This award honors the work and contributions of Thomas K. McCraw (1940-2012), who was Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at Harvard Business School. The fellowship enables established scholars from around the world whose primary interest is the business and economic history of the United States to spend time in residence at Harvard Business School. The main activities of the Thomas K. McCraw Fellow will be to conduct research in the archives of Baker Library or in other Boston-area libraries, present their work at a seminar, and interact with HBS faculty. 

The University of Illinois Foundation announces the inaugural John Rovensky Fellowship in International Business or Economic History.  One $10,200 fellowship will be awarded for a doctoral student writing a doctoral dissertations in non-US business or economic history. The fellowships are available largely through the generosity of the late John E. Rovensky and are administered by the University of Illinois Foundation. Awardees may use the fellowship concurrently with other funding sources, including grants or teaching assignments.

The research project studies growth and economic development from a micro-level perspective making use of newly collected longitudinal data covering the universe of Swedish manufacturing establishments from the 18th century until the 20th century. These data will be paired with, for example, patent records and individual-level census data to study a set of interrelated questions: i) Why do some firms thrive, while others fail? We study the determinants of firm survival between 1864-1900 focusing in particular on how innovation and the adoption of new technologies affected patterns of firm longevity; ii) Why did firms begin to invent? We analyze the historical shift in innovation from independent inventors to firms, as well as examine its determinants and effects on firm performance; and iii) What determines the adoption of new technologies? We study the determinants of the diffusion of steam and electricity across manufacturing plants, also analyzing the impacts of adoption on employment, productivity, and firm survival. 

The research projects span questions about long-run economic growth, innovation, and intergenerational mobility. Both projects use micro-level data and econometric methods to answer questions such as: i) How does innovation and the diffusion of new technologies affect the creation of new types of jobs? What determines who transitions into new work? How does the geography of new job creation change over time?; ii) How age affects innovation, with a particular focus on the demographic transition; and iii) Whether innovation and the diffusion of new technologies leads to increasing or decreasing intergenerational mobility. The projects take a cross-country perspective and span the 18th century to the present day.

Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship at the Department of Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense. The starting date is flexible, but we hope to welcome our new colleague on 1 August 2023.

The PhD position is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation. The duration of the PhD position is three years, including a research stay abroad (the typical duration of the research stay abroad is 6 months).

The Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG) awards 8–10 fellowships for doctoral students in European history, the history of religion and other historical disciplines.

The IEG funds PhD projects on European history from the early modern period to contemporary history. We are particularly interested in projects with a comparative or cross-border approach, on European history in its relation to the wider world, or on topics of intellectual and religious history.

The Economic History Society, in conjunction with the Institute of Historical Research, offers up to three one-year postdoctoral Fellowships in economic and/or social history, tenable at the Institute from 1 October 2023. Fellows will not be required to be resident in London but should participate in the activities of the Institute by regular attendance at, and presentation of papers to, appropriate seminars – including the Fellows’ Seminar – and by giving information and help to fellow scholars working in the same field.

The Department of Economics at Trinity College Dublin seeks applications for two funded PhD studentships, as part of the Centre for Economics, Policy and History (CEPH), a new Government of Ireland-funded centre of excellence that links economic historians at Trinity College Dublin with Queen’s University Belfast. Successful candidates will be based in Dublin and, as part of the terms and funding of this scholarship, they will be expected to make an extended research visit to Belfast.
The two studentships are fully-funded for three years, covering all fees and providing a stipend. This stipend will support work towards a PhD, awarded on the basis of original research presented in a written thesis. The studentships are intended to support research into a substantive area of economic history under the supervision of one of the CEPH PIs (Prof Gaia Narciso, Prof Ronan Lyons, and Prof Marvin Suesse).

A 4-year Doctoral Research Scholarship in Economic History, starting in September 2023, is available at the Economic History Department of the University of Barcelona.

The PhD candidate will write a dissertation in the context of a research project on “State capacity in Latin America (1870-2020): indicators, causes and consequences”, coordinated by Drs. Sergio Espuelas and Alfonso Herranz-Loncan.

Applications are invited for two three-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowships at the Centre for History and Economics in Paris (CHE-P), Sciences Po, starting on 1 September 2023.

The postdoctoral fellowship, open to early career scholars, is to be awarded for twelve months’ residence, study, and research at Harvard Business School. The fellowship has two purposes. The first is to enable scholars who have already demonstrated an engagement with business history broadly defined to deepen their knowledge of teaching pedagogy and research methods in the discipline. The fellow will have the opportunity to contribute to course development in MBA and doctoral courses in business history. They will also take part in a weekly research seminar in the fall of each year in which leading scholars from around the world present their work. The second purpose is to enable an early career scholar to develop their work in the discipline. The fellow is encouraged to submit an article to Business History Review during their fellowship year. They might also organize a research conference on a subject related to their research. Applicants are expected to hold a PhD by the time of the start of the fellowship.

The University of Illinois Foundation announces the 2022-2023 John Rovensky Fellowships. Two $10,200 fellowships will be awarded for doctoral students writing their dissertations in U.S. business or economic history. The fellowships are available largely through the generosity of the late John E. Rovensky and are administered by the University of Illinois Foundation. Awardees may use the fellowship concurrently with other funding sources, including grants or teaching assignments.