Ted Meijer Prize

Ted Meijer Prize

The Ted Meijer Prize is an award established to honour the legacy of the ex-director of the KNIR who died in 1997. Ted Meijer was firmly dedicated to the study and preservation of the diverse cultural heritage of Italy and Rome in particular. Accordingly, this prize is awarded once a year for the best (R)MA thesis or PhD thesis in the field of the humanities that contributes significantly to these areas of research.

The prize comes in the form of a scholarship consisting of:

1. free lodging at the KNIR for ten weeks;
2. a weekly allowance of € 200,- (in case of a (R)MA thesis) or € 250,- (in case of a PhD thesis) for your general expenses during your stay in Rome;
3. a reimbursement of up to € 500,- for your travelling expenses to Rome and within Italy.

Application requirements

Eligible are (R)MA theses and dissertations that have been completed and successfully defended at one of our partner universities (RUG, RU, UU, UL, UvA, VU) in the 18 months prior to the application deadline. Apart from the quality of the thesis/dissertation, applications will also be assessed based on a (provisional) research plan for the scholarship (e.g. for preparing a new project, writing an article). Moreover, your thesis supervisor has to provide us with a recommendation letter.

Please note that if you have recently graduated or obtained a PhD, and want to pursue a research career, you can also apply for a (regular) KNIR scholarship for preparing a PhD- or postdoctoral project.

How to apply?

Candidates for the Ted Meijer Prize can self-apply. The next deadline for applications is 1 November 2026. The exact dates of the scholarship periods in the spring and fall of 2027 have not yet been determined, but you can request either period all the same. You can apply via the form on the general page with Scholarships Information. You will be asked to provide the following information / upload the following documents (except for the title and short description, you may use either English or Dutch):

1. a copy of your thesis

2. a recent academic CV (max 2 A4)

3. a letter of motivation (max 1 A4)

4. a title and short description of the research you plan to carry out in Rome (English; max. 120 words)

5. a research proposal form (download here) with a provisional description of your research project, including a working schedule for your research stay in Rome, specification of the (re)sources you plan to consult, and the expected outcome (max 1.000 words)

In addition, your application should be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from your thesis supervisor. This letter should be sent separately to secretary knir.it, stating in the subject field: “RECOMMENDATION TED MEIJER PRIZE + your name”, with the same deadline of 1 November 2026.

All applications will be assessed by the KNIR Director in consultation with the academic staff. The results of the selection process will follow no later than one month after the deadline.

Former Prize Winners

The Ted Meijer Prize 2025 is awarded to Ella Campbell for her thesis Ovid on Stone. Searching for New Meaning in Antonio Tempesta's Painted Mythologies on Lapis Lazuli.

The Ted Meijer Prize 2024 is awarded to Vicente Fischer de Miranda Rodrigues for his thesis Living Among The Graves: The Cult of the Dead from Rome to Donatist Africa.

The Ted Meijer Prize 2023 is awarded to Maarten Schmaal for his thesis Imperialist Dynamics Between Lineage and State in the Long Fourth Century (403-293 BCE): Evidence for a Grand Bargain in Central Italy?

The Ted Meijer Prize 2022 is awarded to Claudia Minchilli for her dissertation Localising Digital Diasporas. Diasporic digital networking among Somali, Romanian and Turkish women in Rome through the lens of social class.

The Ted Meijer Prize 2021 is awarded to Warja Tolstoj for her thesis Domine Quo Vadis: Appropriation, Veneration and Fabrication, Traces of the Divine.