Quai Branly Museum - Quai Branly Museum Doctoral Dissertation Award

What you get

You will receive a one-off prize of 4,000 EUR, intended to assist you with the publication of your completed doctoral thesis. This is a publication grant, not a monthly payment, so you will receive it as a one-off sum once you have won the prize. The museum awards one or two of these prizes each year. The prize is sponsored by the Research and Education Department of the ‘musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac’ in Paris, which aims to highlight research work relating to its collections or to cultures outside Europe.

Who can apply

• Your degree: You have already defended your doctoral thesis. For this round, your defence must have taken place in the previous calendar year.
• Your subject: You work in a specialist field such as cultural anthropology, history, art history, archaeology or sociology.
• Your topic: Your dissertation focuses on the museum’s collections or on the past and present of societies outside Europe and their links with Europe.
• Language: You have written your dissertation in French or English.
• Nationality and university: Applicants of any nationality are welcome to apply. They may have studied at a French or non-French higher education institution.

How to apply

Applications must be submitted via an online form, which can be accessed via a link on the museum’s research pages. You must attach a short summary, your thesis defence report, two letters of recommendation, a CV, your PhD certificate and the thesis itself. The application deadline is 30 August at 23:59 Paris time. A panel of experts will select the winners based on the documents submitted; the results will be announced later that same year.

How realistic are your chances?

This prize has very strict criteria: only completed dissertations on non-European cultures or the museum’s collections are eligible, and only one or two prizes are awarded each year. As a result, the pool of applicants remains small, meaning that a well-suited, high-quality dissertation stands a real chance of success. The jury assesses only your written submissions; therefore, a clear summary and compelling letters of recommendation are particularly important.