Call for Applications
2026 Charles E. Scheidt Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Call for Applications
2026 Charles E. Scheidt Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Deadline: March 31, 2026
The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research invites research proposals from undergraduate students for the 2026 Charles E. Scheidt Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.
The research fellowship will be awarded to two outstanding undergraduate students from any university in the world and any academic discipline to conduct original research drawing on the unique resources in Holocaust and Genocide Studies 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.)
Eligibility and Approaches
These fellowships are open to undergraduate students from any academic discipline. Whether your background is in political science, art, global studies, psychology, or a creative discipline, these fellowships offer a rare opportunity to work with extraordinary archival resources, engage deeply with history and human stories, and pursue questions rooted in your own academic or creative interests. Projects need not focus solely on genocide but should draw meaningfully on USC’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies resources, which you can read more about below.
Past fellows have used USC’s resources to explore topics such as identity, migration, gender, human rights, memory, media, trauma, justice, resistance, and social movements, among others. Others have created original creative work – including film, poetry, literature, visual art, and computer games – informed and inspired by the testimonies they encountered.
Fellowship Expectations
Each Scheidt Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow will be expected to spend two months in daily residence at the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research in Summer 2026 (which falls between the dates of May 18 and August 14).
Fellows will join the Center’s intellectual community, receive mentorship, and gain experience that will contribute to future graduate and professional opportunities. Fellows 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 2026-2027 academic year.
Award decisions for the fellowship will be based on the originality of the research proposal.
Fellowship Award
The fellowship provides $7,000 support, which will be paid monthly during the fellow’s period of residence.
USC Research Resources in Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Fellows will have access to internationally unique and continually growing research resources at USC, including 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.
USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research
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.
Past Fellows and Their Projects
The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research has a long record of advancing research by undergraduate students. Read more about their projects below:
2014, 2016, 2017, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2025, 2025, 2025, 2025, 2025, 2025
Application Instructions
To submit an application:
Email the materials below to cagr@usc.edu or submit them electronically here.
- cover letter (with proposed dates of residency)
- current CV/resume
- research proposal (1-3 pages), where you explain what you want to study. Please include the central question(s) you plan to explore and the methods you will use to conduct your research.
The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2026.
Intrigued but don’t know where to start? Have questions?
Contact us at cagr@usc.edu. We are eager to consult with you about the ways in which these unique resources connect to your interests and/or to support you with developing your application materials.