UNHCR Research Scholarships

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, launches the pilot programme "UNHCR Research Scholarships". Through this programme, UNHCR aims to stimulate the academic interest of students to write about and research topics related to forced displacement, refugees, asylum and statelessness.

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UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, launches the pilot programme „UNHCR Research Scholarships”. Through this programme, UNHCR aims to stimulate the academic interest of students to write about and research topics related to forced displacement, refugees, asylum and statelessness.

This initiative is addressed to final year masters students from three leading Romanian universities, UNHCR partners (West University of Timisoara, National University of Political and Administrative Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University).

In a world where more than 1% of humanity is forcibly displaced, UNHCR works with governments, civil society, the private sector, academia and local communities to find sustainable solutions to protect people forced to leave their country.

UNHCR works on several levels with universities, research centres and research companies to identify and analyse the needs of displaced people. The data thus obtained contributes to informed decision-making and programme design, as well as better measuring impact through external means.

The UNHCR Research Fellowship Programme is one of the first steps in this direction, giving students the chance to contribute to positive change during their studies.

Eligibility criteria

The student wishing to apply for the UNHCR Research Scholarship must be enrolled in the final year of a master's degree programme at one of the UNHCR partner universities (West University of Timisoara, National University of Political and Administrative Studies or Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj).
The candidate can come from any field of study as long as the dissertation topic includes as a secondary subject one or more of the topics of interest to UNHCR and its mandate in Romania. (read about UNHCR Romania's mandate here)

Selection process

The methodological rules of the selection process will be determined by each individual university. The scholarship winners will be selected by a special committee composed of professors and a UNHCR representative. The main selection criteria will be the feasibility of the work and its relevance to the UNHCR mandate in Romania. (For questions related to the relevance of the topic, the candidate can contact UNHCR at [email protected] - the subject of the message must contain "UNHCR Research Scholarship")

What is the UNHCR Scholarship?

The UNHCR Fellowship starts immediately after the selection process is completed. During this time, in addition to the guidance of academic coordinators, fellows can also request support from UNHCR (resources, contacts, access). The name of the contact person will be communicated to the fellows.
Upon completion of the work, the fellow will receive a letter of recognition and a certificate from the UNHCR, in addition to a scholarship of 3,000 RON (the methodology for awarding the scholarship will be determined by each university and communicated to the candidates).

Obligations of the grantee

The grantee is required to complete, hand in and defend the dissertation by the first deadline for the current academic year, as required by his/her university.
The grantee is required to provide proof of submission of the dissertation for publication after the dissertation has been defended, under the guidance of the academic coordinators.