ReIReS is pleased to announce that it received 47 applications for a ReIReS scholarship by scholars from all over Europe in the fifth and final call for proposals that was open from June 15, 2020 to August 30, 2020.

Historical Religious Studies

The applicants want to carry out a project in historical religious studies at one of 14 libraries and archives. 32 proposals have been accepted by the ReIReS Access Board and the Peer Reviw Committee, evaluating the feasibility and scientific quality of the applications.

Alexandra Nusser, chairwoman of the ReIReS Access Board: ”The topics in the proposals range from Henry Corbin’s Phenomenology, an Italian church-building programme, Carthusian communities in France and in Italy, dresses of saints in Netherlandish art and the intention of their presentation, the reception of women’s theology in Germany, to material aspects of manuscript production in monasteries in Bulgaria – thus representing the broad field of Religious Studies.”

Applications

A total of 168 scholars from 30 countries applied for the five calls, from EU as well as from countries associated to the European Research and Innivation programme Horizon2020. The applications were reviewed by two selection committees: The ReIReS Access Board ensured that the projects were feasible at the libraries and archives, and the Peer Review Committee assessed the scientific quality and the extent to which the applications matched the intended lines of ReIReS – such as research quality and originality or the European impact – and drew up a selection and ranking based on these criteria.

Users and Their Feedback

As a final result, 124 users with 122 projects could be selected to spend typically two weeks researching at a ReIReS site and working on the sources with the support of experts. Until now 50 TNA (Transnational Access) user stays have been realized. From their feedback, it became clear that they are very satisfied with the scholarship stay. Because of corona, a lot of stays must be delayed, but thanks to the extension of the ReIReS project the research grants can be carried out until July 2021, so there is reason for optimism that all scholars will be able to complete their research next spring and summer.

Support

The scholarship recipients appreciate the scientific, financial and practical support from ReIReS. This is an effort made by the relevant ReIReS partners, which is also important for the partner themselves: the results of the research are often relevant for the institution itself, and supervisors have the opportunity to learn from the scholarship recipients and can further expand their scientific networks.