Research assistant

The project as a whole will run for 5 years from November 2020. Its main aim is to provide a first global study of transcultural knowledge production in the early modern age (c.1470- c.1620), by examining the development of academic disciplines within the international and multicultural environment in which they were taught and studied.

The guiding idea of the project is that the richest and most varied evidence of transcultural knowledge produced during the early modern age was provided by central-eastern European students migrating westwards. The study perspective that traditionally focuses on university academics will be reversed, concentrating on travelling students seen as knowledge agents. The manuscript anthologies produced by central-eastern European students travelling westwards are unique documentary evidence of the production of transcultural knowledge in the Renaissance period. The students who produced them were of Slavic, Hungarian and Baltic linguistic backgrounds and their countries bordered with the Latin world on one side and the Russian and Ottoman Empires on the other. Through study trips they received education in a certain disciplinary field, but during their sojourns they also discovered classical Greek and Latin culture, vernacular literature and the artistic expressions of the host country, also experiencing their customs and lifestyles. Their learning was not restricted to a neutral recording of the subjects of study; on the contrary, it was an act of re-elaboration of the new knowledge influenced both by the individuals’ intellectual baggage and the place where they were studying.

The project will involve the interpenetration of intellectual history and the history of central- eastern European student migrations, involving a meticulous analysis of their notebooks. Exploring the students’ contribution to the history of intellectual thought will shed light on a significant historic phase in the formation of European identity.

The principal tasks of the research assistant will be to examine: WP1 [tasks 2-3], WP2 [tasks 2-3], WP5.
- WP1 Archival research. Task 2. Missions to libraries. These will be organised in groups of three scholars. Task 3. First overview of notebooks.
- WP2 Academic and non-academic texts. Task 2. Examination of the academic and scientific texts according to the discipline of study, with a special focus on the disciplines of logic and dialectic. Task 3. Identification of key themes within the notebooks to verify the presence of thematic correspondence between academic and non-academic texts.
- WP5 Dissemination plan.

Application requirements
Those interested in participating in the competition are invited to submit the following documents:

• CV
• Two-page of motivation letter 
• Confirmation of the master degree (e.g. a scan of the diploma, or confirmation of the planned date of the master degree)
• One sample of written work in PDF
• One reference letter (optional) which should be sent directly by the named referees
• Scanned letter containing the following signed statements:

1. Wyrażam zgodę na przetwarzanie moich danych osobowych (zawartych w dokumentach aplikacyjnych) przez jest Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN, z siedzibą w Warszawie, ul. Nowy Świat 72, w celach rekrutacyjnych.
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2. Zapoznałem się z Regulaminem przeprowadzania konkursu na stanowiska naukowe w IFiS PAN.
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3. Oświadczam, że w przypadku zatrudnienia w IFiS PAN, upoważnię Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN do zaliczenie mnie do liczby pracowników prowadzących działalność naukową w dyscyplinie naukowej wskazanej przez Dyrektora Instytutu (socjologia lub/i filozofia).
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Research assistant is to perform the following tasks:
- Research activity
- Research missions (or online search)
- Participation in team activities
- Attending conferences
- Submitting a scientific article
- Submitting one application for national or international grants
- Compiling annual reports on the research activity carried out
- Collaboration in the dissemination of research products