Summary

• Area: Humanities and Social Sciences
• Applications: Submitted through the RJ application system
• Call opens: 23 April 2024 at 09:00 
• Call closes: 15 August 2024 at 15:00 
• Short-list of candidates: October 2024

Focus

The time at the institutes gives fellows the opportunity to concentrate on their own research, free from the teaching and administrative obligations at the home institution. Fellows are expected to be active members of the interdisciplinary environment of the respective institutes and to participate actively in seminars and academic events beyond their own fields of specialisation.

Successful candidates will be granted their full current salaries at home institutions, including travel, accommodation and office space, and administrative support for the fellowship period. In addition, RJ will grant each fellow a separate grant earmarked for activities after the fellowship period at the home institution in Sweden, with the ambition of creating networks and collaborations that endure beyond the time spent at the institutes, benefiting the broader Swedish research community. This may include organising conferences and series of workshops or research collaborations.

The following four institutes are included in the collaboration:

• Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (CASBS)
  The research visit starts on 1 September 2025, 9 months.
  https://casbs.stanford.edu/
• L’Institut d’études avancées de Paris (IEA de Paris)
  The research visit starts on 1 September 2025, 10 months.
  https://www.paris-iea.fr
• The Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS)
  The research visit starts either mid-July 2025 or January 2026, 5 months.
  https://stias.ac.za/
• Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (WIKO)
  The research visit starts mid-September 2025, 10 months.
  https://www.wiko-berlin.de/

Requirements

• The Advanced Studies Programme is open to scholars in all disciplines and themes of the humanities and social sciences based in Sweden.
• The call is open to researchers who have held a PhD for at least 4 years.
• The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the research is compatible with the ethical guidelines established by the Swedish Research Council and that ethical review is carried out where necessary.
• Applicants are only allowed to apply to one of the institutes.

Application

The requested application is to be written in English and will consist of:

1. Explanation of choice of the particular institute (maximum 1 page)
2. A detailed research description (maximum 4 pages)
3. A curriculum vitae with a list of publications (maximum 3 pages)
4. Identify your most important publications and explain why they were important – how it corrected a misconception in the literature, how it advanced subsequent thinking in some way, or how it addressed an important knowledge gap.
5. Submit your most important work to date (maximum 3 publication). Preferably published articles.
6. A tentative plan for how the applicant will utilise the SEK 300,000 for activities after the fellowship period at the home institution.
7. When applying to CASBS, two letters of recommendation are also to be submitted. The letters should describe: (1) The intellectual distinction of the applicant’s previous work and its exceptional attributes, such as originality, adventurousness, timeliness, and impact. (2) The importance and promise of the proposed research, as well as the applicant’s capacity to pursue it rigorously and effectively. (3) The applicant’s potential for contributing to and benefiting from multidisciplinary conversations.

Budget

1. Current monthly salary and employer’s social-insurance contribution top-up (LKP). These two posts must be separated.
2. A description of the applicant’s family situation. Is the intention to travel alone or bring a family?
3. No indirect costs or university-wide fees are to be included in the budget. All indirect costs will be transferred to the hosting institutes.

Applications are to be submitted through the RJ application system.

All the above listed material – apart from the publications – should be submitted as one (1) single PDF file. Publications must be submitted separately, also as one (1) single PDF file.

The grant administrator must approve the application, and the project leader and head of department or equivalent must sign the application electronically when the application is submitted.

RJ will only process signed applications.

Assessment criteria

Selection criteria include the scientific merits of the applicant, the quality of the proposed research, and its feasibility. Priority will be given to candidates that can benefit from, and contribute to, a multidisciplinary discourse at the respective institute. Candidates must have demonstrated a strong track record of significant and original research achievements and be active at the international forefront of their research fields.

Selection process

The selection process takes place in two steps. RJ will be responsible for a preselection of all Swedish applicants using an ad hoc committee of international scholars. In October, a short-list of candidates will be presented to each institute. Final decisions will be made by the respective institute in early 2025. Two Swedish fellows per institute can be granted each year.

Please contact Riksbankens Jubileumsfond with further questions about this program and with specific questions about the three institutes.