https://www.humtec.rwth-aachen.de/cms/HUMTEC/Das-Projekthaus/Kaete-Hamburger-Kolleg/~nngmt/Call-for-Fellows/1/lidx/1/

Open call: 10 Junior/Senior Fellowships
 

Fellowships offered by

Käte Hamburger Kolleg Cultures of Research

International center for advanced studies in history, philosophy, and
sociology of science and technology
 

The new Käte Hamburger Kolleg Cultures of Research is an international
center for advanced studies at RWTH Aachen University, funded by the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The center has openings for a
total of 10 international fellows from the humanities and social sciences,
as well as from natural, life, and technical sciences. Fellows will be
offered a free space in which to develop their own research and to exchange
ideas with each other. Cultures of Research is positioned where the fields
of history, philosophy, and sociology interface with natural science and
technology. The focus of the center's work is on the manifold research
cultures within the sciences, their commonalities and differences, and how
they are transformed through interdisciplinary discourse. The four research
areas of the center are: (1) Complexity, Lifelikeness, & Emergence; (2)
Emerging Computational and Engineering Practices; (3) Histories and
Varieties of Science; and (4) Expanded STS.

The question at the focus of its interdisciplinary discourse will be how
the orientation of the sciences around complex systems and societal
challenges such as climate change, the energy revolution, biologization,
and sustainability is changing research, and how the epistemic and
participative complexity of research is increasing as a result. It will
investigate this shift in researching from both historical and contemporary
perspectives, cooperating with international fellows from the humanities as
well as from the social, natural, life, and technical sciences. The
discourse revolves around the science philosophical premise that, through
complexity requirements and through digitalization as the facilitation of
studying complex systems (simulation, artificial intelligence, machine
learning), the forms of recognition and thus the findings of research are
currently undergoing profound change. The consequence is that new cultures
of (transdisciplinary) research are emerging, and that science and
technology are closely intertwined (engineering of science/science of
engineering).

Against this backdrop we encourage applications by candidates:

    from the humanities, social sciences, and STS on transformations in
science and technology;
    from science and engineering on understanding complex systems; and
    from arts, art history, science journalism, and scientific
illustration, on mediating and representing complexities and complex
findings in science and technology.

Location

The international center is part of RWTH Aachen University (Germany), which
with a student body of 47,000 is one of the largest technical universities
in Europe. With over fifty professorships and ten institutes from the
humanities and social sciences, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities is an
integral part of the interdisciplinary culture of teaching and research at
RWTH Aachen University. Located at the borders of Germany, Belgium, and The
Netherlands (Euregio), it has close ties with STS institutes at the
universities of Maastricht and Liège, and with the Jülich–Aachen
Research Alliance (JARA BRAIN) at the neighboring Jülich Research Center,
a research campus of more than 5,000 researchers.

Fellowship

Fellows will join the international center for a maximum period of 12
months. The fellowships provide a full grant commensurate with applicants'
level of professional experience, working space in fully-equipped offices,
logistical support, and access to the interdisciplinary research landscape
and research labs at RWTH Aachen University. Fellows who take unpaid leave
during their fellowship will receive financial compensation in the form of
a stipend; alternatively, the center would pay for a teaching replacement
at the fellow's home institution. In order to create a stimulating
intellectual environment among the resident research community, fellows are
expected to routinely conduct much of their work from Aachen during their
fellowship. Residency in Aachen is required and the center can support
fellows in the search for accommodation.

Applications

Scholars can apply for either junior or senior fellowships. For junior
fellows a successfully completed PhD is an eligibility requirement; for
senior fellowships a professorship (associate, full professorship) or
comparable position is expected. Applications (in English) should include a
cover letter, your CV, a concise research proposal (2 to 3 pages), plus one
relevant publication. Please submit your application electronically
(compiled into a single pdf file) to: khk@humtec.rwth-aachen.de. The
deadline for applications is the 15th of May 2021. Female researchers and
scholars from the Global South are particularly encouraged to apply.
Fellows will be elected by the scientific board of the international
center.

Application FAQs

Members of the scientific board

    Prof. em. Dr. Ad Aertsen, Neurobiology and Biophysics, Bernstein Center
Freiburg
    Dr. Pierre Delvenne, Political Sciences, University of Liège
    Prof. Dr. Harro van Lente, Science and Technology Studies, Maastricht
University
    Prof. Dr. Sabine Maasen, Science and Innovation Research, University of
Hamburg
    Prof. Dr. Lars Nielsen, Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The
University of Queensland
    Prof. Dr. Alfred Nordmann, Philosophy of Science and Technology,
Technical University Darmstadt and University of South Carolina
    Prof. em. Dr. Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Max-Planck-Institute of History
of Science Berlin
    Prof. Dr. Franck Varenne, Philosophy of Science, University of Rouen