Press Release
On 11 March 2013, Vydas Gedvilas, Speaker of the Seimas, awarded Dr Giedrė Milerytė, historian, with the National Independence Grant 2013, an award which is given annually on the Day of Restoration of Independence to young researchers in humanities and social sciences for research promoting the consolidation of the statehood of Lithuania.

This year, the Commission for the National Independence Grant awarded the grant (the fourth one in Lithuania’s history) for the draft research paper “The Relations Between Lithuania and Poland as Seen by Emigrants in 1945-1990”. Giedrė Milerytė, a young researcher from the History Department of the Faculty of Humanities at Vytautas Magnus University and winner of the grant, will examine the issues she approached in her PhD Thesis: the relations between Lithuanians and Poles in emigration and their visions of the future relations between Lithuania and Poland. For the purpose of completing the Paper, the author will go for traineeships to the Lithuanian World Archives (Chicago, USA), the Jozef Pilsudski Institute of America (New York, USA) and the editorial office of the Kultūra journal edited by Jurgis Giedraitis in Maisons-Laffitte (France), a suburb of Paris.
The solemn grant-awarding ceremony was attended by members of the Committee for the National Independence Grant, grant winners, signatories to 11 March Act of Independence of Lithuania, Members of the Seimas and representatives of the academic community.
The National Independence Grant is designed to encourage Lithuanian citizens to opt for a career in science, return to or remain in the field of scientific research, which can be of service to Lithuania and generate more trust in Lithuania and encourage the public, especially the younger generation, to work for the public good and wellbeing. Grants are awarded to young researchers under 33 years of age for research in humanities and social sciences leading to the strengthening of the statehood of Lithuania.
The grant is paid in two tranches. The first tranche is awarded on 11 March, the Day of Restoration of Independence. The second tranche is awarded in a year, after the winner implements the research project. The scholarship amounts to 300 times the basic social benefit.
Nerijus Vėta, Public Relations Unit, tel: +370 5 239 6208, e-mail: nerijus.veta@lrs.lt