Di 14 Jun 2022

Call for Applications: Up to 10 Prisma Ukraïna Postdoc Fellowships 2022/23

Up to 10 resident and non-resident Prisma Ukraïna Postdoc Fellowships for 2022/2023:

  • one Postdoctoral Resident Fellowship of up to 16 months in Berlin
  • four Postdoctoral Three-Month Resident Bridge-Fellowships in Berlin (within the period of 1 July–31 December 2022)
  • up to five Postdoctoral Non-Resident Fellowships from 3 to 12 months, starting 1 October 2022

Location: Berlin, Germany (for resident fellowships) / Ukraine or neighbouring countries (for non-resident fellowships)

Application deadline: 29 June 2022, 12:00 (noon) CEST

CfA PDF Download

The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien invites scholars from Ukraine to apply for up to 10 resident and non-resident Postdoctoral Fellowships of different durations, starting 1 July 2022, at the earliest. The Fellows shall constitute and participate in the research group

Prisma Ukraïna: War, Migration and Memory

Wars plague politics and societies. They kill, destroy, displace and transform people, societies and the environment, perceptions and borders; they divide and unite. War, displacement and migration alter the everyday experiences of those fleeing, and migrating; they also radically affect debates about memory, basic values and politics of identity, history and the future.

The project “War, Migration and Memory” aims to establish a research group that works on the transformational effects of war and the dislocation of people’s memory and sense of belonging (of both those on the move and the receiving societies) through the prism of Ukraine and the experience of Ukrainians. Current massive displacement caused by Russian aggression both within the country and abroad poses many challenging issues and requires intensive ongoing scholarly collaboration and reflection.

The research project and group are conceived and coordinated by Dr. Viktoriya Sereda (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine / Senior Fellow of the Forum Transregionale Studien). The project seeks to bring together scholars from the social sciences and humanities from Ukraine (and during the duration of the project, also from other countries) to form an interdisciplinary group of researchers with similar or complementary expertise on the topics of war, migration and memory. This group will include Dr. Sereda, one Resident Postdoc Fellow located in Berlin and up to five Non-Resident Postdoc Fellows in Ukraine or its neighbouring countries. A limited number of Resident Three-Month Bridge-Fellowships in Berlin will be available for scholars who would like to join the group for a shorter period.

Fellows will join the group to work on their self-chosen research projects within the overall thematic framework. They will commit themselves to regularly meet online and, if possible, occasionally in person at workshops or conferences to discuss common conceptual approaches, methodology and sources, as well as specific themes covered by individual research projects or within smaller subgroups. The scholars should be interested in empirical methods and work. The project will make use of collaborative digital working spaces and formats for collective writing processes that have been developed by the Forum to connect scholars across borders and countries. The fellows are also intended to contribute to data collection related to the overall topic of the project.

After an initial (self-)organisational stage, and the establishment of the working group, a monthly online seminar or series of discussions will be established to engage different publics from academia and think tanks in the east or west of Europe. The project also aims at the production of shorter texts/interviews/essays or research papers that will be published on TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research and through other peer-reviewed open-access publication formats. The collaborative work and publication processes will be supported by colleagues from a second Ukraine-related project at the Forum, dedicated to science communication and networks.


FELLOWSHIPS

The fellowships are intended primarily for scholars in the humanities and social sciences from Ukraine who are affected by war and displacement and who want to carry out their research in connection with the Berlin-based project. The fellowships aim to contribute to scholarly networks between and with scholars from Ukraine on questions concerning Ukraine, Europe and other world regions.

Applicants should be at the postdoctoral level and generally should have obtained their doctorate within the last 12 years. Fellows gain the opportunity to pursue research projects of their own choice within the framework of Prisma Ukraïna and in relation to Europäische Zeiten/European Times – A Transregional Approach to the Societies of Central and Eastern Europe (EUTIM), a joint research project between the European University Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder, the University of Potsdam and the Forum Transregionale Studien.

Successful applicants will be fellows of Prisma Ukraïna at the Forum Transregionale Studien, and members of the research group.

The Postdoctoral Resident Fellowship of up to 16 months in Berlin starts on 1 July 2022 and will end on 31 October 2023. The Postdoctoral Three-Month Resident Bridge-Fellowships must be spent in Berlin within the period of 1 July–31 December 2022. The Postdoctoral Non-Resident Fellowships from 3 to 12 months should start on 1 October 2022 (but could also start a month earlier or later). Postdoctoral Resident Fellows will receive a monthly stipend of 2,500€ plus supplements, depending on their personal situation. Postdoctoral Non-Resident Fellows will receive a monthly stipend that covers the living expenses in their current place of residence; this may vary and will be agreed upon after the fellowship is granted. Organisational support with visas, insurance, housing and other factors will be provided. Resident Fellows are obliged to work in Berlin and to help shape the seminars and working discussions related to the research group. Non-Resident Fellows can work on their projects from their place of residence in Ukraine or its neighbouring countries and are meant to contribute to the research group as well – for example, through online seminars and working discussions or by contributing to publication projects. The working languages of the research group are English and Ukrainian.

The number of fellowships is limited and the fellowships are addressed in particular to scholars from and in Ukraine. However, we invite interested scholars from other countries to apply with their own or for external funding. If you are considering this option, please contact us via office(at)trafo-berlin.de.

Please note that the call for applications for the resident fellowships is subject to the approval of the necessary funding from the budget of the federal state of Berlin and the general approval of the project. The non-resident fellowships can be made available with the support of the Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius and the Marga und Kurt Möllgaard-Stiftung.


APPLICATION PROCEDURE

We kindly ask you to submit your application via the secure online application platform of the Forum Transregionale Studien by 29 June 2022, 12:00 (noon) CEST:

https://application.trafo-berlin.de/

Please note that applications by email will not be considered. For scholars in Ukraine with difficulties uploading their applications to the system, please contact support(at)trafo-berlin.de before the deadline.

As part of your application, you will need to prepare and upload the following documents (in English):

— a curriculum vitae (no longer than two pages plus a list of publications);

— a project description (no longer than four pages), stating what you will work on if granted a fellowship.

In case of questions, please email us at office(at)trafo-berlin.de.


INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

The Forum Transregionale Studien has been involved in projects related to Ukraine and Eastern Europe since 2015, including with Prisma Ukraïna − Research Network Eastern Europe (since 2015) and Europäische Zeiten/European Times – A Transregional Approach to the Societies of Central and Eastern Europe (EUTIM) (since 2021). The research program Prisma Ukraïna, directed by Andrii Portnov (European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder), is committed to the idea of ​​open area studies and investigates questions of change in Europe through the “prism” of Ukraine. The network is supported by researchers at universities and research institutions in Berlin, Brandenburg and Poland. EUTIM looks at narratives of time and space on the fringes of Europe and is a research college jointly managed by the European University Viadrina, the University of Potsdam and the Forum, and funded by the BMBF.

The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien (Forum) is a research institution and platform for international cooperation between scholars with different expertise and perspectives on global issues. The Forum provides scope for exchange on questions of science policy, epistemology and ethics, and develops infrastructures and formats that allow transregional research ideas and projects to be tested, implemented and communicated. The Forum is constituted by its members and the diversity of their research expertise and networks. It is committed to strengthening regional studies and to the principle of non-hierarchical research. It appoints scholars from around the world as fellows and engages in joint research programs and initiatives with partners from universities and research institutions in and outside of Berlin. The Forum is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Higher Education and Research, Health, Long-Term Care and Gender Equality.

The Forum currently supports the following research programs and initiatives: Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe (EUME), Prisma Ukraïna – Research Network Eastern Europe, and re:constitution – Exchange and Analysis on Democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe. The Forum is a member of the research college Europäische Zeiten/European Times – A Transregional Approach to the Societies of Central and Eastern Europe (EUTIM), and of the consortium of MECAM: Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb. It is also a founding member of the Academy in Exile, Zukunftsphilologie: Revisiting the Canons of Textual Scholarship and 4A Laboratory: Art Histories, Archaeologies, Anthropologies, Aesthetics are connected programs developed at the Forum that are continued at other institutions.

For more information on the Forum Transregionale Studien, its programs, initiatives and communication, please visit:

www.forum-transregionale-studien.de
 

TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research: https://trafo.hypotheses.org/

For further information on Prisma Ukraïna, please visit: www.prisma-ukraina.de

For further information on EUTIM, please visit: https://european-times.eu/en/

Alle Nachrichten