Visegrad Research Scholarship at the Open Society Archives, Hungary

About the program

Program run in coop­er­a­tion with the Open Society Archivum Budapest offers research fel­low­ships at the Open Society Archives (OSA) at the Central European University in Budapest. Altogether, 12 fel­low­ships are awarded annu­ally to selected applicants from V4 coun­tries and 3 fel­low­ships annu­ally to non-V4 applicants.
The fel­low­ships are given on a com­pet­i­tive basis to scholars, artists or journalists who wish to con­duct research at OSA, and whose cur­rent research projects are rel­e­vant to the hold­ings and the given research pri­or­i­ties of the fund and OSA.

The €2,000 fellowship is designed to pro­vide access to the archives, cover travel to/from Budapest, mod­est sub­sis­tence, and accom­mo­da­tion for a research period of two months. Scholarships for shorter peri­ods are pro-rated.
As of the aca­d­e­mic year 2016–2017, OSA plans to involve the fel­lows more closely in its own ongo­ing research work; selected fel­lows are thus expected to work together with at least one of the archive’s researchers.

The fel­lows take part in OSA’s research activ­i­ties, attend in-house sem­i­nars, and, if pos­si­ble, cooperation with other fel­lows (where possible). The inten­tion is to build long-lasting work­ing rela­tion­ships, and involve for­mer fel­lows in OSA’s research pro­grams.

Research top­ics

• Toolkits and media practices in ensuring objectivity;
• Conceptualizing, classifying, and practicing opposition (selection and support for what counts as a “movement”, “dissidence” or “non-conformism”);
• Techno-sciences of mass communication;
• Cold War wikipedia: documenting personalities and biographies (biographical card files, personal archives);
• Circuits of communication and (anti-)propaganda techniques: information gathering and classification, textual and visual dissemination (book programs, samizdat, TV monitoring, instructional and documentary movies);
• Assumptions and documentation of human rights abuses;
• Construction of political ‘facts’ amidst socio – economic issues (standards of living, urbanization, education, religion etc); Historical analysis of socialist welfare policy and poverty under communism;
• Documenting transnational phenomena in a time of polarized visions and imbalances between centers and peripheries;
• Consequences of Cold War conceptual schemes and treatment of information on current economic and socio-political issues.

The list does not exclude those appli­cants, who would like to pur­sue their own research that is dif­fer­ent from the cur­rent research focus.

Admission

The goal of the selection process is to bring together scholars and artists who have exciting and interesting projects. We seek to promote exchanges among people with backgrounds in the arts, humanities and social sciences in the way they think through and about archives. From this point of view, the invitation is not only addressed to scholars working specifically on Cold War topics, but to all those interested in theories of knowledge and practice-oriented epistemology who would use OSA documents as props for larger reflections and activist concerns.

Submission deadlines 

• October 15, 2016
• January 10, 2017
• April 10, 2017

Documents for submission

• Application let­ter in English
• Research description/plan in English (about 800 words)
• Applicant’s CV
• Names of two ref­er­ees with con­tact addresses
• Copy of English lan­guage exam

More infor­ma­tion/contact:

Ms. Katalin Gádoros (Gadoros@ceu.hu)

Assessment 

The Selection Committee will evaluate proposals on the strength of the professional quality and novelty of the research proposal, its relevance to the chosen topic and the involvement of the OSA holdings in the research.

Application procedure 

Please submit the following to OSA:

1. Application letter in English (should specify expected period of stay and preferred dates). Please note that the research period must end on the last day of the academic years, July 31, 2017.
2. Research description/plan in English (about 800 words; should indicate the relationship between the current research topic, the chosen collection in the OSA holdings and the general research interest, etc.) Artists are expected to submit a portfolio, too.
3. Curriculum Vitae (C.V.)
4. Proof of officially recognized advanced level English language exam (if not native speaker)
5. Names of two referees with contact address.

 All documents should be sent by email to Katalin Gadoros at gadoros@ceu.edu.

For more information click "Further official information" below.

This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:

http://visegradfund.org/scholarships/visegrad-taiwan-scholarships/