IN-EAST News
15.11.2011 - 00:00
Three Doctoral Stipends for 2012 (Application until Nov. 15, 2011)
The DFG Research Training Group (Graduierten Kolleg) 1613 Risk and East Asia at the Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST), University of Duisburg-Essen invites applications to its English-language doctoral program. | IN-EAST is the largest institute of social scientific research on contemporary East Asia in continental Europe, offering international degree programs at the MA and doctoral levels in Chinese and Japanese Studies. | IN-EAST is a member of EastAsiaNet, the European Research School Network of Contemporary East Asian Studies (www.eastasianet.eu). | The Research Training Group cooperates closely with the White Rose East Asia Centre at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield in the UK.
The research program of the Risk and East Asia group is aimed at understanding how large processes of economic, political and social institutional change play out in East Asian, as compared to European, national and regional contexts. Participating researchers examine the impact of market transformations, individualization, decentralization and transnationalization processes on shifts in the responsibility for and governance of risks from states to markets, public to private bodies, and collective to individual actors. Doctoral fellows develop their own projects within the research program and join the structured doctoral training curriculum.
Training measures are tailored to the research program and designed to support high quality social scientific and language-based regional studies scholarship. Doctoral fellows participate in a methods workshop in East Asia, hosted by the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies at the University of Tokyo and the School of Sociology and Population Studies at Renmin University of China, Beijing. Doctoral research projects are eligible for up to ten months of field research funding in China or Japan.
Three doctoral fellowships will be awarded in 2012 for an initial one-year period of support, with a renewal option for a total three-year stipend. Stipends can begin as early as January 1, 2012 but no later than October 2012. Application deadline is November 15, 2011.
Applications are invited from candidates with good language skills in Chinese or Japanese, and an excellent MA degree (or national equivalents) in either Sociology, Political Science/International Relations, Economics or Social/Economic Geography or in East Asian Regional Studies with a clear social scientific or economics component.
Applicants are expected to document advanced language competence in either Japanese or Chinese. The MA degree must be completed by the end of the year of application. Awards will be made pending completion of MA degrees. Risk in East Asia is an English language doctoral program. We require evidence of English language proficiency.
Doctoral Application Directions
There is no standardized application form. All applications will be reviewed by the Speaker of the research training group together with the relevant participating scientists. All applicants are requested to submit the documents described below. All documents should be sent electronically (with the exception of letters of recommendation). Applicants advancing to the final selection phase will be required to submit all official documents by post.
- A complete c.v. including date of birth, nationality, a color photo, postal address, email address and telephone number, all valid through August of the application year.
- Copies of official transcripts documenting all degrees awarded (BA, MA) and courses completed as part of these degrees.
- Evidence of language proficiency in English and either Japanese or Chinese.
- Cover letter including a statement of purpose and brief statement of career perspectives, especially in respect to how your interests fit in with the Research Training Group (no longer than 2 pages!)
- Preliminary Dissertation Proposal (5–7 pages double spaced), with the following elements:
- Identification of a research topic in the state of research in one of the disciplinary areas of the research training group
- Alignment with one of the sub-themes of the research program
- Country focus supported by language competence
- Preliminary research design, with a specific statement of methods proposed and the possible role of a research residency in East Asia
Bibliography (no longer than 1 page) - Two recent letters of recommendation should be sent separately by persons qualified to evaluate your academic and professional qualifications, familiar with your academic record, language competencies and prior experience in East Asia or other research contexts, and who are able to assess your success in the research training group. At least one of the letters must be from a university professor who has instructed you. The recommendation letters must be submitted by the application deadline.
- Applicants may also submit the results of a Graduate Record Examination in support of their applications.
Send Applications to:
PhD@in-east.de
BY NOVEMBER 15, 2011
Inquiries may be directed to:
Ms. Uta Golze, Coordinator
Institute of East Asian Studies
University of Duisburg-Essen
Campus Duisburg
47048 Duisburg
Germany
Tel: +49 203 379-2249
Fax: +49 203 379-8157