Important Information for the Application Process

Type of fellowships available

An open call for applications is circulated for regular fellowships only. Artist, senior and public fellowships are awarded on the basis of recommendations made to the LIAS Advisory Board and Directorate. They are not open to applications.

Eligibility

Early to mid-career scholars with a consolidated postdoctoral project who have gathered some experience as post-doctoral scholars are eligible to apply. Completion of the PhD should be no more than 10 years prior to the beginning of the fellowship. Special dispensation is given to scholars who have taken parental leave (2 years credit per child), who have spent time caring for ill or aging family members or experienced events that seriously interrupted their scholarly activities. Such extenuating circumstances and their duration should be mentioned in the application so they can be considered accordingly.

Applicants may submit applications as long as they are still eligible to apply.

Fellowship format

LIAS fellowships start on April 1 and end on March 31 the following year. The fellowships are designed as 12-month residencies during which fellows benefit from scholarly exchange with other fellows as well as with scholars within the Leuphana community. The program is not designed to support long field stays or extensive archival visits. Shorter field stays and archival trips are possible.

Putting together your application

In crafting a strong application, applicants should complete all parts of the application, including all parts of the application form (for a checklist of required application materials see the section “Submitting your application” below)

Please do not include articles or monographs in your application.

At LIAS you will be working in an interdisciplinary context. The members of the selection committee may or may not be familiar with your field. Please keep this in mind and write your project description in such a way so that it is accessible to the educated non-expert while also fulfilling the standards of an institute for advanced studies.

Particularly strong applications make a cogent case as to why the proposed project is most suitably pursued at LIAS and at Leuphana University Lüneburg, referring to specific aspects of the LIAS research programmatic or to particular faculty members or research foci at Leuphana University Lüneburg that would be helpful to developing the project. Given the number of academically strong applications, priority is given to those who clearly feel they will benefit from LIAS and Leuphana University as specific research spaces.
We also welcome applications from applicants that propose projects for which it would be useful to host a workshop or conference or who have planned some kind of outreach component. 

Submitting your application

Applications for the fellowship program will be accepted after the call for applications has been opened and must be submitted before the final deadline. Please check that you have submitted all required documents. These are as follows:

• an introductory letter/statement of motivation (please do NOT write this as an e-mail, but include it in your application materials in the PDF file)
• the completed application form
• your academic CV in English detailing educational and professional trajectory and listing publications, courses taught, outreach activities, etc.
• the project proposal, max. 5 pages single-spaced in Times New Roman (12 pt.) or Arial (11 pt.) font. The proposal should include:
  • a description of state of research and the contribution or intervention your project will make in your respective field and with regard to the aims of LIAS in Culture and Society
  • a discussion of how your work meets the selection criteria (see below)
  • a work plan / roadmap detailing how the time during the fellowship will be invested

PLEASE NOTE: All parts of the application must be written in English and submitted to lias@leuphana.de as ONE pdf file. Applications submitted as multiple files cannot be processed.

Soon after submission of your application you should receive confirmation of submission. If you do not receive such a confirmation, please resend the application. Should the deadline have passed, and you not have received confirmation of submission, please contact LIAS so we can sort things out.

Selection process

In the first round of the selection process the selection committee checks each application for completeness and verifies the eligibility of the applicant. In the second round the remaining applications are carefully read and assessed with regards to their fit with the selection criteria (see below). It should be evident from the application why LIAS and Leuphana University are especially suitable places to purse the research project. The final selection of successful applicants is made jointly by the LIAS Directors and the LIAS Advisory Board. It should be noted that the number of strong applications that meet with the selection criteria is quite high, but that LIAS can only offer 7 fellowships per year. This means that even very strong applications must inevitably be turned down.

Because we carefully read and consider all applications, the selection process takes some time. Generally, candidate selection is finalized about 5 months after the close of the deadline. Because there can be surprising turns in the course of the final consideration of applications, we inform all applicants only after the final decision has been made. Should you not receive a response by that time, please feel free to contact LIAS to inquire about the status of your application.

Selection criteria

Selection is made according to the following criteria:

• the applicant’s fit with the eligibility criteria
• the proposed project’s fit with the LIAS in Culture and Society mission statement (https://www.leuphana.de/en/research-centers/lias.html),
• excellence, innovativeness of scholarly approach and quality of academic output to date,
• feasibility of the project within the timeframe of the fellowship,
• potential synergies or points of exchange with the on-going research of specific faculty members at Leuphana University Lüneburg,
• consideration is also given to diversity criteria as LIAS specifically seeks to support engaged and innovative scholars from a diversity of scholarly backgrounds.

Waitlist

The selection committee does have a very short waitlist. Candidates who are waitlisted are informed. If a selected candidate is not able to accept the fellowship the first ranked candidate on the waitlist is contacted.

Following a successful application

Whether or not the application is successful you will be contacted by LIAS to inform you of the outcome. Should your application have been successful, you will be contacted by LIAS Fellowship Support to help you organise your stay. 

If you have any questions concerning the application process or the fellowships, please contact us at lias@leuphana.de.