InstitutionsHamburg Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS)
The Hamburg Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS) started its work in October 2020 when the first fellows moved into the Neorenaissance-style townhouse at Rothenbaumchaussee 45. Hamburg as a location for science and research will thus have a place where excellent researchers and artists from all over the world can work on projects of their own choosing in a creative, open atmosphere free of teaching or administrative obligations. HIAS is modelled on the world’s oldest IAS in Princeton, USA. Up to 20 fellows per year can live in Hamburg for the duration of three to ten months and carry out their projects.
Founded in 2019, HIAS is currently supported by nine Hamburg research institutions in the form of a non-profit association, which also implements increased networking, as recommended by the German Council of Science and Humanities.
Members
Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität/Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg
Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg
Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
Hamburg University of Technology
Strong focus on public discourse
A special feature of HIAS is, in addition to the close interlinking with local academic institutions, its strong focus on the Hamburg public: for example, the Hamburg Körber Foundation, together with HIAS, organizes „Hamburger Horizonte“, an annual series of conferences for the exchange between academia and society.
“The fellows at HIAS do not live in the seclusion of a monastery. The debates among each other, the close connection to the academic community, but also the dialogue with Hamburg’s citizens is desired and one of our strengths,” says Frank Fehrenbach, founding Chair of the Executive Committee and professor at the Department of Art History at Universität Hamburg.
In order to support and personalize this networking with scholars and researchers based in Hamburg, each HIAS fellow is assigned a cooperation partner from one of the nine HIAS member institutions. These ensure that the fellows are integrated into the respective Hamburg specialist communities and that both the fellows and their Hamburg collaboration partners receive new impulses for their research.
Each fellow commands a budget to plan and hold at least one public event during their stay in Hamburg. The institute itself organizes lectures and symposia on topics and findings discussed at HIAS.
The fellows are invited on the recommendation of a selection committee on the basis of their academic excellence, their innovative strength and the interdisciplinary connectivity of the research project that they will work on at HIAS. The fellows can apply for a fellowship themselves or are proposed for a fellowship by researchers from the Hamburg member institutions. The fellowships are financed by the Federal Government and the State of Hamburg as part of Universität Hamburg‘s Excellence Strategy, as well as by the Joachim Herz Foundation and the ZEIT Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius. The Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg provides fellowships for early career researchers.
Living, working and discussing together
The fellows work together in the HIAS locations at Rothenbaumchaussee 45 and Mittelweg 161 in the immediate vicinity of the university and live in its guest house. Events, colloquia and shared meals are regularly on the agenda.
Lounges, a conservatory, a patio, a roof terrace and numerous seating areas, as well as the quiet garden, provide ample opportunity for inspiring encounters.
The connections that the fellows establish and deepen with Hamburg researchers during their stay at HIAS are intended to anchor long-term collaborations in Hamburg as a location for research and science and to expand its internationalization on a sustainable basis.