Call for Applications
2026 Charles E. Scheidt Graduate Research Fellowship
Call for Applications
2026 Charles E. Scheidt Graduate Research Fellowship
Deadline: November 23, 2025
The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research invites research proposals from USC graduate students for the 2026 Charles E. Scheidt Graduate Research Fellowship.
The fellowship provides $6,000 support and will be awarded to an outstanding USC PhD student from any academic discipline who will advance research in Holocaust and Genocide Studies through the use of unique research resources at USC, including the Holocaust and Genocide Studies book collection, the Special Collections at USC Libraries, and the Visual History Archive. (Read more about these resources below.)
The Scheidt Graduate Research Fellow will be expected to conduct research for two semesters: Spring 2026 (12.5 hours per week for 12 weeks) and Fall 2026 (12.5 hours per week for 12 weeks). While the distribution of these hours is negotiable, the fellow is expected to be in residence at the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research during Spring 2026 and Fall 2026.
The fellow will be expected to play a role in the activities of the Center and to give a public presentation based on their work and findings during the following semester (Spring 2027).
Award decisions for the fellowship will be based on the originality of the research proposal.
Founded in 2014, the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research distinguishes itself from other Holocaust and genocide research institutes by offering access to unique research resources and by focusing its research efforts on the interdisciplinary study of currently under-researched areas. For more information, visit our website here.
USC Resources
Internationally unique and growing research resources at USC include the extensive Holocaust and Genocide Studies collection at USC Libraries, which contains 30,000 primary and secondary sources including the original transcripts of the Nuremberg trials and the materials of the New York Life Insurance settlement regarding the Armenian genocide. Unique primary sources in the Special Collections at USC include the Feuchtwanger Memorial Library, which also houses the private papers of dozens of emigrants from the Third Reich, as well as private collections from Jewish Holocaust survivors and liberators.
The Visual History Archive is a collection of over 59,000 audiovisual testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides, including the Rwandan, Armenian, Guatemalan, Cambodian genocides, the Nanjing Massacre in China, anti-Rohingya mass violence, and war and genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The majority of testimonies are life history interviews in which interviewees discuss their lives before, during, and after genocide and mass violence. With interviews conducted in 70 countries and in 44 languages, testimonies capture both the individual experience of mass violence and the social and cultural history of the 20th century on a global scale. Learn more about the Visual History Archive here.
Academic Disciplines
The fellowship is open to USC graduate students from any academic discipline. Since the Center’s founding, students across disciplines have conducted research as Center fellows. Find out more on our website about past student research fellows from the following fields: American Studies and Ethnicity; Anthropology; Art; Cinematic Arts; Comparative Literature; Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture; Creative Writing; English; English Literature; Game Development and Interactive Design; Global Studies; History; International Relations; Jewish Studies; Journalism; Law, History, and Culture; Media Arts and Practice; Politics, Philosophy, and Law; Public Policy and Leadership; Narrative Studies; Psychology; and Sociology.
The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research has a long record of advancing research by USC graduate students. Read about some of our past USC graduate student fellows here: 2016, 2016, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.
Application Instructions
To submit an application:
Email the materials below to cagr@usc.edu or submit them electronically on the Fellowships page of the Center’s website. (Visit https://dornsife.usc.edu/cagr/fellowships/scheidt-graduate-research-fellowship/ and click Apply.)
• cover letter
• current CV
• research proposal (1-3 pages), which should include a project outline and description of methodology
• recommendation letter from a faculty advisor submitted directly by your letter-writer to cagr@usc.edu.
The deadline for submissions is November 23, 2025.
For questions, please contact cagr@usc.edu.
Download the Call for Applications here.