The Volkswagen Foundation offers postdoctoral fellowships in the Humanities to enable postdoctoral fellows currently based in Germany to conduct studies at institutions in the U.S. and Canada. The fellowships are usually granted for a period of 9 to up to 12 months. In exceptional cases, a funding period of 18 months is also possible.

Applicants can either select an institution of their own choice for their fellowship or, alternatively, apply to one of the cooperating institutions in the U.S. and Canada.

Cooperating institutions: Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University, Washington University in St. Louis, The Getty Research Institute, Georgetown University Department of History/German Historical Institute Washington DC, Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies at USC, and Emory University’s Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry

Eligibility
This call addresses promising scholars from the Humanities in their postdoctoral research phase currently based at academic institutions in Germany (via employment). Scholars who work in an interdisciplinary field are especially encouraged to apply, if their project has a clear humanistic focus.

To be eligible, applicants should have finished their PhD after October 1st, 2013. As this call addresses postdoctoral candidates, the PhD must be completed by the time of application (i.e. by September 4th, 2018). Please also note that, to be eligible under this scheme, candidates must have been based in Germany for at least two years directly prior to the application.