ACSS-FMSH Short-Term Postdoctoral Mobility Fellowship Program in the Social Sciences and Humanities 2018

ACSS-FMSH Short-Term Postdoctoral Mobility Fellowship Program in the Social Sciences and Humanities

Application material available online: October 10, 2017

Application deadline: January 31, 2018

The Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH) and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS) are pleased to announce the first call for applications for their joint program titled “Short-Term Postdoctoral Mobility Fellowship Program in the Social Sciences and Humanities.” This program is designed to support the research of postdoctoral fellows from Arab countries and to strengthen research networking and collaborations between Europe and the Arab region.

This competition is funded by FMSH and organized in conjunction with the ACSS. Short-term fellowships (2-3 months) will be available to individual researchers who are citizens and nationals of the Arab region, who have received their PhD degree within 0-6 years, and who wish to conduct research in France (including field research, library and archival work, as well as other types of data collection.)

Fellowship Details

Fellows will receive a monthly stipend of 1,600 € (paid at the beginning of each month of stay in France). The stipend is intended to cover accommodation, living and transportation costs, as well as research costs. Financial assistance for international tickets to France will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

FMSH will also provide support for obtaining a visa and will guide potential fellows on planning the logistics of their stay. This includes help with finding accommodation, contact with French research centers, and letters to libraries and archives.

The fellowship period is divided into two cohorts: the first cohort of fellows can take up their fellowship between May 2018 and July 2018, and the second cohort can take up their fellowship between September 2018 and November 2018. Fellows could choose between staying a minimum of two months or a maximum of three months in France.

Eligibility Criteria

Nationality/Residence: Applicants must be citizens of an Arab country or nationals of an Arab country (defined as long-term residents, even if they do not hold citizenship as in the case of refugees or stateless residents) and must reside in the Arab region. This program does not fund scholars who reside and/or work outside the Arab region. Priority will be given to scholars who are marginalized, at risk, or dispossessed.

Education: This program targets scholars who are 0-6 years out of a PhD program in the social sciences or humanities. Applicants should have obtained their PhDs at the time of application. In case the PhD was obtained from a university outside the Arab region, the applicant should have been a resident in the Arab region for at least the previous 2 years at the time of application. The program does not have any age restrictions.

Discipline: This program is open to PhD holders in the social sciences or humanities fields. This includes disciplines such as anthropology, demography, economics, history, political science, psychology, sociology, geography, law, and philosophy. Interdisciplinary fields are also accepted and include gender studies, cultural studies, media studies, development studies, and urban studies. Due to French funding restrictions, the program is not open to linguistics, archaeology, literary studies, and arts.

Position and Employment: Applicants can be affiliated with a public or private research institution but they do not necessarily need to have a permanent position. However they should be engaged in research in addition to teaching. The proposed projects could be either ongoing or new.

French Host Institution: Before submitting their application, applicants must find a French research institution willing to host them during the time of their fellowship. Applicants must submit a letter from the hosting institution addressed to the FMSH and the ACSS expressing the institution’s willingness to host the applicant during the time of the fellowship and showing its ability to provide academic support and supervision to the prospective fellow during the period of his/her fellowship. Applicants who are not able to make contact with a French institution can visit SHSlab, where all French research centers are listed, or contact FMSH to ask for assistance at the following email: atlas@msh-paris.fr.

Conditions of the Fellowship

Upon completion of the fellowship period, fellows will have to write a short narrative report detailing the work done and the progress made during the fellowship period. In addition, each fellow will be requested to contribute an abstract concerning their project to the FMSH and ACSS websites, and one working paper to appear as a prepublication in the ACSS Working Paper Series.

Application Process

Applicants must submit an online application (including research proposal and appendices) through the FMSH website, AND fill out a profile page on the ACSS website. Applications will be open as of October 10, 2017. Completed proposals can be uploaded to the application portal at any time before the application deadline on January 31, 2018 at 17:00 (Paris time).

Proposal materials can only be submitted in French or English. Proposals and attachments should be written in one of these languages; mixing different languages in the same proposal may disqualify the application. Only fully developed proposals will be examined by the Selection Committee. Final proposals should include all information and details necessary for the Selection Committee to understand the research ideas and plans. The final proposal should not exceed 3-5 pages (typed, double-spaced pages, 12-point font).

Guidelines for Writing the Proposal

The body of the proposal should include the following components with a maximum length of 3-5 pages (spaces and references included):

Aims of the research project, specific research questions, review of the literature, type of data to be collected, methodology, and anticipated results.
A bibliography of relevant sources for the research project.
A detailed plan of the activities to be conducted during the fellowship period, including places and institutions to be visited, contacts, type of data collection, and work plan.

Note: In case of questions concerning the content of the proposal, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If additional clarification is needed, please contact the ACSS team at grants@theacss.org.

Required Appendices

Curriculum vitae (2 pages maximum)
Copy of the PhD diploma
Proof of citizenship or long-term residence in an Arab country
Letter of invitation from the director of the host research center in France

For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.

ACSS-FMSH Short-Term Postdoctoral Mobility Fellowship Program in the Social Sciences and Humanities 2018

Deadline:

January 31, 2018

Disciplines:

Anthropology, Culture, Economics, History, Humanities, Law, Philosophy, Political Sciences, Psychology, Social Sciences