Towards a European research hub on contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life and culture

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• A network of practitioners, including researchers in the field of contemporary antisemitism and research on Jewish life, is established and developed, providing a dynamic space for academic conversations, as well as training and career opportunities.
• Research gaps and relevant research centres to further develop research on contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life in Europe are identified, with a particular focus on regions previously underrepresented in the study of contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life
• Discussion and formulation of methodological standards in the field are facilitated, fostering high quality empirical work.
• Strategic planning for the field on a Europe-wide level, including a concrete and credible action plan to grow this network into a sustainable research institution, is provided.
• Links between research and policymaking within and for Jewish communities as part of the wider process of nurturing Jewish life in Europe are deepened.

Scope:

The first-ever EU strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life (2021-2030)^[1]is an ambitious and comprehensive strategy adopted by the European Commission on 5 October 2021. Generations after the end of the Shoah, antisemitism is worryingly on the rise, in Europe and beyond, especially since the turn of the 21st century^[2]. ^[3], the Commission calls "for action, for all Europeans, to ensure that Europe is a place where our founding values are enjoyed by everyone, on an equal basis.” Antisemitism is incompatible with Europe’s core values. It represents a threat not only to Jewish communities and to Jewish life, but to an open and diverse society, to democracy and the European way of life. The European Union is determined to put an end to it.

The third pillar of the Strategy covers “Education, research and Holocaust remembrance” for a Europe that remembers its past and looks into the future through research and education. In this context, an independent expert report was commissioned in 2022 to assess the need to create a research hub on contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life and deliver recommendations^[4].

The goal of this action is to establish a research hub in the shape of a network of researchers on contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life in Europe, bringing together a critical mass of such actors in Europe, from Member States and Associated Countries representing the different parts of Europe. Such a hub should foster the research field’s identity and support training and career opportunities for researchers in the field, with a focus on early career researchers. Indeed, the hub’s primary objectives should be to help recruit, train and retain expert capacity in research on contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life, and to help ensure that research generated by the field can be used to help formulate policy, at national and European levels.

One of the key expected outcomes is to prepare the sustainability of the hub. That includes exploring and eventually securing further regional, national and European funding, including (but not restricted to) a possible development into a permanent research infrastructure or European partnership. Proposals should demonstrate the capacity of the consortium to secure funding beyond the project’s lifetime.

In practical terms, the hub should be embedded within an appropriate existing research community– to help manage the practicalities of the work and to ensure optimal synergy with the field as it is currently constructed. It should provide opportunities for members to meet in person (in the shape of conferences, seminars, events etc) across geographical Europe. It should have a governance structure that includes an executive board comprised of leading research and policy specialists in the field, a permanent professional secretariat, and be supported by professionals in the areas of social research and policy, training, event management and communications. The hub should have a strong online presence to support its objectives, which should be focused on promoting the field and drawing in students, researchers and policymakers who have an interest in it.

In the long term (5 to 10 years), the hub is expected to contribute to stimulating interest in the field and attracting talents at all career stages. Among possible actions, it could oversee an internship programme for postgraduate researchers and/or start a summer school program. It is also encouraged that it builds a programme to help establish and distribute research grants for PhDs in contemporary antisemitism and in Jewish life, as well as smaller training grants for researchers at all levels to develop methodological, policy development and knowledge transfer expertise.

For more senior scholars, the hub is expected, also in the long term, to help create new academic positions focused exclusively on contemporary antisemitism and on specific aspects of European Jewish life (history, sociology, education, literary/media studies, demography, culture, heritage, etc.) and to provide the space for these position-holders to network together, in order to increase the impact of the research. In order to improve retention and growth in the field, the hub should establish (in the long term) at least one annual prize for an outstanding established scholar in the field and for an early career researcher, to help give prominence to the field and encourage new and existing research specialists. In addition, the hub could for instance, in the long term, work with major foundations operating in countering antisemitism and in fostering European Jewish life, promote initiatives that help make existing field research accessible to researchers and policymakers, and offer grants to Jewish community organisations in Europe to fund specific research projects.

The hub should act as an interface between research (including SSH disciplines) and policy. Consequently, it should organise at least one international conference gathering researchers, community leaders and policymakers. It is strongly encouraged to set up an annual conference that should continue running beyond the end of this action. In addition, it should publish annual reports summarizing the new research and research trends in the field in a format accessible and useful to policymakers.

Given the global dimension of antisemitism, international cooperation is encouraged.

Applicants to this topic are encouraged to consider the data offered by European Research Infrastructures in the social sciences and humanities domain, in particular EHRI (European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)^[5].

Given the level of ambition of the goals to be achieved, the project should have a minimum duration of 36 months.

[1] Text of the strategy available here: https://op.europa.eu/s/zXwi. The first progress report on its implementation can be retrieved here: https://op.europa.eu/s/zXwh

[2] See, for instance, the third survey of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights on discrimination and hate crime against Jews, available at: https://fra.europa.eu/en/project/2023/third-fra-survey-discrimination-and-hate-crime-against-jews

[3] https://commission.europa.eu/document/c60c451c-ccd2-406a-be3a-ef65123f2bb6_en

[4] Independent Expert Report “The field of research on contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life - Working towards a European research hub” (2023)

[5] https://www.ehri-project.eu/