The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) seeks ten Early Career Fellows (graduate students, postdocs, assistant professors or the equivalent) to participate in two summer academies to be held in Berlin on June 14–18, 2027 and June 26–30, 2028, with the support of the Balzan Foundation.

The topic of the summer academies will be how disciplines in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities have deliberated about how to invest their always scarce resources of time, talent, and money in projects that will shape research in an always uncertain future, especially the middle- and long-term future, from the next five years to the next century. Examples might include decisions to build a new space telescope, or to create a historical dictionary of an entire language, or to plan a longitudinal study stretching over a generation or more. Decisions might be about creating and preserving collections of material objects (art works, fossils, ice cores) or data (human genomes, online critical editions) or infrastructures (funding agencies, laboratories, libraries, data bases, field sites, museums, major instrumentation, universities). All of these projects are bets on what cannot be predicted: which research questions will turn out to be fruitful? Can long-term funding be depended upon? How long will it take, and will anyone care when it's done? (See project website for fuller description.)

The topic has been broadly construed, and research projects may focus on any discipline, epoch, or locale. Candidates may come from any country or discipline but should be able to present their work and discuss that of others in English.

Early Career Fellows will be given the opportunity to present their own work at the Summer Academies as well as to interview senior scholars and scientists on the topic. They will also play a central role in planning the second Summer Academy in 2028. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered.

Applicants should submit the following materials in English by November 1, 2026:

• Letter of motivation
• Curriculum vitae (including list of publications)
• Research project description (maximum 1000 words plus short bibliography of 5–10 key sources)
• Names of two academic references (who would be contacted after November 15 only if the applicant is a finalist)

through the following application portal:

Successful candidates will be notified by January 15, 2027.

For inquiries, please contact: ldaston@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.