Gerda Henkel Fellowship for the History of Knowledge and the History of Science

Supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the IZEA established a new fellowship programme on the history of knowledge and the history of science in 2021.

Studying the history of knowledge and

the history of science is a core concern of the Interdisciplinary Centre

for European Enlightenment Studies (IZEA) in Halle. Under the title

“Structures of Knowledge”, one of the four research areas of the Centre

examines eighteenth-century practices of acquiring, questions of

ordering and techniques of disseminating knowledge. Institutionally part

of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, one of the most

important universities in the Enlightenment period, and located at the

site of the Francke Foundations, a research visit at the IZEA allows

access to numerous resources which are relevant to the history of

knowledge and the history of science. In addition to the historical

collections of the University and State Library Saxony-Anhalt (ULB), the

library of the Francke Foundations and the Marienbibliothek zu Halle an

der Saale, these include the university collections extending into the

eighteenth century, especially in the fields of the natural sciences and

anatomy, as well as the collections of the German National Academy of

the Sciences Leopoldina.

With the new fellowship programme,

initially funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation for a period of two

years, the IZEA intends to specifically promote research in the history of knowledge and the history of science with a focus on the period of Enlightenment, hence, a field which receives particular relevance in current debates in science politics and society more generally.

For the year 2023, the IZEA offers two fellowships for postdoctoral researchers for up to three months amounting to 2,300€ per month, and one fellowship for doctoral students for up to three months amounting to 1,600€ per month.

The fellows work for up to three months

in their own offices at the IZEA and participate in the Centre’s

research programme. They present their research results in a public

lecture and in the blog Café Lumières: 18th-Century Research in Dialogue, which the IZEA operates in cooperation with the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford (UK).

Please send your application to izea(at)izea.uni-halle.de by 15 January 2023.

Your application should include the following documents:

• Letter of motivation
• Curriculum vitae
• List of publications and the copy of a published article (for doctoral students: if available)
• Title and outline of the research project to be undertaken at the IZEA (max. 5 pages)
• For doctoral students: a letter of recommendation

In case of questions, please contact the research coordinator of the IZEA, Dr. Andrea Thiele (andrea.thiele(at)izea.uni-halle.de).