FELLOWSHIPS FOR WOMEN RESEARCHERS AT THE GOTHA RESEARCH CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ERFURT AND AT THE CENTRE FOR TRANSCULTURAL STUDIES / PERTHES COLLECTION, Gotha (Germany)
Within the framework of the "Thüringer Programm zur Förderung von Nachwuchswissenschaftlerinnen und Nachwuchskünstlerinnen", the University of Erfurt (Germany) invites applications for fellowships for female academics who have completed their doctorate. Short-term fellowships for 3-4 months and long-term fellowships for 12 or 24 months to research the holdings of the Gotha Research Library will be awarded. Depending on their research focus, the fellows are linked to the Gotha Research Centre of the University of Erfurt or to the Centre for Transcultural Studies / Perthes Collection. The deadline for applications is 30 June 2021. The fellowships begin on 1 September 2021.
GOTHA RESEARCH LIBRARY
The Research Library, located in Gotha’s Friedenstein Castle, holds a remarkable collection on early modern and modern cultural history. After Berlin and Munich and alongside the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, it houses the most significant collection in Germany of historical sources from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. To these were added in 2003 the Perthes Collection Gotha from the holdings of the Justus Perthes Gotha publishing house, established in 1785. It is considered one of the most significant cartographic collections worldwide.
The library keeps and catalogues these sources, which are part of a European cultural heritage. The library collection encompasses c. 700,000 prints, of which about 350,000 are early modern. Additionally, it holds c. 11,500 manuscript volumes containing a considerable collection of manuscripts, autographs, and literary remains pertaining, among other things, to the cultural history of early modern Protestantism, as well as a collection of some 3,500 oriental manuscripts – the third largest of its kind in Germany. Moreover, the library provides a remarkable collection of letters by German emigrants to America.
The Perthes collection with its collection of maps, cartographic library, and the press archives offers a unique collection in situ. The cartographic collection is comprised of c. 185,000 maps from the late eighteenth to the twentieth century, produced by Perthes and other cartographic printers throughout the world. The cartographic-geographic library comprises 120,000 volumes, a genealogical-statistical book collection, as well as a complete exemplar of the Almanach de Gotha, produced by the Perthes publishing house. The press’ archive, with 800 linear metres of archival material, includes, inter alia, the editorial archive of Petermann’s Geographische Mitteilungen, a collection of the press’ specimen copies, as well as 1,650 copper plates.
GOTHA RESEARCH CENTRE
The Gotha Research Centre (FZG), founded in 2004, is a central academic body of the University of Erfurt. Its main objective is to conduct and facilitate international interdisciplinary research projects in the field of cultural and intellectual history of the modern period, in close cooperation with the institutions and their holdings at Friedenstein Castle. Current research projects include e. g. work on the numismatic collections, the ducal finances and on Eastern European-Ottoman-Persian mobility dynamics. In addition, the Research Centre offers a rich programme of (guest)lectures, conferences, and colloquia. Our goal is to serve as a platform where scholars from all over the world can conduct research and discuss their ideas and work in progress in a challenging and congenial atmosphere. The Gotha Research Centre is headed by Prof. Martin Mulsow.
CENTRE FOR TRANSCULTURAL STUDIES / PERTHES COLLECTION
The Centre for Transcultural Studies / Perthes Collection (FKTS/SP), newly established at the beginning of 2021, is also a central academic body of the University of Erfurt. It sees itself as a platform for interdisciplinary research on the historical becoming of today's global world. Its research is oriented towards the Gotha collection contexts since the end of the 18th century and focuses in particular on the Perthes Collection. The centre pursues independent as well as cooperative research projects, among others on the cartography of the oceans and the maps of Africa and Asia. It works closely with national and international scholars and strives for close cooperation with academics from the global south. The FKTS/SP is headed by Prof. Iris Schröder.
The programme aims at promoting academic research through the use of the resources of the Research Library Gotha and of the associated historic collection of the Justus Perthes Gotha Publishing House. Its academic orientation intends to carry on the universal spirit of the library itself and its diverse resources. In this sense, the programme has an open thematic and disciplinary character. The holdings of the Thuringian State Archive of Gotha, which is located in the Perthes-Forum, as well as collections held by the museums of the Schloss Friedenstein Foundation can be included in the research project, too.
1) The short-term fellowship (3-4 months) is aimed at excellent young academics with a doctorate who wish to start a new research project or continue or complete a work already begun and use the above-mentioned holdings for this purpose. The doctorate or PhD thesis should not date back more than four years (date of issue of certificate/maternity leave and parental leave are taken into account).
2) The initialisation fellowship (12 months) is aimed at excellent young researchers who, after completing their doctorate, wish to submit a proposal for third-party funding to carry out an independently concucted research project based on the Gotha holdings. The research project is expected to be linked to the University of Erfurt. The doctorate or PhD thesis should not date back more than four years (date of issue of certificate/maternity leave and parental leave are taken into account). The applicants should already have distinguished themselves with academic achievements and be striving for an academic career as well as independently conceiving a third-party funded project or be significantly involved in an application for a larger third-party funding at the University of Erfurt.
3) The career fellowship (24 months) is aimed at excellent female academics who are specifically preparing for an academic career as a professor or who already fulfil the formal requirements to be appointed as a professor. They should have completed their doctorate, PhD thesis or habilitation with very good results and have at least three years of professional experience in academia after their doctorate. Within the framework of the fellowship, it is expected that the applicants carry out a research project as preliminary work for a major project (e.g. habilitation) or a larger post-habilitation research project (e.g. the planning of a joint project with other institutions) involving Gotha holdings.
The grant is 2,000 EUR per month. In addition, a family allowance of 300 EUR is granted for the first child and of 150 EUR for each additional child. The fellowship will start on 1 September 2021. Regular presence in Gotha and active networking with local academics are required.
APPLICATION
The following documents must be submitted with the application for a fellowship:
1. a covering letter (max. 2 pages), which takes into account the following points:
• Information on the connection of the project to the Gotha Research Campus of the University of Erfurt,
• Information on how the project contributes to the further development of the applicant's own academic career,
• If deemed relevant for the application (voluntary information): Special features of the applicant's own life situation (disabilities, chronic illness, family circumstances, voluntary work, social criteria),
2. a curriculum vitae in table form,
3. an exposé on the research project with detailed information on the implementation of the project as well as on any planned application for third-party funding (max. 5 pages or max. 10 pages for the career fellowship),
4. a work plan and time schedule for the funding period of 3-4, 12 or 24 months,
5. a list of publications,
6. relevant certificates (doctoral certificate, habilitation certificate, if applicable),
7. signed consent to the processing of personal data (PDF here).
A current letter of recommendation from an (external) university teacher, which proves the quality of the research project, is to be submitted by the reviewer himself/herself by e-mail to the Gotha Research Centre at the e-mail address indicated below. The external letter of recommendation can be submitted until 12 July 2021.
The application documents must be submitted in full and in one single PDF file (max. 5 MB) with a table of contents and the documents (items 1-7) in the above order by e-mail to: forschungszentrum.gotha@uni-erfurt.de.
Applications can be submitted in German or English until 30 June 2021, quoting the keyword "Kurzzeitstipendium, Initialisierungsstipendium bzw. Karrierestipendium am Forschungscampus Gotha der Universität Erfurt". Online interviews for the long-term fellowships are scheduled for 15 July 2021. Applications can also be submitted in encrypted form. Information on this can be found below.