2025-26 Sam and Frances Fried Graduate Research Fellow Announced

UNO History graduate student, Md Robiul Alam Roni, is this year’s recipient of the Sam and Frances Fried Graduate Research Fellowship. This annual fellowship is offered to UNO graduate students for research projects related to the study of genocide. Roni completed his BA and MA in Islamic History and Culture at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh.

Funding will support his thesis research, “Enduring Trauma: Gendered Violence, Statelessness, and the Historical Persecution of Rohingya Women,” which examines human rights violations faced by Rohingya women in Myanmar. “I approach the topic through the lenses of gender studies, postcolonial theory, and genocide scholarship, highlighting both systemic abuse and the resilience of the Rohingya community,” Roni shares. “By analyzing survivor testimony, international human rights reports, and scholarly literature, I aim to document how sexual violence, forced displacement, and statelessness have shaped the lived experiences of Rohingya women.”

This summer, his research took him to New York to gather primary and secondary resources, conduct interviews with Rohingya refugees, and shape the historical dimensions of his work. Back at UNO, Roni’s next step is to finalize and present his work by publication and presenting at academic conferences related to genocide studies and refugees. He will also be applying to PhD programs next year to continue his research on gender-based violence, refugee history, and South Asian genocide studies.

According to Dr. Mark Celinscak, Executive Director of the Sam and Frances Fried Holocaust and Genocide Academy, "While there is a growing body of research that focuses on gendered aspects of the violence against Rohingya women, Roni will explore the physical, psychological, and socio-cultural consequences of their persecution, which remains understudied. In the past, scholars have understandably focused on the large scale violence against the Rohingya starting in 2016, but rarely contextualize it historically from the 1970s. The Fried Academy is pleased to support Roni's examination into the longer history of the persecution of Rohingya women, which has largely been left unexplored."

“I am deeply grateful to the Sam and Frances Fried Holocaust and Genocide Academy for supporting this work through their Graduate Research Fellowship,” Roni says. “My research trip to New York was a turning point in deepening the academic and personal dimensions of my work. Meeting with Rohingya refugees and scholars in-person is helping me give a voice to stories left unheard and reaffirms my commitment to documenting histories of injustice and survival.”