The Botstiber Junior Fellowship

in Transatlantic Austrian and Central European Relationships

2023/2024

Call for Applications

Deadline for Application: January 30th, 2023

The Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies (BIAAS) and the Institute for Advanced Study at Central European University in Budapest (IAS CEU) are pleased to invite applications for the fellowship in Transatlantic Austrian and Central European Relations for junior researchers for the academic year 2023/24.

Fellowships are available for all scholarly work related to the transnational and transatlantic relationship between the United States and present-day Austria or the countries that historically make up the Austro-Hungarian or Austrian Empires and Central Europe, coming from all disciplines, including history, politics, economics, social sciences and cultural studies broadly understood. This joint fellowship seeks to strengthen, further and make visible scholarship on modern and contemporary as well as on imperial and post-imperial Austria and Habsburg Studies, and on issues of transfer, migration and exchange, as testified in Austria’s and Central Europe’s special relationship to the United States, direct and indirect.

The Institute is committed to the pursuit of cutting-edge interdisciplinary scholarship and will seek innovative research proposals. This program invites emerging scholars with demonstrable promise of excellence. A primary criterion for selection is the expectation that each fellow’s stay at the Institute will yield original and significant research results.

At IAS CEU, Botstiber Fellows will join outstanding junior and senior scholars from around the world, each conducting research related to their diverse disciplinary interests, and are invited for a minimum of 5 months and a maximum of one academic year (9 months, October-June). Fellows are chosen by a rigorous selection process, which includes stages of pre-selection and peer reviews as well as a final decision made jointly by an independent, interdisciplinary and international Academic Advisory Board of the Institute and the BIAAS.

IAS CEU provides a stimulating environment in which fellows can devote themselves to their research and share their work with peers through weekly seminars and other community programs. Fellows have access to all CEU facilities, including seminar and conference space, computer services, and library resources and accommodation is also provided as part of the fellowship in the university’s guesthouse.

IAS CEU is an independent Institute for Advanced Study. It is based at Central European University in Budapest, alongside other institutes. As of the Academic Year 2019/20 CEU is operating at two locations, the main university at the Vienna Campus and some institutes and centers in Budapest. Hosting its programs at the latter campus and in one of Central Europe’s attractive cities, IAS CEU seeks to benefit from this new arrangement and to be part of the rich academic life and research generated in both places – from its premises in Budapest, as independent and yet integral part of the university and its location right in the center of city. The Budapest campus hosts, apart from the IAS, the bi-campus library, the Open Society Archive (OSA), the Democracy Institute, the Summer School Network (SUN), and a number of research centres and projects. Fellows benefit from CEU’s vibrant international atmosphere, its strong ties in the CEE region and its location in culturally rich Budapest. IAS CEU facilitates the fellows’ engagement with CEU, the local and regional scholarly communities by encouraging collaborative projects, organizing joint public lectures.

IAS fellows enjoy access to the CEU library that contains the largest English-language holdings in the social sciences and humanities in Central and Eastern Europe and has state-of-the-art electronic equipment and data retrieval tools. Moreover, the interlibrary loan system allows fellows to request literature from other relevant libraries as well, including major libraries in Vienna and Austria. With the new campus in Vienna, research related to Vienna-based institutions will be facilitated. In Budapest, the renowned Blinken Open Society Archives is an archive and center for research and education with collections and activities related to the period after the Second World War, the history of former communist countries, human rights and war crimes.

IAS Fellows live in the Raoul Wallenberg Guesthouse, located in the historical Castle District of Buda, a World Heritage area and in walking distance from the University and downtown Budapest. Housing is provided as part of the Botstiber fellowship. Most fellows have an office at IAS on the university campus.

The Botstiber Fellowship is a residential fellowship. Fellows must reside in Budapest during their fellowship, participate in the intellectual life of the Institute and pursue their research agenda.

Qualifications, experience, eligibility

  • Applicants must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent in the social sciences, economics or humanities at the time of their application, issued in 2016 or later.
  • Only those with publications in internationally recognized scholarly outlets are encouraged to apply.
  • Full time CEU employees and students are not eligible to apply for 5 years after the ending of their studies/contract (degrees must be received and contracts must have ended by December 31, 2017 or earlier).
  • Part time/temporary employees of CEU are not eligible for 1 year after their contract ended (their contract must have ended by December 31, 2021 or earlier).
  • Former fellows of IAS CEU are not eligible to apply again for a period of 7 years. Applications at an earlier stage may be considered only in exceptional cases.
  • Applicants are expected to be able to communicate fluently in English as this is the working language of the Institute and CEU.

Terms and conditions

Junior Fellows receive a net monthly stipend of 2,000 USD to help support their stay in Budapest. Fellows’ relocation costs are also covered up to the amount of 1,500 USD, and they may enjoy research support of 1,000 USD. In addition, all fellows and their families receive housing at the Raoul Wallenberg Guesthouse (ias.ceu.edu/raoul-wallenberg-guesthouse-0). Utilities at the Guesthouse will be charged to the fellows, and they are also responsible for their own healthcare provisions.

How to apply

The deadline for application is January 30th, 2023.

All applications must be submitted through the IAS CEU online application system:

sits.ceu.edu/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_sso.go?IAS-FELLOW_APPLICATION-cX8fQOej1ug5mNF2FmqCG8QP56l

Step 1: Prepare your application package: create a single PDF file no larger than 12 MBs containing all your application documents. The name of the PDF file should contain your name and the type of fellowship you are applying to

(example: Doe, Jane_Botstiber Application.pdf).

Your application package should contain the following documents:

  1. A letter of intent (max 1,500 words)
  2. The abstract of your research project (max. 150 words)
  3. A description of your research project (min. 1,000 – max. 2,500 words; the reference list is not included in the word count)
  4. A CV including a list of up to 5 of your most important publications.
  5. The name and email address of two referees (for potential reference).

Step 2: Go to the Application Form for the Academic Year 2023/24 at the IAS CEU website at sits.ceu.edu/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_sso.go?IAS-FELLOW_APPLICATION-cX8fQOej1ug5mNF2FmqCG8QP56l

and fill in all your data as required.

Step 3: As a final step, upload your application package (PDF file), and submit your application.

Please note that you cannot save your work and continue filling in the form at a later time, so you are asked to submit your application when you have all information and materials ready! Incomplete forms, or applications submitted in any other way than what is described in this Call will not be considered.

Please note that incomplete applications, when either the webform is not filled in or the PDF application package is not sent, will not be considered. Upon successful submission, you will receive an automated email confirmation of receipt of your application.

All applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (CET) on January 30th, 2023

Applicants will be notified when their applications have been received. Successful candidates will be informed between February and March 2023. All others will be notified of the result of the evaluation process by early April 2023 the latest. Please kindly note that the IAS will not share the results of the evaluation process (reviews, scores) with the applicants.

For further information regarding your application and for more info on IAS CEU, please visit: ias.ceu.edu; for more information on the BIAAS, please visit: botstiberbiaas.org. Questions and comments may be sent to IAS_applications@ceu.edu.

CEU is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.

The privacy of your personal information is very important to us. We collect, use, and store your personal information in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation. To learn more about how we manage your personal data during the application/selection process, please see our Privacy Notice at ceu.edu/privacy and CEU’s Data Protection Policy at documents.ceu.edu/documents/p-1805.