![Alex Bayer and Rachale Schremp](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2026-05/Alex-Rachael-Banner_0.jpg?h=6721dbdf&itok=eLnUSGFY) # Research in Motion: Two HDS Students Awarded Prestigious Traveling Fellowships Two Harvard Divinity School students have received 2026–27 Harvard Traveling Fellowships to pursue independent research. May 20, 2026 Office of Communications For Alex Bayer, MTS ’26, and Rachael Schremp, MTS ’26, the coming year will mean new opportunities for independent study, travel, and research across Europe. Bayer will explore film, embodiment, and collective memory through archival and somatic work in Berlin, Germany, while Schremp will study medieval mystical manuscripts and literary history in archives across England and France. Bayer received the Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, while Schremp received the Frank Knox Memorial Traveling Fellowship. Administered through the Harvard Committee on General Scholarships, the fellowships support independent study and research abroad. ## Film, Memory, and Embodiment For Bayer, the fellowship will support a project that explores film as a medium for spiritual insight and healing. Based primarily in Berlin, she plans to combine archival research, somatic practices, and the study of German cinema and German-Jewish mysticism. “I’m interested in what happens when we approach filmmaking with the depth of intention, embodiment, and attunement we might bring to a sacred ritual,” Bayer said. At Harvard Divinity School (HDS), Bayer found opportunities to connect her longstanding interest in film with questions of mysticism, spirituality, and healing. Coursework in both the Harvard Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies (AFVS) and at HDS helped shape the interdisciplinary direction of her project. She cited classes with AFVS [Professor Karthik Pandian](https://afvs.fas.harvard.edu/people/karthik-pandian), as well as a seminar with [Professor Charles Stang](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/people/charles-m-stang) on the scholar of Islamic mysticism Henry Corbin, as especially formative. While in Germany, Bayer plans to conduct research at institutions including the Arsenal Filminstitut and the Jewish Museum Berlin. She is also interested in engaging with Berlin’s somatic healing and dance communities, which she sees as deeply connected to her creative and intellectual work. “The body holds so much wisdom and insight,” she said. “When we create from this place, I think the possibilities of what we can access within ourselves expand even more.” Bayer hopes the fellowship year will help her further develop her voice as a filmmaker while contributing to broader conversations connecting art, theology, and spiritual care. “I deeply believe that film can play an important role” in engaging collective and ancestral memory, she said. Reflecting on the broader significance of her work, Bayer referenced filmmaker Werner Herzog’s observation that contemporary society is hungry for “adequate images.” “We are now inundated with images, but many of these are empty or misleading,” she said. “I see this as a call for us to re-inhabit our imagination in an almost devotional way.” ## Medieval Manuscripts and Mystical Texts Rachael Schremp’s project centers on a fifteenth-century Middle English manuscript compilation known as the “Westminster MS 4,” which contains excerpts from medieval mystical texts by Walter Hilton and Julian of Norwich. The manuscript contains one of the earliest versions of Julian’s Revelations of Divine Love, believed to be the first book written in English by a woman. “Much about the scribal and reading communities that produced it remains a mystery,” Schremp said. “My project also aims to read the compilation not merely as a collection of fragments, but to engage it as a literary whole that was crafted with authorial intent.” The idea for the project emerged from coursework she pursued while at Harvard, including a class on medieval visionary literature taught by [Professor Nicholas Watson](https://english.fas.harvard.edu/people/nicholas-watson) in the Department of English. At HDS, Schremp focused much of her study on medieval mystical and visionary texts, particularly through courses with [Professor Amy Hollywood](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/people/amy-hollywood). “I was drawn to the pedagogical orientation of these texts,” Schremp said. “They are designed to teach people how to learn and how to live.” During her fellowship year, Schremp will be based primarily in Oxford and London while conducting archival research across England and at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. She hopes to deepen her training in paleography, codicology, and Middle English while working closely with manuscripts she has yet to personally encounter. Schremp is especially eager to visit Norwich and stay at the Julian Shrine, where visitors gather to learn more about Julian of Norwich and her legacy. “Alongside being excited to encounter medieval manuscripts in situ, I am looking forward to visiting Norwich and staying at the Julian Shrine,” Schremp said. After the fellowship, Schremp plans to pursue a PhD in English and continue research in medieval studies. “As a first-generation student, this opportunity feels like a dream come true,” she said. *Banner photo of Alex Bayer, left, and Rachael Schremp by Kristie Welsh.* ## More Student Awards [### HDS Students Receive 2026 Buechner Prize ](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2026/05/20/narratives-grace-presence-hds-students-receive-2026-buechner-prize) [### HDS Students Awarded Grant for Black-Jewish Pluralism Project ](https://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/12/18/students-awarded-building-bridges-grant-black-jewish-pluralism-project) See also:- [ Student Activities and Interviews ](/discover-stories-about/student-activities-and-interviews) - [ Awards ](/topic-tags/awards)