30 October 2023

New Europe College – Institute for Advanced Study in Bucharest (Romania) launches the annual competition for the 2024/2025 NEC Fellowships. Romanian and international scholars at postdoctoral level in all fields of the humanities and social sciences (including law and economics) are invited to apply.

What we offer: The Fellowship consists of: a monthly stipend of 850 Euros (tax free); accommodation in Bucharest, comprising living quarters and working space; reimbursement of travel costs from the home/residence country to Bucharest and back. Fellows who stay for the whole academic year are offered a one-month research trip to an institution of their choice. Fellows have free access to the NEC library and electronic resources.

What we expect: Fellows are expected to work on their projects and take part in the scientific events organized by NEC; presence at the weekly seminars discussing the work in progress of the Fellows is compulsory. At the end of their Fellowship, Fellows are expected to hand in a research paper, reflecting the results of their work over the duration of the Fellowship. The papers will be included in a NEC publication.

Eligibility: NEC Fellowships are open to postdoctoral level scholars, Romanian and international, in all fields of the humanities and social sciences.

Duration: For Romanian citizens: a full academic year (10 months, starting in October 2024); for non-Romanian citizens: a full academic year or one term (5 months, starting in October 2024 or March 2025).

How to apply: Applications (in English, French or German) will be submitted in electronic format only, using the on-line form available at applications.nec.ro. See the guidelines below to make sure you have all the needed documents to fill in the form. Please also note that English is the preferred language of communication during most NEC events.

If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to: applications@nec.ro

Selection process: Applications will be evaluated by NEC’s academic staff, in consultation with external experts. Candidates will be notified on the results of the pre-selection in the first half of March 2024, by e-mail. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview, scheduled on April 17–18, 2024. The Academic Advisory Board of the NEC plays a decisive role in the selection of the Fellows. For selection criteria, please see the Guidelines below. Please note that NEC does not disclose to candidates the assessment reports on the applications.

The DEADLINE for submitting applications is JANUARY 18, 2024.

Incomplete or late applications will not be taken into consideration.

GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

Submitting an Application

Candidates need to upload several documents to the application platform:

• a recent photo
• a scan of the PhD diploma
• at least two original letters of reference (in English, French, or German) written explicitly to support the application for the NEC Fellowship. Once the candidate has submitted the application, the referees receive an automatic message with the link and the deadline for uploading the letter. It is recommended that candidates announce the referees in advance that letters of reference are to be submitted by JANUARY 25, 2024.

Candidates can upload their CV.

Candidates need to answer all questions in the application form without exceeding the allotted space.

The project description shall not exceed 12,000 characters (with spaces), including bibliographical references. The project should describe the state of research in the candidate’s particular area of interest and indicate the objectives.

Selection Criteria

• High quality of the candidate’s academic trajectory and publications, participation in international research;
• Innovative research proposal with significant contribution to scholarship;
• Interdisciplinary and/or comparative approaches are an advantage.

GDPR

NEC processes and stores personal data in accordance with current GDPR regulations.

CURRENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS

NEC Fellowships (since 1994)

This is the core program, which awards Fellowships to scholars working on projects in all fields of the humanities and social sciences. Due to funding considerations, this program has been divided into: International Fellowships, granted with the financial support of NEC’s institutional sponsors, and the Ştefan Odobleja Fellowships, targeting Romanian researchers, with financial support from UEFISCDI (The Romanian Executive Agency for Funding Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation).

The Gerda Henkel Fellowships (since 2017)

This program, developed with the support of Gerda Henkel Stiftung (Germany), invites young researchers and academics working in the fields of humanities and social sciences (in particular archaeology, art history, historical Islamic studies, history, history of law, history of science, prehistory and early history) from Afghanistan, Belarus, China (only Tibet and Xinjiang Autonomous Regions), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, for a stay of one or two terms at the New Europe College, during which they have the opportunity to work on projects of their choice.

The Ameropa Fellowships (since 2020)

Organized with financial support from Ameropa and its subsidiaries in Romania and with academic support from the Centre for Government and Culture at the University of St. Gallen, this program aims to investigate the conditions and prerequisites for democratic stability and economic prosperity in Romania and the neighboring region. The Ameropa Fellowship Program is open to early career Romanian researchers in political science, economics, anthropology or sociology. Their projects should focus on aspects relevant for the challenges to democratic consolidation, economic development and the strengthening of civil society in Romania and the region.

The Relevance of the Humanities in the Digital Age Fellowships (since 2021)

The program, proposed jointly by the Centre for Advanced Study Sofia and the New Europe College Bucharest and developed with the financial support of the Porticus Foundation, aims to underscore the cognitive functions of the humanities and their potential as critical disciplines in approaching issues with which they are being confronted by the contemporary digital world. The program is intended to accommodate a broad range of themes pertaining to humanities and social sciences provided they link up to contemporary debates, or address major challenges to the human condition stemming from technological advances and ‘digital modernity’. The program addresses international scholars.

GCE St. Gallen Fellowships (since 2022)
IWM for Ukrainian Scholars Fellowships (since 2023)

These programs are supported by the University of St. Gallen’s Center for Governance and Culture in Europe (GCE) and by the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, targeting mainly Ukrainian and Russian scholars in the humanities and social sciences whose academic careers have been affected by the current war in Ukraine.

Sustaining Ukrainian Scholarship Fellowships (since 2023)

The Sustaining Ukrainian Scholarship (SUS) Fellowship Program, proposed jointly by the New Europe College Bucharest and the Centre for Advanced Study Sofia, aims to support scholars from the regions affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine. The program is aimed at qualified researchers (post-doctoral level) in the humanities and social sciences, including law and economics, who intend to pursue a project of their own choosing. The selected applicants will have the opportunity to spend an extended period (ideally one or two semesters) as fellows, resident in either Bucharest or Sofia, where they will enjoy all the benefits associated with a fellowship. By agreement, financial support can also be granted to researchers who are not in residence for the full period and who want or need to continue their work in their country of residence. Seed funding to support the fellows’ scholarly activities is also available, e.g., for the organisation of small events, for cooperative projects with partners in the host country or at home, or for the provision, development or reconstruction of research infrastructure, especially in the digital arena. Overall, NEC and CAS hope to contribute with this programme to sustainability and renewal of scientific life and work in Ukraine and beyond. Through this fellowship program, NEC contributes to the initiative promoted by the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and supported by the VolkswagenStiftung aiming to found a (for now Virtual) Institute for Advanced Study (VUIAS) in Kyiv.

Mattei Dogan Fellowships (since 2023)

These Fellowships, organised with academic and financial support from Fondation Mattei Dogan (Paris), target early career scholars (within five years of receiving their doctorate) from Central and East European (CEE) and Black Sea states (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Belarus, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) who are attached to an academic institution in these countries at the time of application. Candidates should propose original approaches to comparative social science research. The program is open to all academic disciplines in the social sciences. The selected post-doctoral researchers will have the opportunity to work on projects of their choice for one or two semesters, as Fellows residents in Bucharest.

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