TRACE-BE project announcement

Exciting news for EHRI-BE! The Belgian State Archives proposal for the four-year project ‘Training Research Access and Connectivity for EHRI-BE’, or TRACE-BE, was approved for funding through the Belgian Science Policy Office’s ESFRI-FED programme and launched in February 2026.

TRACE-BE is coordinated by the CegeSoma – the Study and Documentation Centre for War and Contemporary Society and fourth operational directorate of the Belgian State Archives – and includes Kazerne Dossin as a funded partner. The project is a natural extension of the work the Belgian State Archives/CegeSoma has carried out across EHRI’s five European-funded projects to date. Its overarching aims are to consolidate the Belgian State Archives’ position within EHRI by stimulating and facilitating archival-based national and transnational research on the Holocaust and contribute to the further development of EHRI-BE. TRACE-BE will achieve its overarching aims by improving and enriching Belgian State Archives’ data and data integration; tailoring existing research tools to the needs of EHRI; and by offering transnational access to the Belgian State Archives’ Holocaust-related collections and training for researchers in Belgium to stimulate Holocaust research. Moreover, mobilising the Belgian State Archive/CegeSoma’s expertise in EHRI governance will ensure that EHRI-BE reaches a significant level of maturity to fully contribute to EHRI-ERIC, as well as strengthen this federal scientific institution’s position within the Belgian national node, the EHRI-ERIC National Coordinators Committee, and specialised EHRI working groups and regional groupings. The project’s wide-ranging activities will ensure that Belgian State Archives’ Holocaust-related collections become more easily accessible for researchers and other user communities (educators, experts, museum staff, citizens); encourage more impactful comparative and transnational research using digital humanities methodologies; and enhance the Belgian State Archives’ contribution to EHRI-BE and EHRI-ERIC’s wider objectives.

Anyone interested in engaging with the Belgian State Archive’s rich Holocaust-related collections should keep an eye out for announcements related to the TRACE-BE fellowship programme, which will be launched in 2027, as well as other training courses and workshops that will be organised over the course of the project. This information, and much more, will be shared in regular updates via the EHRI-BE website and other social media channels, including the CegeSoma’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages.