The University of Konstanz is one of the nine universities in Germany whose “future concepts for top-level university research” receive support within the framework of the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments.
The “Cultural Foundations of Integration” Center of Excellence was established in 2006 at the University of Konstanz with funding from the German Federal and State Excellence Initiative. The Center views itself as an interdisciplinary, globally integrated network supporting original research projects centered on questions of integration and disintegration in a framework of cultural studies and method.
At the Center of Excellence, research is brought together from the fields of history, literary and media studies, political science, administration, and law, and from philosophy, sociology, ethnology/cultural anthropology, and cultural theory.
The Center of Excellence invites applications for the following positions:
3 positions in the doctoral program on “Europe in the Globalized World”
Research focus: Migration and Borders in an Age of Intensified Mobility
(Salary scale 13 TV-L / 50%-70%)
The positions are limited to a 3 year period.
This interdisciplinary program is a research unit currently consisting of two post-docs, seven doctoral students, and professors from all the disciplines participating in the Center. The three junior researchers will be integrated into both the Center’s research contexts and the departments of the disciplines with which they are associated. Supervisory emphasis lies in the disciplines of ethnology, history, sociology, literature, and cultural theory. The twofold research-integration will structurally assure coordinated support and supervision.
Conceptual focus:
Global shifts of power have meant that Europe’s position in the world is under discussion in a fundamental way. Questions of cooperation and conflict, socio-cultural identification and exclusion, and rule and legitimation are at the center of the program’s research. The current projects of the program all engage in one way or another with questions of borders and contact: What processes are at play in Europe’s self-constitution through relationships and interconnections with those beyond its borders? Current ideas regarding Europe are examined in the framework of intensified international globalization, with the continent explored conceptually in terms of its real and imagined borders. The program’s projects contribute to the following fields of study: Constructions of Ethnicity, Identity, and Difference; Regimes of Sovereignty; and Migration and Borders in an Age of Intensified Mobility.
Applications involving dissertation projects with an emphasis on “Migration and Borders in an Age of Intensified Mobility” are particularly welcome.
A detailed description of this thematic area is found at: https://www.exzellenzcluster.uni-konstanz.de/doko-europa-migration-grenzen.html
Responsibilities include:
Preparation of a dissertation in a milieu characterized by interdisciplinary openness and an international orientation; regular participation in joint colloquia; participation in additional joint activities of the program (workshops, conferences, etc.).
Applicants should be prepared and willing for interdisciplinary cooperation on the basis of a well-grounded disciplinary formation in one of the subjects represented in the Center of Excellence. Candidates who have advanced doctoral projects are particularly welcome to apply.
Required application documents as two separate PDF files:
- Exposé (maximum 12 pages) containing an outline of applicant’s research project. This exposé will be pre-evaluated in an anonymous procedure. For this reason, please refrain in the exposé from any references or information of a personal nature (age, origin, gender, etc.).
- Cover letter, curriculum vitae, brief abstract of M.A. thesis or equivalent, if possible publication list. Please include a description of your particular motivation for writing a Ph.D. thesis in the framework of the doctoral program.
For questions concerning the job profile, please send an e-mail to exc16apply[at]uni-konstanz.de
Further information on the “Cultural Foundations of Integration” Center of Excellence can be found at: https://www.exzellenzcluster.uni-konstanz.de
The University of Konstanz is an equal opportunity employer and tries to increase the number of women in research and teaching.
The University of Konstanz has been certified by the Hertie Foundation to be a family-friendly institution. The University is committed to further the compatibility of work and family life.
The University of Konstanz encourages a „Dual Career Program“. Information can be obtained from: www.uni-konstanz.de/dcc.
The University of Konstanz encourages disabled persons to apply. They will be given preference if appropriately qualified (Contact +49 (0)7531 88-4895).
Please send your application together with completed documents, in German or English, in electronic form (2 separate PDF files, the exposé without identification of applicant’s name), specifying reference number 2014-074, by 26 May 2014 at the latest, to: exc16apply[at]uni-konstanz.de
Pre-selected candidates will be notified by the end of June and invited to an interview in Konstanz on 21 or 22 July.
We look forward to receiving your application!