
IES Abroad Research Grants
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IES Abroad offers research grants at IES Abroad center locations for faculty from full member and associate member consortium schools. Research associates will be in residence at any IES Abroad Center for up to one month over a summer or semester program. Researchers should be prepared to deliver up to two guest lectures in IES Abroad courses, and the research should relate to the Center's curriculum.
Please note adjunct faculty and faculty who teach exclusively in graduate programs are not eligible.
IES Abroad will provide:
- Assistance with introductions for research and introduce faculty members to local colleagues on-site
- Round-trip airfare
- Housing allowance of $1,200
Nomination Deadlines:
- October 1, 2019 for Spring 2020
- December 1, 2019 for Summer 2020
- March 15, 2020 for Fall 2020
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
How to Nominate
Complete the nomination form and upload the following documents:
1) Nomination from a department chair or Dean
One single-spaced page or less addressing:
- The applicant’s qualifications for conducting this research at this location.
- The applicant’s contribution to his/her home university.
- The connection between the recommender and applicant.
2) Letter describing the applicant’s research
One single-spaced page or less addressing:
- What type of research do you plan to conduct?
- Why did you choose the IES Abroad location?
- How does your research relate to the Center's existing curriculum?
- What do you hope to contribute and gain while conducting your research and delivering guest lectures at the Center?
3) Applicant's Curriculum Vitae
- Employment history
- Education
- Published works
- Presentations
- Language abilities
- International experience
Questions?
Please email [email protected].

Roger Nemeth
Professor of Sociology – Hope College
Research Project: Personal Narratives of Reconciliation, Identity, Violence, Political Participation, and Political Disillusionment – IES Abroad Cape Town, Spring 2019
Dr. Roger Nemeth joined Hope’s Department of Sociology and Social Work in 1983. During his 35+ years at the college he has served in several capacities, including as the first director of Hope College’s Frost Research Center and an exchange professor at Meiji Gakuin University (Hope’s sister college in Tokyo, Japan). He currently serves as the chairperson for the Department of Sociology and Social Work.
Roger has conducted comparative research in Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the Philippines. He has also lead student study abroad programs to Japan, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Romania, and South Africa. Roger teaches the department’s Methods for Social Research class, Environmental Sociology, Urban Sociology and the Advanced Research Seminar. His current research interest centers on the use of narratives to study the impacts of conflicts, peace, and reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa.
Roger is a U.S. Air Force Vietnam War veteran who was honorably discharged. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Erika Zimmermann Damer
Associate Professor of Classical Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies – University of Richmond
Research Project: Critical Study of Women Who Appear in the Graffiti of Pompeii and Herculaneum – IES Abroad Rome, Spring 2019
Dr. Zimmermann Damer received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on sexuality, gender, embodiment, and the urban environment in Roman texts of the Augustan period. Her book, In the Flesh: Embodied Identities in Roman Love Elegy was published in 2019. This project weds feminist new materialist philosophical thought with medical, legal, and philosophical texts contemporary with Roman elegy to see the human body as a necessary precondition for elegiac identities.
Dr. Zimmermann Damer is also involved in an ongoing digital humanities initiative to digitize the Roman graffiti of Herculaneum and Pompeii with the Ancient Graffiti Project. This inter-institutional effort involves University of Richmond undergraduates in field campaigns in Herculaneum, Italy, and in ongoing research efforts with fellow ACS faculty leaders Rebecca Benefiel, Holly Sypniewski, and Jacqueline DiBiasie Sammons.
