Fellowships at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg Centre for Global Cooperation Research

The Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research is a research institute of the University of Duisburg-Essen, sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It seeks to contribute towards a better understanding of the possibilities and limits of transboundary cooperation. By building a learning community, researchers from different disciplines and world regions develop an innovative framework for contemporary cooperation research that enables the exploration of new options for global public policy. We aim to become a crucial hub for this emerging branch of research.

We are pleased to announce our call for applications for fellowships beginning in 2016. The earliest start date possible will be in March, an increasing number of places are available in the subsequent months. Fellows will join the Centre for a period of six to twelve months, working language at the Centre is English. Fellowships include a working space in fully equipped offices and a competitive stipend commensurate with the applicant’s level of professional experience, starting at the Postdoc level. Fellows are expected to contribute to the Centre’s overall line of research and embrace its inter- and multidisciplinary environment. Regular attendance at the Centre is thus required, implying residency in Duisburg or the Rhine-Ruhr region in most cases. Fellowships are mainly offered in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, but may also be granted to scholars in economics, law, social psychology and the natural sciences. In the latter case, the proposed research project must not require laboratory facilities and should relate to the humanities and social sciences, in particular questions of global cooperation.

The Centre’s research in 2016 will focus on Prospects and Pitfalls of Equality, Democracy, and Legitimacy in World Society. We invite theoretical and conceptual contributions, discourse and narrative analysis, and also welcome empirical case studies on global and other negotiation processes beyond the nation-state. The Centre is able to provide funding for respective field research of up to three weeks in selected cases. We are especially interested in projects that bring together theoretical insights on democratic legitimacy and participation, cultural pluralism and social equality with empirical research on their challenges and crises.

Potential projects can include research that is focused on, but not exclusive to, the following topics, which reflect the research foci of the Centre’s Research Units:

• Inclusion/Exclusion processes: Empirical and conceptual research on processes of social inclusion/exclusion and unequal global relations; (un)equal access to and participation in international negotiations; social movements for equality; special rights and inequality in international institutions; emerging informal governance fora/global clubs;
• Social and cultural contexts: cultural values and perceptions in international cooperation; foreign policy from sociological and ethical perspectives; public reason in international ethics; management of migration crises;

• Legitimacy crises and public protests: Conceptual and empirical research on the complexity of political disputes in democratic governance; focus on the ambivalent relationship in global politics between plurality, contestation, and resistance in different fields such as global finance, EU crisis management, global surveillance, climate change, and peacebuilding;
• From universalized to universal: Towards an increasing acceptance of international human rights norms around the globe?; Legitimacy through plurality: ways and means to coordinate different sets of laws/norms in a society;

Applications (in English only) should contain a cover letter, your CV with publication list, a concise research proposal (3-5 pages) plus one relevant publication. Please indicate your preferred period of stay. Please submit your application electronically using our website on http://www.gcr21.org/en/fellows/how-to-become-a-fellow/fellowships/. The online application form will be available from 15 th September 2015.

The application deadline is 31st October 2015. We particularly encourage female researchers and scholars from the Global South to apply. For questions on this call, please contact Mr. Matthias Schuler at <schuler@gcr21.uni-due.de>.

This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:

http://www.gcr21.org/single-news/info/call-for-application/a8dd6c5c885caba901e7241fc53969f8/