AJS Grant FAQs

Doctoral applicants must be European citizens enrolled or planning to enrol at a European university for their PhD. They must also have been resident in Europe for a minimum of 2 years prior to the award commencing. Universities where candidates are eligible to pursue their doctorate may be located anywhere in Europe, in EU and non-EU states alike, except for Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

Post-doctoral applications must either have received their PhD no more than 7 years before the application deadline or be planning to submit their dissertation by June 2026. They must also be based in Europe when they apply, i.e., have European citizenship or be the holder of a valid European residency permit.

Individuals who have already received a post-doctoral fellowship from the Foundation may not apply for another one, even at a different host institution.

As it is the host institution that applies on behalf of the post-doctoral candidate, there are also additional institutional eligibility requirements (read below).

Yes. Doctoral fellows need to be European citizens, and post-doctoral fellows need to be European citizens or be holders of valid European residency permits. 

Institutions applying for a Collaborative Fellowship in Jewish Heritage can apply without having identified a candidate ahead of time. If awarded a grant, the institution is responsible for recruiting a suitable candidate that meets the relevant citizenship criteria. 

Applicants must be employed at a European university or heritage institution (e.g., archive, library or museum) and they must have already made a significant contribution to Jewish Studies. Typically, we expect applicants to be within 15 years of completing their PhD. 

We welcome applications from universities based in Europe, EU and non-EU states alike, except for Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. 

The organisation’s activities must be deemed charitable under UK charity law. This includes organisations which are either not-for-profit or publicly funded, such as  universities. For more information, please consult the UK’s Charity Commission website and its list of Charitable Purposes.

Jewish Studies is the study of both Judaism and the Jews. It encompasses the study of many different aspects of Jewish civilization, including but not limited to architecture, languages, literature, liturgy and ritual, philosophy and theology, as well as the history and sociology of the Jewish people. Jewish Studies draws on methodologies from a variety of disciplines, but some of the key skills Jewish Studies scholars rely on include facility with Jewish languages, textual analysis and hermeneutics, archival research, palaeography, and, when relevant, social science methodologies such as ethnographic research and linguistic analysis.

All topics within the broad field of Jewish Studies are considered eligible for the Foundation’s Jewish Studies grants. The Foundation particularly welcomes applications from within the social sciences that investigate Jewish life in contemporary Europe.

In principle, projects only tangentially related to Jewish Studies are unlikely to be successful, nor will projects devoted to an individual or individuals who happen to be Jewish, but whose historical importance is not significantly contingent on that biographical fact. Secondary school education, informal education and documentary films will not be funded within the context of the Academic Jewish Studies grant programme.

Topics that fall within the realm of Jewish Studies are often based in other departments (for instance, a Jewish history project may be based in a university history department). All topics that could reasonably be classified as Jewish Studies, regardless of which department they are based in, are eligible.

This grant programme does not discriminate (either positively or negatively) on the basis of religious affiliation.

Perspective applicants with extenuating circumstances which have led to pauses in their academic career are encouraged to contact the Foundation directly to discuss their situation.

If you have previously submitted an application for a project that was rejected, please get in touch with the relevant Grant Programme Manager before applying again. 

Institutions may submit only ONE application for funding in each grant round for European Jewish Heritage and Jewish Communal Life. 

If your organisation or institution currently holds a grant from the Foundation, you cannot apply for a grant in this current round unless your existing grant is due to come to an end in the next 4 months. 

Exceptions apply for Academic Jewish Studies so please contact your Grant Programme Manager before submitting an application. 

If you are a current grant holder and your Grant Programme Manager has given you permission to make an application, you will need to provide a brief Project Update on the current status of your existing grant alongside your application. 

In the first instance, you should apply to whichever grant programme or category you feel best matches your project. Once we review your proposal, we may transfer your application to another category either for consideration or for monitoring after it has been awarded. This will not harm your chances of receiving a grant. 

We are not able to make funding decisions outside of our grant rounds. While waiting for grants programmes to open, you can register on our website to receive email notification of when grants are available and other information relating to the type of projects we support.

Before contacting us about your proposal, please make sure it relates to one of our areas of funding. 

All our applications are online. If you are awarded a grant you will also use your online account to upload documents and access reporting requirements.

Access the online account page, click ‘Forgot Password’ and follow the instructions.

You will receive an email with a temporary password that needs to be reset immediately. If you cannot find this email, check your spam folder.

Your browser may not accept cookies which stops the online application form from launching. You need to adjust your browser to accept cookies.

Please contact us at info@rothschildfoundation.eu with the grant number and we can transfer the account to a new email.

Samples of the application forms are available to download on the relevant grant category pages. Please note these are for guidance only and we can only accept applications submitted via the online application process.

The questions in the online application form may have been updated since the sample documents were produced.

No, you can save and come back to your application at a later time. Our new application process automatically saves your application.

To move to the next page, please click the ‘Next’ button at the bottom of the page. You can also navigate between sections by clicking on the page numbers on the tabs at the top of the application form.

Do not use the ‘Back’ or ‘Forward’ buttons on your browser to navigate through your application.

When you copy text into the form, make sure to choose ‘paste as plain text’.

Alternatively, you can remove unwanted formatting by first pasting text into either Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac).

We can only see an application once it’s been submitted. If you have any questions regarding the application form please contact the respective Grant Programme Manager.

Once you have submitted an application you will receive a confirmation email. It will give you a number for your application and will provide a full overview of the details you provided. A copy of your application will also be available via your online account. We recommend that you keep this email for your records.

Please contact info@rothschildfoundation.eu to discuss your options.