FAQ: Summer Institute for the Study of East Central and Southeastern Europe

You can find sample applications on the program’s competition page on the ACLS website.

ACLS supports academic research in the humanities or interpretive social sciences. The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant.

ACLS does not fund creative work or the performing arts (e.g., novels, films, performance, or musical composition), nor does it fund textbooks, pedagogical projects, or translations without a scholarly apparatus of commentary and annotation.

For the purpose of this competition, the humanities or interpretive social sciences include but are not limited to:

• American studies
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Art history and architectural history
• Classics
• Economics
• Ethnic studies
• Film and media studies
• Gender studies
• Geography
• History
• Languages and literatures
• Legal studies
• Linguistics
• Musicology
• Philosophy
• Political science
• Psychology
• Religious studies
• Rhetoric and communication
• Science and technology studies
• Sociology
• Theater, dance, and performance studies

Proposals in the social science fields listed above are eligible only if they employ predominantly humanistic approaches and qualitative/interpretive methodologies (e.g., economic history, law and literature, political philosophy, history of psychology). Mixed method approaches and proposals in interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary humanities and related social sciences are welcome.

Yes. An applicant for this program may also apply to as many fellowship programs as are suitable, with the exception of the ACLS Public Fellows program. However, not more than one ACLS or ACLS-joint award may be accepted in any one competition year.

An applicant may apply to several competitions, ACLS fellowships, or others.

Awardees in the SISECSE competition may hold other awards and/or receive separate funding for their project. A complementary award may be accepted if it does not take time away from participation in the summer institute. Acceptance of an award requires your attendance and full participation at all events during the two-week summer institute.

Yes. As long as the outside award will not interfere with your full participation during the two-week summer institute from June 5, 2025 to June 20, 2025, you may hold a concurrent award.

Please keep in mind that acceptance of an award for the SISECSE competition requires your attendance and full participation at all events during the two-week summer institute.

Yes! Please make sure that you spell check all your submitted texts and documents. Please review your submission several times for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It is always worthwhile to ask a colleague to proofread.

No. A PhD degree must be conferred (officially awarded) by an accredited university by November 30, 2024.

If you have published scholarly work on a par with the academic work required by the PhD degree, you may apply. You need to have completed a substantial academic project that required a sustained period of research, similar to a dissertation, in the humanities or interpretive social sciences.

We do not consider a JD to satisfy the PhD equivalency in itself, unless it was accompanied by:

• a record of scholarly publications that are humanistic in nature (as opposed to case studies or technical legal issues)
• a substantial academic project that required a sustained period of research (such as a dissertation or book)

No. In order to be eligible, research proposals must be focused on the study of East Central or Southeastern Europe, understood as Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czechia, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

Yes. Please use the applicant’s statement to make a case for why participation in the Summer Institute will benefit your research project.

No. As long as your PhD was granted by an accredited institution and you have an affiliation with an institution (i.e., college, museum, university) in North America or East Central and Southeastern Europe, you are eligible to apply.

No. Applicants must be already affiliated with an institution (i.e., college, museum, university) in North America or East Central and Southeastern Europe.

The “affiliation with an institution (i.e., college, museum, university) in North America or East Central and Southeastern Europe” requirement for applicants refers to a long-term, regular research or teaching appointment. A postdoctoral fellow or visiting position would need to be an appointment lasting for at least one year with the possibility of renewal. The appointment may be within your home country OR outside your home country, so long as it is in an eligible country. See below for further information.

Long-term regular research or teaching appointments are full- or part-time positions at an institution (i.e., college, museum, university) that are either permanent or indefinitely renewable. If you hold a postdoctoral fellow or visiting position outside your home country that is less than a year and non-renewable, please email [email protected] before applying.

This eligibility requirement is meant to assure that the applicant intends to continue to contribute to the field in North America and/or East Central and Southeastern Europe. If you would like to make this case, we recommend that you contact us in advance of applying. We also encourage you to add a paragraph to the application statement indicating what you see yourself doing five years from now. The selection committee will make its decision based on all the information you provide in your application.

No. There are no plans to produce a publication of the participants’ work at the end of the Summer Institute.

If you submitted an application in the 2023-24 competition year, you may use that log-in for the 2024-25 competition year and carry forward information from the “Common Profile” section. You will need to fill out all the remaining sections.

This will vary, depending on how much work you have prepared before you begin the application process. Simply filling in the form will probably take at least an hour, if not two. In addition, you will need to submit your application essay and supporting documents. You should start the process at least several weeks before the deadline to determine what is required and to start preparing your materials.

No. You may work in multiple sessions, though you will need to save your work after you finish each section of the application. Once you have submitted the application, you cannot work on it again.

No. Your application will be evaluated as submitted.

No. This program will not accept reference letters as part of the application package. Other ACLS programs do require reference letters, and we encourage you to check carefully the application requirements for each program to which you are applying.

Proposals to the Summer Institute for the Study of East Central and Southeastern Europe are read by experts in Eastern European studies from a variety of disciplines in the humanities or interpretive social sciences.