Democracy Study Centre promote young professionals in their development as responsible academic, civic and economic experts. The idea of the Center is to foster the dialogue between the scholars from Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Russia, particularly encouraging application from the Donetsk and Luhansk former residents and IDPs.  

The DSC is structured in explorative formats that allow our 25 scholars reflect their experiences and develop group projects throughout the course of the programme:

• All project groups exchange ideas with peers in the Forum and with public figures and experts from various fields in the DSC Events
• In methodical workshops of the Democracy Lab they gain hands-on skills to advance their Scholar Group Projects
• In the Thematic Seminars the analytical approach to topics such as democratization and europeanization will facilitate regionally specific insights allowing the DSC scholars to invest the acquired knowledge into their group projects
• The five to six group projects will be mentored by the two research groups - the four fellows and two seniors fellows of the DSC

As strong actors in their respective fields, the DSC scholars learn how to critically engage in political debates and to work interdisciplinarily the scholar group projects they have chosen to prepare during as the ideas potentially contributing to democratic and societal development in their countries.

We educate the next generation of experts and leaders who will become ambassadors of the yet very young Democracy Study Center. They contribute to the growing experiences of this international and intersectional learning space and serve as the role models for the scholars in the years to come.

Who can apply?

• Students, PhD students, activists from civil society, grassroots-democracy movements, initiatives focussing on urban development and journalists aged 21 to 29 with strong interest in academic research cooperation from Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Russia
• Applicants with experiences and/or interest in ethnographic, micro-sociological, human geographic or historical methods to examine urban space; students active in grassroots initiatives for urban development. The research group will be directed by the Social/Cultural Anthropologist Jens Adam from Humboldt-University Berlin  or topics relatable to the research fields of Jens Adam (Humboldt University)
• Applicants with interest in the socio-material traces and legacies of the different imperial relations and political formations that have shaped Western Ukraine (Lviv, its suburbia and surroundings) as we will try to analyse the ongoing power effects of these formations taking socio-material micro-sites in the city as starting point

Where and when?

The programme starts in November 2016 and ends in June 2017.

Regular teaching units and events will take place in Kiev, Ukraine

Is there any financial support?

Participant receive monthly scholarships to cover living and travel costs. Also project funding will be provided (working material, etc.). All selected candidates will have to sign a scholarship contract.

How to apply?

Apply online until the 11th of September 2016 sending an email to [email protected] and providing the following documents in one PDF file:

• Personal data/CV
• Motivation letter (max 1 page)
• Write a research proposal (in English, 1200-1500 words max) covering one of the following topics:
  • Urban spaces – translocal places: the influences of imperial relations, inter- or  transnational political formations, regimes and conflicts on the socio-material realities in the city
  • Power effects: traces of changing societal and political structures in urban architecture
  • Abandoned, lost, but rediscovered: how socio-material micro spaces gain new meanings and symbolic power in public debates on urban futures
• References (letters of recommendation, achievements, blogs, articles, etc.) if available
• Academic certificates
• Information about your participation in similar research programmes

The best applicants will be interviewed starting the 18th of September!

If you need more information please visit the website gpus-society.org . Learn more about the programme format here.  If you have research related questions please write to Jens Adam at [email protected]. Please direct questions regarding application process and the organization of the programme at [email protected]