Senior Thesis Grants

Isabelle Halsey (History of Science, 2025) traveled to France to conduct her research in 2024.

The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) offers summer research travel grants for senior thesis writers to explore topics on political, historical, economic, social, cultural, and intellectual trends in modern or contemporary Europe.

Application Overview

Applications for the 2025-2026 academic year have closed.

Students interested in applying for a senior thesis grant over the summer should submit the following documents via the Harvard University Common Application for Research and Travel (CARAT):

Current resume
Unofficial transcript
Proposal (750 words)
One letter of recommendation
Detailed budget

Grant Recipients

Tobechukwu Nwafor (Government, History, 2025)

The following students were Senior Thesis Grant Recipients in 2024.

Tobechukwu Nwafor (Government, History, 2025)

Past Senior Thesis Grant Recipients (2012-2023)

2023 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

View the list of 2023 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients.
2022 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

View the list of 2022 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients.
2021 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

View the list of 2021 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients.
2020 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients
- View list of 2020 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients.
2019 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

Lily Jacobs (Social Studies, 2020)
"Understanding Non-Secular Feminism: Agency and Recognition in French Muslim Feminist Movements"
Matthew Keating (Government, 2020)
"European Union Member States’ Approaches to Evaluating and Supporting LGBTQ Asylum Seekers" * Stanley H. Hoffmann Undergraduate Research and Travel Grant Recipient
Isabella Kwasnik (History, 2020)
"Victimhood Nationalism: The Impact of Property Restitution on Polish-Jewish Relations"

Drake Marshall (History, 2020)
"World War I and the Birth of Modern Combined Arms Tactics"
Emma Potvin (History, 2020)
"Diplomatic Culture in the French Restoration, 1816-1831"
Russell Reed (Special Concentration, 2020)
"The Killing of a Sacred Ape: Colonial Racial Science and Gorilla Conservation in the Albertine Rift"
Benjamin Roy (Classics, 2020)
"The Reception of the Classics by Neo-Fascist Political Organizations in Modern Greece"
Vanessa Ruales Navas (Social Studies, 2020)
"Effect of Freedom of Expression Jurisprudence and Corporate Perception on UK Food Labelling" * Stanley H. Hoffmann Undergraduate Research and Travel Grant Recipient
Alexandra Todorova (History, 2020)
"The Aryan Vikings of Hedeby: Danish Archaeology in the Shadow of the Third Reich"
Rebecca Thau (History and Literature & Romance Languages and Literatures, 2020)
"Re-Judaization and Algerian-French Thinkers: Jewishness for Jacques Derrida and Helene Cixous"
May Wang (Comparative Literature, 2020)
"Evolutionary Theory and Literary Framing in Nineteenth Century French and English Literature"
Selena Zhao (Government, 2020)
"Understanding Democratic Dysfunction in Northern Ireland's Power-Sharing Institution" * Stanley H. Hoffmann Undergraduate Research and Travel Grant Recipient
2018 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

Sara Bobok, Social Studies, 2019
"Understanding Far Right Mobilization of Hungarian Youth through Civil Society"
Katherine Brady, Social Studies, 2019
"German Politics and Historical Memory on a Monumental Stage, Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews"
Emily Brother, Music, 2019
"Preparing to Analyze, Perform, and Discuss Frédéric Chopin's Preludes Op.28"
Thomas Chatzieleftheriou, Social Studies, 2019
"Petty Corruption as a Defense Mechanism against Populism"
Nicholas Colon, The Study of Religion, 2019
"Exploring the Spiritual Growth of Young Adults on Pilgrimage in Modern Europe" * Real Colegio Complutense Grant Recipient
Aidan Connaughton, Government, 2019
"Effects of Language Translation and Ethnolinguistic Identity on Political Survey Responses"
Eliza Ennis, Social Studies, 2019
"The Politics of International Refugee Aid in an Era of Xenophobia and Public Morality" * Stanley H. Hoffmann Undergraduate Research and Travel Grant Recipient
Julia Fine, History and Literature, 2019
"The Incorporation of South Asian Cuisine into the Victorian Palate"
Fiona Fitzgerald, History and Literature, 2019
"Archival Research on Historical Memory of Italian Colonialism"
Hannah Johnston, History of Science, 2019
"Women in Early Modern Medicine"
Arthur Schott Lopes, History, 2019
"A Colonial Imperialism: Gilberto Freyre and the Luso-Brazilian Confederation, 1915-1965"
Bella Roussanov, History and Literature, 2019
"Anti-Turkish Nationalism in Bulgaria During the Renaming Campaign of 1984"
Wonik Son, History, 2019
"Public Consumption of Disability: Constructing Postwar Photography, Film, and Visuality"
Jocelyn Hernandez Vazquez, Romance Languages and Literatures, 2019
"The foundations of Catalan independence discourse in the parliamentary speeches of the ERC,1978-2017"
2017 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

Theresa Byrne, History and Literature, 2018
"Words as Weapon in the Cold War: Encounter Magazine and the Publication of Dissident Literature"
Emma City, History and Literature, 2018
"Writing for the Vote: A Comparison of Genres of Suffragist Writing”
Stergios Dinopoulos, Visual and Environmental Studies, 2018
“Martyrs - A short film about the relationship between neo-fascism and the refugee crisis Athens, Greece”
Benjamin Grimm, Comparative Study of Religion, 2018
“Thesis fieldwork with Muslim communities in Malmö, Sweden”
Margot Mai, Anthropology, 2018
“Political tension between French feminism and Muslim immigrant communities”
Andrew O'Donohue, Social Studies, 2018
“A Comparative Study of Turkey's 1961 and 1982 Constitutions and their Effect on Democratization”
India Patel, History and Literature, 2018
“Ayahs in London: Reconciling Imperial Archetypes with Migratory Experiences in 19th-Century Britain”
Romana Pilepich, Government, 2018
“The Residue of Authoritarianism: Croatia and the Countries of Former Yugoslavia”
Andrew Secondine, Social Studies, 2018
“Conceptions of the Nation in post-Annan plan Cyprus”
Theo Serlin, History, 2018
“Anglo-Indian Politicians, Nationalism and Competing Internationalisms”
Caleb Shelburne, History and Literature, 2018
“Inverting the Orient Express”
2016 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

Daniel Banks, Social Studies, 2017
"Refugee and Human Rights policy in Southern Europe: A comparison between Sicily and the Balkan"
Deniz Cataltepe, History & Science, 2017
"The Increased Medicalization of Epilepsy in Mid- to Late Nineteenth-Century London and Paris"
Pietro Galeone, Social Studies, 2017
"Rational Ballots? The Economics of Eurosceptic Voter Behavior"
Samantha Garin, Social Studies, 2017
"Membership and Meaning: Officials' Attitudes and Response to the Refugee Crisis in Greece and the EU"
Nancy Ko, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, 2017
"In the Shadows of Change: Jewish Alliances in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1905-11"
Elijah Lee, History, 2017
"Football stadiums, state action, and the development of civil society in early Republican Istanbul"
Siobhan McDonough, Social Studies, 2017
"The Factors of Labor-Market Integration for Refugee Women in Switzerland"
Juan Pablo Miramontes, Social Studies, 2017
"Muslim Immigrant Youth in the Banlieues of Paris"
Toby Roper, Social Studies, 2017
"A comparative Analysis of the varied response of EU nations to the recent refugee crisis"
Ian Van Wye, History & Literature, 2017
"Maurice Blanchot, Public and Private Intellectual"
Dana Ferrante, History & Literature, 2017
"Nationhood v. Citizenship: Uniting the South and North of Italy"
Eli Davey, History, 2017
"An Intellectual History of Habermas's Theory of Technocracy"
Caroline Hubbard, History & Literature, 2017
"Formation of Black Identity Across the Transatlantic Imaginary under the Neoliberal State Apparatus"
2015 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

Francesca Annicchiarico, Social Studies, 2016
"Policing Practices and Republican Citizenship in Paris: the Experiences of Second-Generation Migrants of Maghrebin Descent"
Kayla Chen, Psychology, 2016
"Bridging the Gap between Domestic Actors Combatting Human Trafficking and International Law"
Jon Goetz, History, 2016
"Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: British Nationalism and Football Culture"
Joanna Koczuk, Government, 2016
"The Politics of Media Effects in France: Controversy over North African Muslim Immigrant Portrayal"
Robert Ledniczky, History, 2016
"Clinging onto Empire: British Counterinsurgency in its Period of Decolonisation"
Moira McCavana, English, 2016
"A Collection of Short Stories Set over the Course of General Francisco Franco’s Dictatorship following the Spanish Civil War"
Lucia Millham, History & Literature, 2016
"Women’s Trauma in WWI: Revisiting the Gendered Construction of Shell Shock"
Nicholas Phillips, Social Studies, 2016
"Doing Good with Rationalism: A Study of the UK Effective Altruism Movement"
Marguerite Solmssen, History & Literature, 2016
"Boys To Men: Tracing The Evolution of The Ideal British Boy through Scouting for Boys"
Daniel Solomon, Social Studies, 2016
"The Acculturation of Algerian Jews in the French Empire"
Aliza Theis, Human Evolutionary Biology, 2016
"Reading, Writing and ‘Rithmetic: Inscriptions of Self in Women’s Almanacs, 1750-1850"
2014 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

Nelson Arnous, Social Studies, 2015
"Alternative Culture and Economic Progress Clash in Contemporary Berlin"
Svilena Bochukova, Government, 2015
"Research on policies related to emigration that turn brain drain into brain gain"
Emelie Coleman, History and Science, 2015
"Research on the social history of sex education in Sweden and Swedish actors, Gunnar Myrdal and Elise Ottesen-Jensen"
Moeko Fujii, History and Literature, 2015
"Tracing “Mono no Aware” in the British Novel, Japonisme in Aestheticism to Bloomsbury"
Nathaniel Hay, History, 2015
"British Carthaginians and the Classical World during the French Revolution"
Anna Menzel, Government, 2015
"How does the implementation of gender quotas affect the substantive representation of women? A case study of Slovenia"
Marina Molarsky-Beck, History of Art and Architecture, 2015
"Research on self-representation in the art of Berthe Morisot, Suzanna Valadon, Mary Cassatt"
Samuel Sokolsky-Tifft, History and Literature and Philosophy, 2015
"Existentialism and Political Commitment in the Writings of Beckett and Sartre"
Can Soylu, Social Studies, 2015
"Turkey’s Energy Policy: A Cause for Lasting Realignment"
Emilie Tanski, History and Science, 2015
"French Psychoanalysis and its Defense Against Anglo-Saxon Encroachment"
Krithika Varagur, English, 2015
"Likely Stories: Probability and the Victorian Novel"
Erika Veidis , Government, 2015
"Research on Economic Collapse and Protest in Latvia and Greece"
Daryn Zwart , Anthropology, 2015, Hoopes Prize Winner
"Building Bosnia in Mostar: Research on Youth Engagement in Peacebuilding Initiative in Mostar, Bosnia"
2013 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

Victoria Baena, History and Literature, 2014
"An Epic (Re)Discovery: French Identity and La Chanson de Roland, 1830-1851"
Lauren Libby, History and Literature, 2014
"Psychiatry in the Maghreb: Somatic Therapies and Their Colonial Legacies"
Emma Lucken, Environmental Science, 2014
"Lessons from Munich and Copenhagen for Boston's Public Transportation System"
Matthew Marotta, Government, 2014
"How the Vatican Influences Italian Politics: the 1981 and 2005 Reproductive Rights Referenda"
Matthew Wozny, History and Literature, 2014
"Researching Wimbledon Tennis: Victorian Manners and Imperialism"
David Miller, Social Studies, 2014 (Honorary)
"Case Studies of Torture by Democratic Countries"
Honor Wilkinson, History of Art and Architecture, 2014
"English Architectural Ruins and Their Encapsulation and Creation of Collective Memory"
Julia Solomon-Strauss, Social Studies, 2014
"The Empire Comes Home: Political Economy and the Domestic World of Women in Mid-Victorian Novels"
Marissa Grenon, Environmental Health, 2014
"Designing the Urban Public Realm to Promote Social and Psychological Wealth"
Nisha Deolalikar, Social Studies, 2014
"Reducing Health Inequalities among Indigenous Peoples (Sami) in a Pluralist Society (Norway)"
Rishab Mehan, Social Studies, 2014
"Investigating the Language of Modern Criminal Justice Reform in the UK Focusing on Sentencing"
Tyler Cusick, Social Studies, 2014
"Bill Clinton Goes to Kosovo: Albanian Identity and the Legacy of Intervention"
Charlene Hong, History and Literature, 2014
"Arthur Bliss and Ralph Vaughan Williams: The World War I Soldier-Composer and the Changing British Musical Landscape"
Alastair Su, History, 2014
"Reconstructing Herbert Foxwell’s Really Historical Edition of The Wealth of Nations"
Preston So, Linguistics, 2014
"Linguistic Effects and Political Justifications of Welsh Language Policy"
Sandrine Uwimana, History of Science, 2014
"Sociopolitical Ramifications of Colonial Psychiatry in French North Africa"
Patrick Leonard, Social Studies, 2014
"Evaluating the Scottish National Party’s Efforts to Construct an Independent Scotland"
2012 Senior Thesis Grant Recipients

Rosemary Hines, History of Science, 2013
"Childbirth and Maternal Mortality in Late Colonial Kenya from 1950-1963"
Margaret Kerr, Dramatic Theory and Practice, 2013
"Theatrical adaptation of Celtic myth and folklore in the UK and Ireland"
Simon Maas, Social Studies, 2013
"German Nationalism and the use of Cultural Diplomacy"
Eli Martin, History, 2013
"Debt and Credit in late Medieval Europe: Debt Collection records from the city archives of Lucca, Italy"
Gresa Matoshi, Social Studies, 2013
"Rebuilding the Justice System in Kosovo"
Alexander Morelli, Visual and Environmental Studies, 2013
"A Filmic Odyssey through Greece Exploring its WWII Occupation, Resistance, and Current Crisis"
Jenise Ogle, Social Studies, 2013
"Dutch Caribbean Female Migrants and their Social Networks"
Anna Patel, History, 2013
"Art Under Fire: Thesis Research on Works of Art in Britain during the Second World War"
Michelle Timmerman, History & Literature, 2013
"Representations of British Romany Traveler Populations through the 20th Century Fair"
Aparajita Tripathi, Social Studies, 2013
"Uncovering a Phenomenology of Dissidence: Origins of the Czech Charter 77 Movement"
Alexander Wells, History & Literature, 2013
"Voices of Dissent in the Gruppe 47 in the early 1960s"