Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

Schusterman Scholars are primarily affiliated with their academic home departments. Each department specifies teaching and other doctoral requirements for Schusterman Scholars. All Schusterman Scholars need to demonstrate competence in modern Hebrew and/or Arabic. Furthermore, Scholars’ dissertations must focus on a topic relevant to Israel Studies. Service to the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies may be required.

Recipients of Schusterman Israel Studies Fellowships, known as Schusterman Scholars, are expected to participate in the Schusterman Center events, which include in-person, online, and hybrid prgorams. These encompass seminars, panel discussions, workshops, and an annual spring conference, which explore a diverse range of issues in the field of Israel Studies.

Schusterman Scholars are given the opportunity to participate in the Summer Institute for Israel Studies, in which faculty members from across North America and the world participate in seminars at Brandeis and in Israel to enable them to design new courses in Israel Studies for their home universities. Further details can be found on the Institute's webpage. 

Doctoral candidates accepted by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who are focusing on topics in Israel Studies are eligible to apply for a Schusterman Israel Studies Fellowship.

The process: Prospective doctoral students should indicate in their applications for admission and in their personal statements that they would like to be considered for a Schusterman Israel Studies Doctoral Fellowship. Individual departments which plan to accept these candidates for admission will discuss the candidates with the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. An awards committee will then consider the application and award the Fellowships. Doctoral candidates who are not awarded a Schusterman Fellowship may apply the following year for reconsideration. View application instructions and and request additional information on applying to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Ready to begin? Apply now. 

The Schusterman Center offers grants for pre-dissertation and dissertation research in Israel Studies. Grants of $500-$1,000 will be awarded to cover travel expenses (such as airfare, meals, and lodging) research expenses (such as visits to archives and museums), and costs of data collection and processing. Schusterman Center doctoral students will be eligible for up to a total of $5,000 in research support from the Schusterman Center during the course of their five-year fellowship. Please visit the Graduate Research Grants web page for more information.

Please contact Keren Goodblatt at kereng1@brandeis.edu with any questions about the Schusterman Israel Studies Fellowship.