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New €1 million fund for historians in Russia

Understanding Russia and its role in global society cannot be confined to contemporary perspectives.
- Professor Julia Black
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LSE is delighted to announce a new programme offering fellowships and conference grants to historians based in Russia.

Funded by Dr. Frederik Paulsen Foundation, The Paulsen Programme at LSE has been set up to support historians in Russia whose work focuses on the imperial period from the mid-17th century to 1918.

Though excellent scholarship is being undertaken by young and mid-career Russian historians, they often lack the opportunity to travel outside Russia to consult archives and libraries and participate in scholarly discussions on an ‘international stage’. This also means that non-Russian historians often do not have access to the work of their Russian peers. The Paulsen Programme at LSE will allow historians in Russia to realise their full potential in their research and enable them to make a powerful impact within the worldwide community of historians.

In addition to supporting scholars, the Programme will also organise two international research seminars in Saint Petersburg in collaboration with the Higher School of Economics, and an international conference in Latvia in 2022 devoted to the history of imperial Russia (c1650-1917), bringing together leading historians of imperial Russia from across the world.

Major publications are planned which will bring the best current thinking and research on imperial Russia to the attention of both English and Russian-speaking historians.

Welcoming the new Programme, Professor Julia Black, LSE Pro Director for Research, said:

“Understanding Russia and its role in global society cannot be confined to contemporary perspectives. By opening up access to exceptional research on the history of imperial Russia, and through knowledge exchange between Russian and non-Russian experts, the Paulsen Programme creates important new opportunities to advance research, develop meaningful analysis and promote engagement.” 

Professor Dominic Lieven, Chair of Paulsen Programme Board, added:

“Questions of Russian identity, as well as contemporary Russian perceptions and anxieties can never be understood without some grasp of the underlying forces that have driven Russian history in the last half-millennium.”

Applications are invited for Paulsen fellowships for the academic year starting on 1 October 2018 and ending on 30 September 2019.