These postdoctoral fellowships in the Humanities are jointly offered by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Volkswagen Foundation. They aim at enabling postdoctoral researchers currently based at academic institutions in the U.S. to spend some time conducting studies at universities or research institutes in Germany. 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 Germany.

Cooperating institutions: Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Lichtenberg-Kolleg, Göttingen Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Konstanz University, Center of Excellence/Institute for Advanced Study and Zukunftskolleg, Freie Universität Berlin, Dahlem Humanities Center, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, German National Library, Herzog August Bibliothek, German Literature Archive, Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), Leopoldina Centre for Science Studies, Universität Münster, Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, and Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS)

Eligibility
This call addresses promising scholars from the Humanities in their postdoctoral research phase currently based at academic institutions in the U.S. 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 411h, 2018). Please also note that, to be eligible under this scheme, candidates must have been based in the U.S. for at least two years directly prior to the application.