International Research Award in Global History 2016
Active readers of the Toynbee Prize Foundation's blog may recall one very interesting call for applications from around this time last year, when the Universities of Heidelberg, Basel, and Sydney teamed up to sponsor an International Research Award in Global History for €10,000, to be used to sponsor a conference devoted to a global history subject at the University of Heidelberg. With Dr. Adam Clulow (Monash University) the winner of that first competition, plans are well underway to host what looks to be a wonderful conference at Heidelberg this December, "The Global Company," devoted to comparative histories of the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company.
Fortunately for early- and mid-career scholars looking for a similar platform to boost the profile of their own research, or those who did not make the cut the first time, the Heidelberg-Sydney-Basel consortium has announced its second International Research Award in Global History, with much of the same guidelines but for a conference to be hosted in Basel, Switzerland from December 1-3, 2016. The call for applications explains further:
The Universities of Heidelberg, Basel and Sydney are proud to announce the International Research Award in Global History, to be awarded for the second time in 2016. The successful applicant will receive up to €10,000 towards the organization of an international symposium on a topic of his/her choice at one of the participating institutions.
Global History is still a comparatively young research field. Over the last two decades it has emerged as an important sub-discipline in the broader field of historical research, encompassing a wide range of methodological and thematic approaches, including transnational, international and world history. The International Research Award in Global History and the award symposium has been initiated jointly by some of the leading researchers in the field, in order to identify innovative young researchers in this broad field. The award will further their work by giving them the intellectual freedom and the financial means to bring together scholars from all over the world to engage with a topic of their own choice and design. Our aim is to make the scholarly work of the awardee visible in the scientific community and put them in closer contact with established colleagues in their field. Beyond supporting the research and academic networks of the prize-winning scholar, the award symposium will contribute to the field's ability to critically reflect and intellectually replenish itself. The award also aims to reach out to an academic public beyond the sub-discipline of global history and provide a broader stage for the pioneering research currently undertaken in the field.
The purse of up to €10,000 attached to the award will be used to host an international symposium on a topic proposed by the successful applicant. In 2016, the symposium will take place at the University of Basel in Switzerland, from 1-3 December. It will be the awardee's responsibility to organize the panels and invite the speakers for the symposium. Chairs and discussants will come from the initiating institutions at Basel, Heidelberg and Sydney and the award jury. Organizational support will be available.
Once again, this looks like a terrific opportunity. A few organizational details are in order. First, the Award is primarily intended for "in the early stage of their postdoctoral career in History (2-7 years after their PhD)." Applications may either be submitted alone, or as part of a joint application among two scholars.
If this sounds like you, then the organizers request "a cover letter explaining their interest in the award (max. 2 pages), an academic CV and their proposal for the award symposium (detailing the topic, a tentative list of participants and a preliminary budget, max. 5 pages)" be sent to Susanne Hohler (susanne.hohler@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de) no later than October 15, 2015. The application package should be formatted as one PDF, they add, and questions may be directed to Dr. Hohler.
The International Research Award in Global History is jointly advertised by the Department of History and the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" at Heidelberg University (Roland Wenzlhuemer), the Institute for European Global Studies at the University of Basel (Madeleine Herren-Oesch) and the Laureate Research Program in International History at the University of Sydney (Glenda Sluga).