The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and The British Academy Knowledge Frontiers Symposium

More about the programme

The British Academy and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation are pleased to announce a call for applicants for early career scholars in the humanities and social sciences to attend the Knowledge Frontiers Symposium. The research collaboration symposium will take place between May 7-9, 2025 in Berlin, Germany.

Aims

The symposium aims to incentivise and establish international engagement and collaboration between early career researchers based in Germany and the United Kingdom. This symposium’s theme is belonging, highlighting connections between space, place and identity and addressing: what does it mean to belong to a community, a society or a state? How is this sense of belonging – or exclusion from it – produced, maintained, expressed and represented?

This symposium will seek to bring a highly interdisciplinary lens to this work, exploring ideas of belonging and identity in relation to borders and boundaries, both physical and ideological. It is expected that the symposium will include a series of sessions focusing on:

• Mutability of belonging
• Natures of belonging
• Representations of belonging

Participants, consisting of approximately 15 early career researchers from each country (within ten years of PhD completion), will have opportunities for in-depth discussions, networking, and collaborative project development. Seed funding will be available for international collaborations formed during the symposium.

Eligibility requirements

Eligible applicants must be early career researchers affiliated with research institutions in the UK or Germany. Applications will be evaluated based on the applicant's research interest in the theme of belonging, commitment to interdisciplinary engagement, and potential for career development through symposium participation.

Application Process

Interested applicants are required to complete an online application form via Flexi-Grant® by Wednesday 15 January 2025 at 17:00 (GMT). We will seek to notify successful applicants by the end of February.

The symposium covers travel, accommodation, and visa costs. Participants are expected to attend the entire symposium and travel on designated dates.

Contact details

Further information is available from Hannah Moscovitz at [email protected]