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, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, 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 2024, 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 2024.

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).