The Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM),
Vienna/Austria, jointly announce a Call for Applications for the Alexander
Herzen Fellowships 2013-2014.
Objective
The Alexander Herzen Junior Visiting Fellowships are designed as an award
for excellence for the most promising young researchers in the Humanities and
Social Sciences from the Siberian, Ural and Far-Eastern federal districts,
and the Voronezh, Lipetsk, Belgorod, Ryazan and Kaluga regions . The
Alexander Herzen Junior Visiting Fellowships are awarded with the aim:
to support highly qualified and promising academics, giving them access
to an international and multidisciplinary research community as well as an
excellent infrastructure;
to offer a fertile ground for their individual development and professional
advancement; and
to strengthen academic mobility and the integration into the international
research community, thus enabling them to broaden their professional network.
Conditions
Alexander Herzen Junior Visiting Fellows are selected on the basis of an
open competition. They will work “in residence” at the IWM in Vienna,
Austria, for six months to pursue their individual research projects as members
of the Institute’s international, multidisciplinary scholarly community.
Five Alexander Herzen Junior Visiting Fellows will be invited to spend a
six-month research term at the IWM during the period from July 2013 through
June 2014. The exact dates of the fellowship term will be negotiated individually
with each fellow.
Fellows work on their individual research projects independently and on their
own responsibility. They are asked to present and discuss their ongoing research
and results in a seminar and/or at the IWM Junior Visiting Fellows’ Conference
(in English). The papers presented at these conferences are published online
as an edited volume on the IWM website.
In addition, t he IWM organizes a broad program of lectures, debates, workshops
and conferences and encourages the fellows to take part. The working language
at the Institute during the fellowship (i.e. for lectures, seminars, workshops)
is English.
At the end of their stay, Alexander Herzen Junior Visiting Fellows receive
a certificate confirming the nature, duration and other relevant details of
their research period at the IWM. Each fellow is required to submit a report
to the Institute and the Foundation upon completion of the fellowship term.
If the fellow doesn’t follow this condition, the Foundation has the right
to call back the amount of grant.
The IWM will provide the fellows with a personal office with standard IT
equipment (including free high-speed internet), access to its in-house research
facilities and other relevant sources in Vienna. The Institute will help to
arrange suitable accommodation for the fellows in Vienna.
The fellows will receive a grant (stipend) in the amount of EUR 12 700 in
total to cover all expenses related to the stay in Vienna. This includes
travel costs to/from Vienna at the beginning and end of the fellowships
fees and other costs for obtaining a visa
health insurance coverage for Austria
housing costs in Vienna
local transport in Vienna
administrative costs at the IWM (general fee, copies, phone charges)
research-related costs (books and other material; travel, accommodation
and other costs for participation in conferences or archival research, etc.)
general living expenses (food, all other incidentals).
The conditions and requirements of the grant will be specified in a contract
in detail.
Eligibility
Candidates for the Fellowships:
must have completed a degree equivalent to a Master of Arts (M.A.) in
the humanities or social sciences and currently pursue a post-graduate
degree in the humanities or social sciences;
or must have recently obtained a Ph.D. in the humanities or social sciences
and work as post-doctoral researchers;
must not be older than 35 years;
must have experience in working on research projects independently;
must have advanced English language proficiency, allowing them to present
and discuss their research in English; and
must live, study and work in the Siberian, Ural and Far-Eastern federal
districts, and the Voronezh, Lipetsk, Belgorod, Ryazan and Kaluga regions.
The program is generally open to all research topics within the humanities
and social science disciplines. However, to facilitate opportunities for academic
exchange between fellows at the IWM, research proposals related to one of the
Institute’s main fields of study are strongly encouraged. These fields
are:
Sources of Inequality / Social Solidarity
Religion and Secularism
The Future of Democracy
United Europe - Divided History
Cultures and Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe
The Philosophical Work of Jan Patočka / Phenomenological Studies
Entry-level students who have not completed a Master’s
degree are not eligible!
Alexander Herzen Junior Visiting Fellows are selected on the basis of an
open competition and according to the criteria set out in the Call for Applications.
All candidates who meet the formal criteria are eligible to take part in the
competition.
a motivation letter summarizing the applicant’s qualification and
experiences as well as the professional/academic advancement expected from
the fellowship
a concise research proposal in Russian and English (max. 4 pages)
a curriculum vitae in Russian and English
a sample of an academic publication written by the applicant
three letters of recommendation by scholars familiar with the applicant’s
academic work
Please send your application drawn up in accordance with the conditions outlined
above (one printed copy and a complete electronic version on any data medium)
to the following postal address:
Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation
660021 Krasnoyarsk, Prospect Mira, 140
Tel/Fax (391)211-84-33
The electronic version should be sent to:
Applications sent after the deadline or incomplete applications will not
be considered. The Foundation will neither return any materials sent by the
applicants, nor justify the motives of refusal of applications.
For additional information and advice please contact:
Applications accepted : 1 January – 28
February 2013
Applications reviewed: March-April 2013
Jury
Each eligible application will be evaluated by an expert jury according to
the following selection criteria:
overall academic qualification and achievements of the candidate;
quality and relevance of the proposed research project; and
potential benefit of the research stay at the IWM for the proposed project
.
Members of the Jury are:
János Mátyás Kovács
Permanent
Fellow at the IWM; Member of the Institute of Economics at the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, Budapest
Ivan Krastev
Permanent Fellow at the IWM;
Chair of the Board of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria
Alexei Miller
Leading Research Fellow at the
Institute for Scientific Information of the Russian Academy of Sciences;
recurrent Visiting Professor at the Department of History, Central European
University, Budapest
Irina Prokhorova
Editor-in-chief of the New
Literary Observer; Co-Founder and Chairman of the Expert Board of
the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation
The jury is not required to justify its decisions.
Applicants will be notified of the jury decision in May 2013 and will be
interviewed by an IWM representative via skype.
Selected fellows will sign the contract with the Foundation, where conditions
and requirements of the grant will be specified.
The Institute for Human Sciences (Institut für
die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, IWM) is an independent institute for advanced
study in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Since its foundation in 1982,
its purpose has been to bring together academics and intellectuals from Eastern
and Western Europe as well as North America to stimulate open exchange between
different cultures. During each year the IWM invites about forty researchers
for fellowships at the Institute.
The Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation is a Russian private charity established
in 2004. It carries out nationwide and international activities, as well as
local projects in the Krasnoyarsk region, the Urals, Siberia, the Russian Far
East, and in the industrial area of Norilsk. The Foundation’s long-term
goal is to promote Russian culture and further its integration into the global
context. Key activities include initiatives in arts, science and education,
development of mass media, urban environment, sports and public health.
Alexander Herzen Junior Visiting Fellowships
