ESRA | European Summer Research Award
Applicants must submit a 5-page research proposal detailing the topic and research methods written with the advice of a faculty advisor and a recommendation letter from the advisor will be required with the application. The proposal must also include a detailed travel itinerary and timeline for research. Upon return to campus, the ESRA awardees will submit a 10-page research report of their findings documenting their experience. Awardees are also asked to write a CES Medium blog post about their experience and submit a photo essay documenting their travels.
In the application, please upload all supplemental documents as PDFs. If you are uploading an official transcript, please remove the password protection from the PDF.
The deadline for summer 2025 applications is February 15, 2025
The ESRA award is generously supported by Betsy Blackwell and John Watson.
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Deniz Erdal | Summer 2023 ESRA Fellow
Deniz is a EURO major in the class of 2024, and used the ESRA to study the role of domestic politics in Turkey’s EU accession process. Read more about Deniz’s findings.
Katherine Johnson | Summer 2023 ESRA Fellow
Katherine is a EURO major in the class of 2024, and used the ESRA to study energy difficulties facing the European continent in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Read more about Katherine’s findings.
Cate Davis | Summer 2023 ESRA Fellow
Cate is a EURO major in the class of 2025, and used the ESRA to visit the European institutions and support her study on a Burch fellowship in Eastern Europe. Read more about Cate’s experience.
Paige Baldelli | Summer 2022 ESRA Fellow
Paige is a member of UNC Class of 2022 and used the ESRA to to study disparities in health outcomes and food culture between US and European societies. Read more about Paige’s findings.
Lara Matsukura Bernardino | Summer 2021 ESRA Fellow
Lara is a member of UNC Class of 2023 double majoring in Contemporary European Studies and Business Administration with a minor in German. Lara is using the ESRA award to research the effect of exchange programs and educational initiatives on German-American relations, and interested in this topic after participating in the Congress-Bundestag Exchange.
Tracy Ridley | Summer 2020 ESRA Fellow
Tracy Ridley is a member of the UNC Class of 2022. He is double majoring in Contemporary European Studies, and Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures with a concentration in German Media, Arts, and Culture. Tracy is using the ESRA award to research the recognition of anti-Black racism in Germany; how Black Germans have been left out of the conversation of racism and to conclude about what the future may hold for this ever-growing community.
Parker Nelson | Summer 2020 ESRA Fellow
A member of the Class of 2022, Parker Nelson is double majoring in Contemporary European Studies and Peace, War, and Defense. He is using the European Summer Research Award (ESRA) to study the treatment of Chinese-Spanish citizens following growing economic relations between China and Spain.
Lucas Fernandez | Summer 2019 ESRA Fellow
Lucas Fernandez is double majoring in Contemporary European Studies and Economics, with a minor in Business Administration. He is a member of the UNC Fencing Team. Lucas used the European Summer Research Award (ESRA) to investigate impacts of Brexit on UK universities. Check out our Medium post for more on Lucas’ work.
Kellan Robinson | Summer 2019 ESRA Fellow
Kellan Robinson is a member of the UNC class of 2020. She is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and double majored in Contemporary European Studies and Global Studies (focus of Africa and International Politics) with minors in French and African American and Diaspora Studies. She used the European Summer Research Award (ESRA) to explore Black experiences in Europe, and attend related enrichment opportunities. Read our Medium post for more on Kellan’s work.