Call for applications: Cold War Archives Research (CWAR) Institute
Applications from graduate students for the 2023-2024 Cold War Archives Research (CWAR) Institute are now being accepted. The deadline to apply is 11:59 PM ET, Sunday, September 10, 2023.
The CWAR Institute uses innovative and collaborative approaches to train next generation Cold War historians in archival research methodologies. The institute has two goals: to stimulate original scholarship on the interplay between soft and hard power in the cold and hot wars between 1945 and 1991, and to demonstrate the power of cooperative scholarship through innovative archival practices.
The two-semester long CWAR Institute fellowship program trains M.A. and Ph.D. level students through a combination of online seminars, discussions, and in-person research experience at Cold War archives and culminates in conferences and publications. Competitively selected applicants will join the institute as CWAR Fellows to hone critical research skills in historical and archival methodologies, further their own research agendas in Cold War history, improve their communication and presentation skills, and develop a network of supportive professional contacts.
The CWAR Institute builds on the success of the Cold War Archives Research Fellowship previously organized by the European Institute at Columbia University and the Summer Institute on Conducting Archival Research (SICAR) previously organized by the Wilson Center and The George Washington University.
Click here to learn more about the CWAR Institute.
Program Schedule
The 2023-2024 CWAR Institute will consist of online meetings and seminars focused on archives, research methodologies, presentations from fellows, a week-long in-person trip to an archive, and an in-person workshop.
Sessions of the online meetings will rotate between presentations by CWAR Fellows and lectures and seminar-style discussions with invited archivists, historians, and other practitioners. Invited speakers may include archivists from the U.S. government, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations; historians working in the fields of Cold War history, diplomatic history, and international history; and experts on specialized topics such as the Freedom of Information Act, conducting oral history interviews, and digital research tools.
All CWAR Fellows will be required to give a 10-15 minute presentation on the state of their research during one of the online meetings. These are not intended to be formal paper presentations; rather, they are opportunities for CWAR Fellows to share, with a supportive group of peers, more about themselves, their research interests and ideas, and challenges they anticipate in the course of conducting archival research and writing a dissertation.
The CWAR Institute will conclude with an in-person research trip to the Donald and Vera Open Society Archives in Budapest and a workshop for CWAR Fellows. At the workshop, CWAR Fellows will be expected to present a research paper of their own and to comment on and discuss the work of their peers.
The Wilson Center will provide travel, meals, and hotel accommodations for the CWAR Fellows for any activities held in person.
Eligibility & Selection Criteria
M.A. and Ph.D. students in history, international relations, government, journalism, sociology, and public policy, as well as area and regional studies are eligible to apply.
