Deadline: June 15, 2024
The Society for Romanian Studies (SRS) is delighted to announce the second competition for the Keith Hitchins Dissertation Prize in any discipline related to Romanian Studies. The named prize will be awarded in honor of the late Professor Keith Hitchins, who served as an advisor, encouragement and inspiration for numerous graduate students throughout his long career. The award carries a financial component of $250 plus a year’s membership of the SRS, which includes a subscription to the Journal of Romanian Studies.
Eligibility: The submitted doctoral dissertation or thesis must be written in English or Romanian by a scholar in any social science or humanities discipline on a Romanian or Moldovan subject, broadly and inclusively understood. This may encompass focus on themes related to Romania (as it currently exists and in its various past iterations), to the people who have lived in or currently inhabit Romania, or those who self-identify as Romanian but reside beyond Romania’s borders. Studies connected to ethnic minorities in Romania are also eligible. Disciplines include, but are not limited to, Anthropology, Art History, Economics, Gender Studies, Geography, History, Law, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, and Sociology, insofar as they are related to Romania and Romanians. If you are not sure whether your dissertation is eligible, please send a query to the jury.
We will take into consideration doctoral dissertations and theses that were completed (i.e., successfully defended with all necessary changes made and a final version deposited with the relevant institution) during the last two academic years, 2022-2023 and 2023-24. Dissertations completed prior to August 2022 are ineligible.
Materials and Deadline: To be considered for this competition, please send a brief letter of interest that includes the title of your dissertation, an abstract, and some proof of eligibility in regards to when your dissertation was completed. This proof may be as simple as an email or signed letter from your dissertation adviser, confirming the academic year when the dissertation was deposited. We need to receive the initial inquiry before May 30, 2024, in order to ensure speedy reply.
Please send the dissertation in a digital format that can be easily shared, as pdf or word document. The dissertation needs to be sent individually to each member of the jury. Documents that are very large may not come through. If you have illustrations that render the document very large, please contact us directly and we will work out a digital document transfer to the jury. The deadline for submitting the dissertation is June 15, 2024.
The winner of the competition will be announced on or around November 15, 2024.
The jury of the 2024 Keith Hitchins Dissertation Prize is:
Roland Clark, History, University of Liverpool: clarkr@liverpool.ac.uk
Letitia Guran, Literature and Culture, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: lguran@email.unc.edu
Andrei Miroiu, Political Science, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest: andrei_miroiu@yahoo.com