The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute foundation has announced the 2019 Lemkin Scholarship program for foreign young researchers and PhD candidates. The scholarship is intended to extend research on the Armenian Genocide, promote multilayered research of the theme and engage young scientists.
The program will enable foreign PhD students or young researchers under 40, who specialize in the field of genocide research and work on their doctoral thesis, to spend one month in Armenia and conduct their research at the archives of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, as well as other local scientific institutions and libraries. The duration of the scholarship is one month.
The AGMI Foundation will cover travel and accommodation expenses.
The deadline for application is February 15, 2019. The name of the winner will be known on March 1, 2019.
At the end of the program, the scholarship holder will be required to make a report and present a summary of the work done within the month. He/she will also submit an article as a result of a research to be considered for publication in the International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies within 1 year from the end of his/her visit to Armenia.
The winner will be selected by the Scientific Council of the AGMI Foundation.
The Lemkin Scholarship was founded in 2010. There have been 12 winners so far.
Lawyer Rafael Lemkin (1900-1959) coined the term "genocide" and participated in the preparation of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of December 9, 1948.
The Armenian Genocide has a special place for study in Lemkin’s extensive scientific heritage.
Rafael Lemkin was greatly impressed by the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.When studying at Lvov University, he learned from the local newspaper about the murder of ex-Minister of Interior of the Ottoman Empire Talaat Pasha by Soghomon Tehlirian in Berlin.
The impunity of Turkish criminals who committed the Armenian Genocide caused anxiety to Lemkin. He decided to go into the field of international law, specializing in the study of crimes against humanity. Unable to find appropriate international norms to prevent genocide and punish the perpetrators, he himself undertook the task of creating those norms.