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UNC-CH Faculty, Staff, & Grad Student Funding

 

The Center for European Studies has a number of awards available to UNC-CH faculty and their graduate students to develop materials, courses, or conduct research on contemporary Europe. Please see descriptions of these awards below.

If you are an undergraduate or graduate student looking for information on the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for European languages, we have a separate page for FLAS.

If you have any questions about eligibility requirements or technical issues submitting the application please email [email protected].

Faculty, Students & Staff

  Competitive Awards for on-campus Working Groups, Conferences, and Lectures

Eligibility: Must be a graduate student, or a member of faculty or staff at UNC Chapel Hill to apply.

About: This award offers funding for inviting guest speakers to UNC-CH campus, holding conferences on UNC-CH campus, and creating and supporting UNC-CH interdisciplinary working groups.

Awards range from $150-1000 depending on the proposal and scope of the project. Funds can be used for domestic travel, film rights, supplies, and other RA costs (never for food).

Requirements: These awards will be guided by CES’s theme of: “Europe’s Changing Climate.” Within this theme, we will support research and events looking at historical, cultural, and political issues, including: Europe’s role in the world; democracy; the rule of law; citizen’s rights; immigrant integration; diversity; social inequality & prosperity; digitalization; weather & ecosystem change; responses to climate change; sustainability; environmental justice; and, clean energy.

Projects should highlight the diversity of Europe’s citizens, and their languages, cultures, and politics, which can allow for interdisciplinary collaboration and a broad reach among diverse audiences. All CES activities welcome, engage, and encourage diverse perspectives across a wide range of disciplines, topics, and stakeholders.

Travel must be approved by CES and the US Department of Education in advance; no retroactive approval for past travel is allowable. Expenses must fall within the Federal GSA per diem and accommodation rates and airfare must be Fly America Act compliant. If selected, awardees will be advised more about how to comply with these regulations.

This award is made possible by National Resource Center funding through the Title VI program of the US Department of Education.

Priority deadline is December 1st and rolling

Apply

Decorative image of a bridge over still water.

Faculty

  UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Curriculum Development Awards

Eligibility: Must be a faculty member at UNC Chapel Hill

About: This award offers funding to promote innovative course development on contemporary Europe. Curriculum Development Awards are available to develop new undergraduate or graduate European courses or to substantially revise an existing course to include significant European content. The award amount is $1500 and can be used for travel, supplies or other expenses directly related to developing the course content.
Requirements: These awards will be guided by CES’s theme of: “Europe’s Changing Climate.” Within this theme, we will support research and events looking at historical, cultural, and political issues, including: Europe’s role in the world; democracy; the rule of law; citizen’s rights; immigrant integration; diversity; social inequality & prosperity; digitalization; weather & ecosystem change; responses to climate change; sustainability; environmental justice; and, clean energy.

Projects should highlight the diversity of Europe’s citizens, and their languages, cultures, and politics, which can allow for interdisciplinary collaboration and a broad reach among diverse audiences. All CES activities welcome, engage, and encourage diverse perspectives across a wide range of disciplines, topics, and stakeholders.

Courses developed under this program should be offered during the academic year following receipt of the award. Faculty will be asked to submit a syllabus demonstrating added European content in the new or revised course. After the initial offering, the courses should be regularly scheduled in departmental course offerings.

Travel must be approved by CES and the US Department of Education in advance; no retroactive approval for past travel is allowable. Expenses must fall within the Federal GSA per diem and accommodation rates and airfare must be Fly America Act compliant. If selected, awardees will be advised more about how to comply with these regulations.

This award is made possible by National Resource Center funding through the Title VI program of the US Department of Education.

Priority deadline is December 1st and rolling

Apply

UNC-CH Faculty Travel Awards

Eligibility: Must be a UNC Chapel Hill faculty member (without a research account) to apply. About: This award offers funding to conduct research in Europe or to present at and/or attend domestic or international conferences focusing on contemporary European Issues. Travel awards average about $500; we anticipate 2 awards to be given per academic year.
Requirements: These awards will be guided by CES’s theme of: “Europe’s Changing Climate.” Within this theme, we will support research and events looking at historical, cultural, and political issues, including: Europe’s role in the world; democracy; the rule of law; citizen’s rights; immigrant integration; diversity; social inequality & prosperity; digitalization; weather & ecosystem change; responses to climate change; sustainability; environmental justice; and, clean energy.
Projects should highlight the diversity of Europe’s citizens, and their languages, cultures, and politics, which can allow for interdisciplinary collaboration and a broad reach among diverse audiences. All CES activities welcome, engage, and encourage diverse perspectives across a wide range of disciplines, topics, and stakeholders.

Travel must be approved by CES and the US Department of Education in advance; no retroactive approval for past travel is allowable. Expenses must fall within the Federal GSA per diem and accommodation rates and airfare must be Fly America Act compliant. If selected, awardees will be advised more about how to comply with these regulations.

This award is made possible by National Resource Center funding through the Title VI program of the US Department of Education.
Priority deadline is December 1st and rolling

Apply

Decorative image of a narrow street framed by high buildings and a glass-topped taller building, with a streetcar on the street.

Graduate Students

Note: Please refer to the first award listed on this page for funding for working groups, conferences, and lectures.

  JMCE EU Summer Research Awards

Eligibility: Must be an MA or PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill with research related to the European Union (or at least three EU member states). Students across disciplines are encouraged to apply.

About:The Jean Monnet Center of Excellence will offer summer research awards in the amount of $3000 to UNC-Chapel Hill MA or PhD students to research in and on the European Union during the summer.

Requirements:Applications require a brief statement of support from a faculty advisor, resume/CV, and a 5-page double spaced research proposal or conference paper abstract, including an itinerary.

The research content and itinerary must include at least three EU member states. Award recipients must agree to write a 5-page report on their findings; publish a 300-word post about their research and experience on CES’ Medium blog; and submit a photo essay documenting their travel by the start of the fall semester.

In the application, please upload all supplemental documents as PDFs.

This award is made possible by the European Union through our Jean Monnet Center of Excellence.
The deadline for applications for Summer 2025 research is February 15, 2025

Apply

 

Kaitlin Alper is a PhD student in Comparative Politics in the UNC-CH Department of Political Science. She used the JMCE EU Summer Research Award to attend several conferences in the EU, and conduct a visiting research stay at the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) in Bremen, Germany. Her dissertation research looks at the intersection of multilevel governance, social policy and income inequality in advanced democracies. Read our Medium post for more on Kaitlin’s work.

Katja Greeson is a member of the UNC-CH TransAtlantic Masters Class of 2019. The JMCE EU Summer Research Award enabled her to study Eurosceptic success and youth political participation in Europe. During 2019–20, Katja is conducting a self-designed research project supported by the German Chancellor Fellowship (Bundeskanzler-Stipendium). Read our Medium post for more on Katja’s research.

Stephanie Shady is a PhD Candidate in Comparative Politics in the UNC-CH Department of Political Science. With the JMCE EU Summer Research Award, Stephanie to study the political impacts of territorial identity in Northern Ireland. Stephanie is also active with National Model United Nations, and teaches political sciences courses at UNC. Read our Medium post for more on Stephanie’s project.

Courtney Blackington is a PhD student in UNC’s Department of Political Science. Her dissertation focuses on what motivates citizens to protest in defense of liberal democracy when incumbent populist regimes engage in democratic backsliding. Courtney is using the JMCE EU Research Award to conduct online interviews of protesters in Czechia, Poland, and Romania in order to examine what motivates people to protest to defend liberal democracy and how they conceptualize the role EU in countering democratic backsliding.

Katie Laird is a PhD student in the UNC Department of History. Her dissertation offers a historical analysis of Europeans’ first encounters with honor crimes, revealing the roots of western complicity in the perpetuation of violence against women in the name of male honor and imperial policy. Katie is using the JMCE EU Research Award to conduct archival research on the court records of Britain and France during the Levant’s Mandate period in order to illuminate and inform current public policies and debate there, as well as the imperial policies of Germany in Muslim Africa.

Abigail Lantz is a member of the UNC TransAtlantic Masters Class of 2021. Her research interests focus on policies surrounding the integration of migrant communities in Europe. Abigail is using the JMCE EU Research Award to investigate the work of NGOs aiming to improve migrant integration in several EU countries facing integration challenges.

Till Knobloch is a PhD student in the UNC Department of History. His dissertation aims to write a cultural history of the outbreak of World War II from an international perspective. He is using the JMCE EU Research Award to conduct archival trips to all four major European countries involved in the beginning of the war — England, Poland, France, and Germany.

Krysta Sa is an MFA candidate in the studio art program at UNC’s Department of Art and Art History. Utilizing performance, video, photography, and installation, Krysta’s work interrogates the sensorial ways material histories are embodied and circulated. She will use the JMCE EU Summer Research Award for her project “Ancestral Soak: Sea Bathing in the European Union” which will examine thalassotherapy practices found in coastal Ireland, France, and the autonomous archipelagoes of Portugal.

Decorative image with small boats in a canal bordered by colorful pastel two and three-story buildings on either side.

  Ruth Mitchell-Pitts START (Student Travel and Research Term) Fellowship

Eligibility: Must be an MA or PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill with research related to contemporary Europe. Students across disciplines are encouraged to apply.

About: The Ruth Mitchell-Pitts START (Student Travel and Research Term) Fellowship is a living memorial created to support UNC MA or PhD students conducting research over the summer in Europe on an issue facing Europe today. The award is for $1400.

Requirements: Applications require a brief statement of support from a faculty advisor, resume/CV, and a 5-page double spaced research proposal or conference paper abstract, including an itinerary.

Award recipients must agree to write a 5-page report on their findings; publish a 300 word post about their research and experience on CES’ Medium blog; and submit a photo essay documenting their travel by the start of the fall semester

In the application, please upload all supplemental documents as PDFs.

The deadline for applications for summer 2025 research is February 15, 2025

Apply

 

Shreya Parikh is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is interested in the historical and contemporary relations between state and religion, especially Islam, in France and the US. As a Ruth Mitchell-Pitts START Fellow for Summer 2018, she undertook ethnographic and archival research on the idea of laïcité in France. Read more about Shreya’s project.
Michelle Dromgold-Sermen is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is interested in international migration, with an emphasis on migration policy, time and waiting, immigrant incorporation and refugee resettlement. As a Ruth Mitchell-Pitts START Fellow for Summer 2019, she conducted exploratory interviews with Syrian refugees in Germany. Read more about Michelle’s project.
Leonie Wilms is a PhD student in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies. Her dissertation focuses on the performativity of strong affects in contemporary German-language drama and theater. Leonie is using the Ruth Mitchell-Pitts award to conduct dissertation research in Germany and Austria, including visits to theaters and archives.

Decorative image with the rooftops of Paris and the Eiffel Tower at sunset, with two small, round chimneys in the foreground.

 

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