Visiting (Tandem) Fellowships 2023

Against a backdrop of global political power shifts and faced with the environmental crisis and social injustice, the Joint Center for Advanced Studies “Worldmaking from a Global Perspective: A Dialogue with China” explores existing notions of “world” and approaches to worldmaking from transnational and transcultural perspectives. The Center is jointly organized by researchers at universities in Berlin, Göttingen, Heidelberg, Munich, and Würzburg. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

In order to promote knowledge exchange, dialogue, and cooperation between Chinese and German scholars, the Center has established a visiting fellowship program. During the fellowship period from April to August, the program provides several short-term fellowships at one of the Center’s partner institutions.

Within the framework of the Center, the project “Epochal Life Worlds: Man, Nature and Technology in Narratives of Crisis and Change”, located in Heidelberg (Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler) and conducted in cooperation with the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society and LMU Munich, studies epoch-making moments of crisis, examining their emotional repercussions, their representation in the media and their institutional effects. The project investigates different narratives accompanying such periods of crisis of change—in the form of climate data and statistics on technical and demographic developments as well as in the form of cultural products such as music, film, literature, art and film. What effects do such epochal catastrophes have for concepts of worldmaking? Heidelberg (with its cooperation partners at LMU and the Rachel Carson Center in Munich) are inviting applications for fellowships with research topics that contribute to this broader question, addressing a relevant theme or sub-topic within this framework.

About the Visiting Fellowships

This call invites applications for visiting fellowships in 2023. The Center will be able to grant fellowships for one to three months for internationally renowned scholars with a Chinese (or Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwanese) university background. The exact beginning and end of the fellows’ stays are flexible and can be negotiated with the universities. Ideally, visiting fellows would team up with colleagues at Heidelberg University or the Rachel Carson Center in Munich.

The visiting fellowship comprises a monthly stipend of € 3.170 during the stay in Heidelberg and/or the partner institutions in Munich (plus family supplements, depending on personal circumstances). Additionally, international travel costs of max. € 1.300 and national travel costs for travels to other locations of the Center during the stay in Germany will be funded.

About the application:

Visiting fellowship applications are open to all senior scholars with Chinese (or Hong Kong/Taiwanese) university background (professors and postdocs). The project “Epochal Life Worlds: Man, Nature and Technology in Narratives of Crisis and Change” is open to all fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences but particularly encourages applications from the following fields: History, Literature, Art History, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Environmental Humanities.

All applications should be submitted electronically in one PDF-file to our coordination office: office[at]worldmaking-china.org

Application materials include:

• Letter of motivation
• Curriculum vitae including a list of publications
• Project outline (1 page)
• Preferred time and duration of your stay and preferred location (Heidelberg or Munich)

The diversity of our project should also be reflected in the fellowships. We therefore welcome applicants irrespective of their cultural and social background, age, religion, world view, disabilities or sexual identity.

Applications will be evaluated by the selection committee by November. All applicants will be informed of the outcome of the selection process in November 2022.

While we are still closely monitoring the ongoing implications of the coronavirus pandemic on the safety and mobility of people, we would like to pursue the fellowships as announced in this call.

In case of any questions, please contact Emily Tsui (worldmaking[at]zo.uni-heidelberg.de).

Research Fellowships (China/Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan) 2023

Against a backdrop of global political power shifts and faced with the environmental crisis and social injustice, the Joint Center for Advanced Studies “Worldmaking from a Global Perspective: A Dialogue with China” explores existing notions of “world” and approaches to worldmaking from transnational and transcultural perspectives. The Center is jointly organized by researchers at universities in Berlin, Göttingen, Heidelberg, Munich, and Würzburg. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

In order to promote knowledge exchange, dialogue, and cooperation between Chinese and German scholars, the Center has established a visiting fellowship program for researchers to visit the Center in Germany and a research fellowship program for researchers based at a German university to conduct fieldwork or archival work in China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.

The research fellowship program provides short-term stipends for researchers interested in conducting fieldwork or archival research abroad. Research fellows will be supported in carrying out their own research projects, preferably in cooperation with scholars at the Center’s partner institutions abroad or in dialogue with the Center’s visiting fellows. They will also be given the opportunity to discuss their research during short-term stays at the Center. Both early career and senior researchers are eligible to apply.

Within the framework of the Center, the project “Epochal Life Worlds: Man, Nature and Technology in Narratives of Crisis and Change”, located in Heidelberg (Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler) and conducted in cooperation with the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society and LMU Munich, studies epoch-making moments of crisis, examining their emotional repercussions, their representation in the media and their institutional effects. The project investigates different narratives accompanying such periods of crisis of change—in the form of climate data and statistics on technical and demographic developments as well as in the form of cultural products such as music, film, literature, art and film. What effects do such epochal catastrophes have for concepts of worldmaking? Heidelberg (with its cooperation partners at LMU and the Rachel Carson Center in Munich) are inviting applications for fellowships with research topics that contribute to this broader question, addressing a relevant theme or sub-topic within this framework.

About the Research Fellowships

This call invites applications for (tandem) research fellowships in 2023 supporting fieldwork or archival research in China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan as well as short-term stays at the Center’s locations in Germany.

For the research trip abroad, the Center will be able to grant stipends of € 4.000 for research stays of one month or longer (applications for shorter trips are also eligible).

Short-term stays in Heidelberg should preferably be scheduled for a period of one to three months in 2023 (between April–July). The monthly stipend for stays at the Center’s locations in Germany is € 2.000/month.

About the application:

(Tandem-)Fellowship applications are open to all outstanding early career and senior scholars situated at German universities who might want to team up with Chinese colleagues for their project. The project “Epochal Life Worlds: Man, Nature and Technology in Narratives of Crisis and Change” is open to all fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences but particularly encourages applications from the following fields: History, Literature, Art History, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Environmental Humanities.

All applications should be submitted electronically in one PDF-file to our coordination office: office[at]worldmaking-china.org

Application materials include:

• Letter of motivation
• Curriculum vitae including a list of publications
• Project outline (1 page)
• Preferred time and duration of your stay at Heidelberg University

The diversity of our project should also be reflected in the fellowships. We therefore welcome applicants irrespective of their cultural and social background, age, religion, world view, disabilities or sexual identity.

Applications will be evaluated by the selection committee by November. All applicants will be informed of the outcome of the selection process in November 2022.

While we are still closely monitoring the ongoing implications of the coronavirus pandemic on the safety and mobility of people, we would like to pursue the fellowships as announced in this call.

In case of any questions, please contact Emily Tsui (worldmaking[at]zo.uni-heidelberg.de).

1. Fellows are required to commit a maximum of their time to the fellowship research project during their award period. 
2. Fellows are expected to be present at the Center at least three days a week and take part in the Center’s activities and academic exchange, and present their work at least once during their fellowship.
3. Central to our program is our multidisciplinary digital workshop series “Digital dialogues” and/or the Annual Conference in which (previous) fellows and alumni are required to participate as presenters or/and discussants. 
4. In terms of financial compensation, fellows are required to adhere to the policy of no gain, no loss.
5. As part of the Center’s network, alumni fellows are invited to participate in the Center’s community. 
6. Fellows are required to submit a report to the Center within two months of completion of their fellowship. A summary of this report will appear on the Center’s website. 
7. Fellows must acknowledge funding by the Center in any related research output.