necessary research clearance and should plan accordingly.