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:
- free lodging at the KNIR for ten weeks;
- 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;
- 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).
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 15 November 2025. The exact dates of the scholarship periods in the spring and fall of 2026 have not yet been determined, but you can request either period all the same. You can apply via the form below. 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):
- a copy of your thesis
- a letter of motivation (max 1 A4)
- a title and short description of the research you plan to carry out in Rome (English; max. 450 characters)
- a research proposal form (to be downloaded 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)
- a photo, which we will use only on our website(s) and social communication channels if you have been granted this prize.
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 15 November 2025.
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 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 was awarded to Maarten Schmaal MA 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 was 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 which she defended at Utrecht University on Friday 19 November 2021.
The Ted Meijer Prize 2021 was awarded to Warja Tolstoj MA for her thesis Domine Quo Vadis: Appropriation, Veneration and Fabrication, Traces of the Divine.