Max Weber Fellowships

Who Can Apply?

The Programme is open to applicants who are within 5 years of the completion of their Ph.D. from anywhere in the world, regardless of nationality, and is not restricted to citizens of the EU. All things being equal, preference is given to those who have recently completed a doctorate, not had a postdoctoral position before and/or are on the job market. The language of the programme is English and applicants must fulfil the English language requirements as outlined in the section on Eligibility.

To ensure a richness of perspectives and experiences, the EUI is committed to actively recruiting from a diverse pool of applicants. We encourage candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as those who identify as belonging to groups that are underrepresented in higher education to apply. Candidates are invited to provide any information that may be relevant to the application under “Further information” -> ”Additional notes” in the application form.

Applicants for Max Weber Fellowships who are nationals and/or residents (please check details on eligibility) of Finland, Poland, Greece, Slovenia or Japan may be considered for the grant schemes (see the last tab of this section) that are run by funding bodies in these countries.

For How Long?

The length of the Max Weber Fellowships varies by the academic unit to which the Fellows are affiliated.

• The Department of Law (LAW) and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) only offer 1 year Fellowships.
• The Department of Economics (ECO) and the Department of Political and Social Sciences (SPS) offer both 1 year and 2 year Fellowships. Fellows in these Departments who stay on for a second year will have the possibility of applying for a Part-time assistant professor contract (level ASSPR6/3) for 12 months involving some teaching duties and mentoring Ph.D. researchers: net remuneration would be approximately 850 EUR in addition to the monthly grant.
• The Department of History and Civilisation (HEC) offers both 1 year and 2 year Fellowships. One of the two-year fellows can be affiliated with the Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre on European Integration, co-directed by the Chair of History of European Integration, Prof. Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol, as of January 2023. In the second year the fellow is expected to act as Research Coordinator of the Centre, which includes research related to the Centre’s interests, contributing to the organisation of the Centre’s events, and working with the co-Directors to develop new projects. Candidates can express their interest in the Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre affiliation under “Further information” in the application form.
• The School of Transnational Governance (STG) only offers 2 year Fellowships. During the second year, fellows affiliated with STG are expected to take part in the activities of the School, including some teaching.

Candidates for ECO, HEC and SPS are asked to indicate the desired length of their Fellowship (1 or 2 years) when applying. Candidates for LAW and RSCAS can only stipulate 1 year, and candidates for STG only 2 years. All Fellowships run from September to August. The EUI reserves the right to determine the length of the award, be it 12 or 24 months. The period offered will be indicated in the award letter.

Eligibility

• Candidates must have received their Ph.D within the past 5 years or have official approval to defend their thesis by the time of the start of the programme (1 September). Therefore, to apply for 2023-24 they should have received or submitted their Ph.D. between 1/9/2018 and 1/9/2023 and the Ph.D. defence should take place no later than 31/12/2023.

• Extensions to the five-year rule are allowed for applicants whose academic career has been interrupted for maternity or paternity leave, illness or mandatory military service. Cite circumstances in the application form in the field 'Additional Notes'. Successful candidates will be asked to provide supporting documents.

• EUI graduates can only apply for a Max Weber Fellowship after having been away from the EUI and in a full-time occupation or another fellowship for at least a year after defending their Ph.D.

• Candidates of any nationality are eligible for the Max Weber Fellowships.

• The expected level of English proficiency is level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). An English certificate is not requested as part of the application, but successful candidates will be requested to provide a certificate/supporting document on registration. This can be one of the international certificates listed below, or a document showing that the candidate has written the doctorate, or published an article or a book chapter of at least 6,000 words, in English, or has pursued post-graduate studies in an English language degree programme. Native English speakers are exempt of proof.

  The following international certificates of English proficiency are recognised by the EUI.

 

International Certificates of English Proficiency recognised by the EUI

Type of certificate	Expected test score, considered equivalent to level C1 of the CEFR
IELTS	From 7.5
TOEFL (IBT)	From 110
Cambridge Proficiency	A/B/C
Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)	A/B

 

Applications have to be submitted through the Online Application Form.
There are two distinct phases in the application process:

1. Register your application as early as possible

You are encouraged to register your application, by inserting your personal details and referee details as soon as possible. This is important to allow sufficient time for your referees to submit the reference letters before the deadline. References will not be accepted after the deadline.

2. Submit your application by the deadline 18 October 2022 at 14:00 (Italian time) (applications may be submitted until 14:00 (Italian time) on Tuesday 18 October 2022).

Once you have registered your application you may continue to work on the application details and attachments until the deadline of 18 October 2022 (14:00 Italian time). Submit the application only when you have filled in all the information correctly and have successfully uploaded the final version of the attachments.

 

Requested Documents

• Prepare your CV with a list of publications in PDF.

• Prepare an ‘Academic career statement’ (2 pages) as a PDF. The purpose of this statement is for you to indicate why you think the MW Programme, particularly the Academic Practice Activities, will benefit you. It should indicate your research and teaching interests and experience, and career plans.

• Prepare a ‘Research proposal’ (2 pages) as a PDF. The proposal must be clear and well structured, with well-defined and realistic goals that can be achieved within the duration of the fellowship. If you are applying for a 24 month Fellowship, you should indicate on the research proposal what you aim to achieve 1) in the first 12 months and 2) what you hope to do in months 13-24. You may additionally indicate if you think your research will fit with one of the following five "Interdisciplinary Research Clusters":
  • Democracy in the 21st century
  • Inequality, welfare and social justice
  • Crisis of expert knowledge and authority
  • Technological change and society
  • Environmental Challenges and Climate Change Governance
  • Decentering Eurocentrism

The application form will also ask you to indicate whether you would be interested in any of the Interdisciplinary Research Clusters or not.

• There is no advantage in indicating fit with a cluster. Candidates will be selected according to the Selection Criteria and Selection Procedure and only subsequently will we allocate them to suitable clusters.
• Please use standard international fonts, do not use macros, special characters, password-protection, electronic signatures or logos.

Letters of Reference:

• Applicants should provide the names of a minimum of two and a maximum of three academic referees and ensure that at least two letters of reference are submitted online directly by the referees by the deadline 18 October 2022 (14:00 Italian time). References will not be accepted after the deadline.
• References from current full-time or part-time EUI professors will not be accepted.

Your referees will be contacted and will be allowed to submit the reference only after you have completed and registered the first step of the online application form including the names and contact details of referees. In order to receive the references in time by the deadline, you should register the referee details as soon as possible. This is possible any time and you do not yet need to submit the final version of your application at that time.

When you register your referees' contact details in the online application form, an email requesting a reference on your behalf is automatically sent to the referees you have nominated. Nevertheless, it is your responsibility to contact referees directly to inform them of your request, to verify that they have received the email request and to ensure that they submit the reference by the deadline. Please note that reference letters can be submitted by the registered referees (before the deadline) even after you have submitted your application. Registered referees may contact the Academic Service in case of questions or problems emailing [email protected].

Notes for Referees

Once the candidate has registered the details of his/her referees, each referee will receive an e-mail with access details for submitting the reference letter online.

• References should be submitted as PDF files. Please use standard international fonts, do not use macros, special characters, password-protection, electronic signatures or logos.
• Do not send a hard copy.
• You may write in a language other than English, but English will guarantee the widest possible reading.
• References from current full-time or part-time EUI professors will not be accepted.
• If you have any problems or questions, please contact the Academic Service emailing [email protected].

The deadline for submitting references is 18 October 2022 (14:00 Italian time). Kindly note that the EUI encourages candidates to apply and register their referees as early as possible: the application process is open from mid-July to the 18 October deadline.

Candidates with external funding

Candidates with funding from an external source are welcome to apply and will be selected according to the same criteria and procedures. They can do so by applying for an externally funded fellowship by the 25 March 2023 deadline.

An externally funded Max Weber Fellow should have a scholarship from a recognised National or International Research Funding Council or Charity (you can find examples on the Academic Careers Observatory website) that covers living and research costs equivalent to 15.000 euro for 12 months (1.250 euro per month). This requirement may only be waived partially or completely in very special circumstances.

The applications (CV, Career Statement, Research Proposal and proof of funding, all in PDF format) should be sent directly to [email protected].

Two confidential letters of reference (also in PDF) should be sent directly by the referees to the same email address.

Some postdoctoral fellowships are also available through agreements with external funding bodies. Please check the descriptions and eligibility criteria.

 

Academy of Finland 

The Academy of Finland awards fellowships for post-doctoral research at the EUI. There is no strict nationality criteria, but a project to be funded shall serve Finnish research and society or international collaboration.

Candidates who apply for the Academy of Finland funding, and are interested in the Max Weber Fellowship are strongly encouraged to apply also directly for admission to the Max Weber programme following the instructions given on this webpage.

 

Hellenic Fellowship

Τhe Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs supports the appointment of one Greek recent graduate in the context of EUI’s Max Weber postdoctoral programme for the academic year 2023-24. Τhe scholarship will be awarded by I.K.Y. (Greek State Scholarships Foundation) in collaboration with EUI. Candidates shall submit their applications and requested documents through the EUI’s Online Application Form  in compliance with the EUI’s application procedures and deadlines. Candidates shall also submit to I.K.Y. a copy of their application along with requested documents in compliance with I.K.Y.’s application procedures and deadlines. Applicants must meet both EUI’s and I.K.Y.’s eligibility criteria. The selection shall be made by the EUI in accordance with Max Weber postdoctoral programme selection procedure. Before proceeding with the submission of application, please read carefully the relevant call of I.K.Y. (Greek State Scholarships Foundation).

 

Polish Max Weber Fellowship

The Polish Ministry of Education and Science awards two Max Weber Fellowships for the academic year 2023-24. The fellowships are available to Polish candidates who have received a doctorate within the last five years. The selected candidates will participate in the Max Weber Programme.

Interested candidates should apply directly for admission to the Max Weber Programme following the instructions given on this webpage. The deadline for applications is 18 October 2022 (14:00 Italian time). Eligible Polish candidates will automatically be considered for this Fellowship.

 

Slovenian Fellowship

The Slovene Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the Republic of Slovenia awards a post-doctoral fellowship for the academic year 2023-24. The fellowship is available to Slovenian candidates who have received a doctorate within the last five years. The selected candidate will participate in the Max Weber Programme.

Interested candidates should apply directly to the Max Weber programme following the instructions given on this webpage. The deadline for applications is 18 October 2022 (14:00 Italian time). Eligible Slovenian candidates will automatically be considered for this Fellowship.

 

Canon Foundation Fellowships

The Canon Foundation and the EUI jointly award one Canon Foundation Fellowship each year for post-doctoral research at the EUI. The fellowship is open to candidates of Japanese nationality or permanent residents of Japan. The selected candidate will participate in the Max Weber programme.

Interested candidates should apply using instructions given on the website of the Canon Foundation and/or apply directly for the Max Weber programme following the instructions given on this webpage.

 

EUI-IHEID Fellowship

Applicants to the Max Weber Programme for 2023-24 whose research area overlaps with the work of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (IHEID) may be considered for the “EUI-IHEID” Fellowship, which involves a first year at the EUI and a second year at the IHEID. Applicants to the MWP wishing  to take advantage of this additional opportunity should indicate their willingness to be considered for it in their application by ticking the appropriate tab.

 

EUI-CEEH Fellowship

In an effort to encourage ongoing research about the Europeanness of Spain and the interconnected histories of Spain and the rest of Europe, Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica (CEEH) awards Max Weber Fellowships at the EUI. This Fellowship is open to post-doctoral scholars, regardless of nationality, whose research agenda is focused on the history and culture of Spain (1500-1900), including aspects of Spanish presence and influence in Europe, as well as the reception and influence of Spanish art and culture in other European countries.

Scholars will be selected by the EUI Department of History and Civilisation and may be appointed for one or two academic years. Interested candidates should apply directly to the Max Weber Programme following the instructions given on this webpage.