As part of the enhanced cooperation on the history of knowledge between the Freie Universität Berlin, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Technische Universität Berlin, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, we are advertising several

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

starting November 1, 2017, for durations of 14 to 24 months.

The successful candidates will contribute to the further development of the Berlin Center for the History of Knowledge—the network through which the partner institutions anchor the history of knowledge in teaching and research in Berlin—and to reflection on the foundations of the research field. Alongside their own research, they will therefore be expected to organize joint working groups, colloquia, or workshops. The successful candidates will be based at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.

Applications are invited from early career scholars with a proven record of outstanding research in the history of knowledge or the history of science. Candidates must have completed their doctorate by the time the fellowship begins, and the PhD should not have been awarded more than five years previously. Applicants should be able to demonstrate an interest in theoretical questions. They are asked to submit suggested topics for their own research project addressing the boundaries between the history of knowledge and the history of science, in one of the following thematic focus areas:

1) The focus area “practical knowledge” looks at domains in which knowledge emerges or is applied in systematic combination with practice, revealing the dynamic relationship between praxis and knowledge development;

2) The focus area “fieldworks of knowledge” covers the whole spectrum of practices, strategies, negotiations, and reflections around working with, and on, knowledge in the field. In the narrower sense, this refers to sites located outside the laboratory or the researcher’s office, which have come to typify the humanities.

Applications are welcome from candidates of all nationalities. Women are expressly invited to apply, and we specifically encourage applications from people with disabilities.

The selection process is organized jointly by the participating institutions. Please send a curriculum vitae, list of publications, outline of your research project within one of the two focus areas (max. 750 words), the names of three references, and copies of your qualifications. These documents must be submitted

by September 10, 2017 (23:59 CET),

via the following online portal:

Go to application portal

Please note that we can only accept applications submitted electronically through the application portal. We anticipate that references for shortlisted candidates will be requested between the end of September and early October.

For further information on the scholars involved in this postdoctoral program, see www.wissensgeschichte-berlin.de/en/postdoc-programm

For more details of research positions that you’ll most often see advertised on the MPIWG’s page, see here.