Postdoctoral Fellowship on Europe and Middle East

Deadline: 24 April 2015
Open to: international scholars who want to carry out their research projects in connection with the Berlin program
Fellowship: monthly stipend of 2500 EUR

Description

The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien invites scholars to apply for five postdoctoral fellowships for the research program Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe (EUME) for the academic year 2015/16. EUME seeks to rethink key concepts and premises that link and divide Europe and the Middle East. The program draws on the international expertise of scholars in and outside of Germany and is embedded in university and extra-university research institutions in Berlin. It supports historical-critical philology, rigorous engagement with the literatures of the Middle East and their histories, the social history of cities and the study of Middle Eastern political and philosophical thought as central fields of research not only for area or cultural studies, but also for European intellectual history and other academic disciplines. The program explores modernity as a historical space and conceptual frame. EUME supports and builds upon the following interconnected research fields:

• Cities Compared: Urban Change in the Mediterranean and Adjacent Regions;
• Islamic Discourse Contested: Middle Eastern and European Perspectives;
• Perspectives on the Qur’an: Negotiating Different Views of a Shared History;
• Travelling Traditions: Comparative Perspectives on Near Eastern Literatures;
• Tradition and the Critique of Modernity: Secularism, Fundamentalism and Religion from Middle Eastern Perspectives.

The working language of EUME is English. Fellowships are available for pursuing postdoctoral research programme at research institutions:

• Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (FU Berlin);
• Center for Middle Eastern and North African Politics (Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, FU Berlin);
• Corpus Coranicum (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities);
• Zentrum Moderner Orient;
• Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies (FU Berlin);
• Institute for Islamic Studies (FU Berlin);
• Museum for Islamic Art
• Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies (FU Berlin);
• Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (Philipps-Universität Marburg).

Eligibility

The fellowships are intended primarily for scholars of art history, history, literature, philology, political philosophy, political science, religion and sociology who want to carry out their research projects in connection with the Berlin program. Applicants should be at the postdoctoral level and should have obtained their doctorate within the last seven years. Fellows gain the opportunity to pursue research projects of their own choice within the framework of one of the above-mentioned research fields and in relation to the overall program ‘Europe in the Middle East – the Middle East in Europe’.

Fellowship

Fellowship can be taken in Germany. As a rule, the fellowships start on 1 October 2015 and will end on 31 July 2016. Postdoctoral fellows will receive a monthly stipend of 2.500 € plus supplement depending on their personal situation. Organizational support regarding visa, insurances, housing, etc. will be provided.

How to apply?

An application should be made in explicit relation to one of the research fields and consist of:

• a curriculum vitae;
• a project description (no longer than 5 pages), stating what the scholar will work on in Berlin if granted a fellowship;
• a sample of scholarly work (maximum 20 pages from an article, conference paper, or dissertation chapter);
• the names of two university faculty members who can serve as referees (no letters of recommendation required);

The application should be submitted by e-mail as three separate word documents or PDF files in English and should be received by 24 April 2015, sent in to: eume@trafo-berlin.de

For more specific information please check EUME Call for applications HERE.