Bernice Brijan receives Florentino García Martínez Research Master Scholarship

The Qumran Institute of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen is delighted to award the inaugural Florentino García Martínez Research Master Scholarship for excellent students to Ms. Bernice Brijan. Prof. dr. Mladen Popovic awarded her the scholarship during the opening of the Academic Year in the Doopsgezinde Kerk in Groningen on September 4^th, 2013.

The scholarship of € 1,000 is intended to cover some of the expenses connected with the two-year Research Master programme Religion and Culture at the Faculty’s Graduate School. The scholarship is specifically for students in the fields of Hebrew Bible, early Judaism and Dead Sea Scrolls. In this way we aim to support some of the best students in the pursuit of their career.

The Florentino García Martínez Scholarship is generously made available by Mr. Jan Overmeer who is a great supporter of the research at the Faculty’s Qumran Institute. We are most grateful to Mr. Jan Overmeer for his establishment of the Florentino García Martínez Scholarship.

Bernice Brijan

Ms. Bernice Brijan (1991) earned her Bachelor degree in Theology, cum laude, at the University of Tilburg this summer. She also earned a Bachelor Finno-Ugric Languages and Cultures at the University of Groningen, attended one year of the Bachelor Ancient Cultures of the Mediterranean World at Leiden University, and took courses in Hebrew Bible, early Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies in Groningen.

Ms. Bernice Brijan excels in the meticulous execution of her work and its clarity, analytical skills, the high grades she earns and in the overall management of her studies. For these reasons and for her future study plans in Groningen and abroad we award her the Florentino García Martínez Scholarship.

About Florentino García Martínez

Florentino García Martínez was director of the Qumran Institute at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies from 1992-2007. During this period he became a central figure in research on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Judaism. In 2004 he was elected Foreign Member by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2008 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Florentino García Martínez has had an immeasurable influence on the development of the international study of the Dead Sea Scrolls into an independent academic discipline, and under his leadership the Qumran Institute became world famous. To honour his achievements in the field and for our Faculty, we have named the prize after him.

The call for applications for the Florentino García Martínez Scholarship for next year’s enrolment in the Faculty’s Research Master Religion and Culture will be announced soon.