The Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies, established in 1986 at the Freie Universität Berlin and in the United States at the Social Science Research Council, promotes a new generation of young North American scholars with specialized knowledge of modern and contemporary German and European affairs. The Program supports anthropologists, economists, political scientists, sociologists, and all scholars in germane social science and cultural studies fields, including historians working on the period since the mid-19th century.

Fellowships are awarded for doctoral dissertation field research as well as postdoctoral research leading to completion of a monograph. The Program offers a stimulating academic environment that integrates research opportunities with intellectual and cultural interaction. An essential part of the Program is the biweekly seminar, which brings together the North American fellows and German scholars. Fellows have access to faculty members and to Berlin’s broader intellectual community.

Fellows are selected by an international, interdisciplinary advisory committee of scholars and work closely with colleagues and senior scholars at all three major Berlin universities — Freie Universität, Humboldt Universität, and Technische Universität — and many of the capital’s advanced study institutions, including Max Planck Institutes, the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin.

Funds from the Volkswagen Stiftung created the Program in 1986. Since 1991, the Land Berlin has funded this Program at the Free University. The German Marshall Fund of the United States supports the Program’s North American promotion and transatlantic selection process.

Eligibility and Terms
The program accepts applications from U.S. and Canadian nationals or permanent residents who are full-time graduate students in the social sciences and humanities and who have completed all coursework required for the Ph.D. Also eligible are U.S. and Canadian Ph.D.s who have received their doctorates within the past two calendar years.

Fellowships begin in either October (Wintersemester) of the year of selection or the next April (Sommersemester), with exact dates following the Berlin academic calendar. Awards provide between nine and twelve months of research support at the Free University in Berlin.

Criteria for Selection
Applications should exhibit a grounding in the methods and theories of a particular discipline, but must also be of demonstrable cross-disciplinary interest. Applicants should specify why an extended period of field-based research in Berlin is critical to the successful completion of their proposed doctoral dissertation or research project. The research design of proposals should be realistic in scope, clearly formulated, and responsive to theoretical and methodological concerns. Applicants should show an appropriate level of training and skill to undertake the proposed field research, including evidence of language fluency adequate to complete the project and participate in the seminar at the Free University. All applications will be reviewed by both German and American scholars who serve on independent selection committees. A final selection meeting takes place with representatives of both committees present.

Application Receipt Deadline
February 6, 2001

Applications sent by fax or received after the deadline will not be accepted. All materials must be typed or computer-printed according to application instructions. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a single application packet consisting of completed application forms, a proposal, three letters of reference, language evaluation(s), and graduate school transcripts. Proposals should be no longer than 2,500 words or ten pages, followed by a one or two page bibliography or bibliographic essay.

AWARD
Berlin Program fellowship stipends are dm2,000.- per month for individuals, dm2,250.- for fellows accompanied by a spouse who is not working or on scholarship, and dm2,500.- when the couple is accompanied by a child. The Program provides one round-trip airfare for the fellow between the fellow’s residence at the time of award and Berlin. In addition, funds for intra-European travel are provided on an individual basis for necessary research site visits between the semesters.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF AWARDS
May 2001

For further information & application materials, contact:

Berlin Program
Social Science Research Council
810 Seventh Avenue, 31st Floor
New York NY 10019 USA
212 377-2700 telephone
212 377-2727 fax
berlin@ssrc.org e-mail
http://www.ssrc.org web

To download an application, contact http://www.ssrc.org/berfell.htm

In the administration of its programs, the Social Science Research Council does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, creed, disability, gender, marital status, national origin, race or sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws.