Open call for applications

The Käte Hamburger Kolleg Aachen Cultures of Research (c:o/re) has openings for a total of 10 international fellows for the academic year 2023/2024, starting in October 2023. Eligible applicants are expected to come from the humanities, social sciences and STS as well as from natural, life and technical sciences. The International Center for Advanced Studies at RWTH Aachen University is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Part of its mission is to offer a free space to its fellows to develop their own research and to exchange ideas for a timespan of up to 12 months.

The topic Cultures of Research is positioned where the fields of philosophy, sociology and history interface with natural sciences and technology. The overall focus of the Center’s work is on transformations of science and technology which are addressed by notions of complexity, life-likeness and emergence. In general, we are particularly interested in the digitalization of research (simulation, artificial intelligence, machine learning) for the study of epistemic complex systems (e.g. climate change, energy revolution, biologization, sustainability), in participatory arrangements between science and society and in investigating histories and varieties of cultures of research. Our aim is to explore new cultures of (transdisciplinary) research, and, as such, to develop new theories and methodologies for investigating scientific transformations.

For the call of the year 2023/2024 we are particularly, but not exclusively interested in the topic of life-likeness as it emerges at the interface of engineering, AI, life sciences and material sciences.

Against this backdrop we encourage applications by candidates coming from:

* the humanities, social sciences and STS to explore scientific and technological transformations related to life-likeness;

* natural, life and technical sciences to explore complex life-like systems; and

* arts, art history, science journalism and scientific illustration to explore the mediation and representation of life-likeness in science and technology.

Location
The International Center for Advanced Studies “Cultures of Research” is part of RWTH Aachen University (Germany), which with a student body of 47,000 is one of the largest technical universities in Europe. With over fifty professorships and ten institutes from the humanities and social sciences, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities is an integral part of the interdisciplinary culture of teaching andresearch at RWTH Aachen University. Located at the borders of Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands (Euregio), it has close ties with STS institutes at the universities of Maastricht and Liège, and with the Jülich–Aachen Research Alliance (JARA BRAIN) at the neighboring Jülich Research Center, a research campus of more than 5,000 researchers.

Fellowship

Fellows will join the international center for a maximum period of 12 months. The fellowships provide a full grant commensurate with applicants’ level of professional experience, working space in fully-equipped offices, logistical support, and access to the interdisciplinary research landscape and research labs at RWTH Aachen University. Fellows who take unpaid leave during their fellowship will receive financial compensation in the form of a stipend; alternatively, the center would pay for a teaching replacement at the fellow’s home institution. In order to create a stimulating intellectual environment among the resident research community, fellows are expected to routinely conduct much of their work from Aachen during their fellowship. Residency in Aachen is required and the center can support fellows in the search for accommodation.