The fellowship is designed for doctoral candidates enrolled in an accredited Czech university, who are in the final stages of completing their dissertation and are not employed full-time. We welcome applicants in Middle Eastern and Asian Studies across all disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The duration of the fellowship is 1 year with the possibility of extension for an additional year. Grants are available only to doctoral candidates who are not employed full-time. Funding for successful applications may begin at the candidate’s convenience.
Benefits
- 1-2 years of 50–75% employment based on the other source of funding
- Basic work environment (desk, computer)
- Mentorship by an Oriental Institute researcher
Eligibility
- D. candidate from any Czech university conducting research on the Middle East (including the Ancient Near East) or Asian studies with 1-2 years left until thesis completion
To Apply
Interested candidates should contact a senior researcher from the Oriental Institute before submitting the application to act as a mentor/advisor during the stay to oversee the progress. Please send the following materials to the Oriental Institute HR assistant, Mrs. Jozefína Kudlíková at kudlíková@orient.cas.cz, preferably in a single PDF document, by November 30, 2023. The application package should be in English. Any inquiries please send to the dr. Táňa Dluhošová dluhosova@orient.cas.cz.
- Brief cover letter stating the interest in the fellowship, name of mentor at the Oriental Institute who will oversee the thesis progress, and mention of any external funding for the given year (if applicable).
- Letter of recommendation from the supervisor stating the current progress of the thesis.
- CV
- D. project description (max. 2 pages), outlining the structure of the thesis, its chapters, and contribution to the field.
- Writing sample (draft chapter of Ph.D. thesis or published article). The draft chapter may be in Czech.
About the Oriental Institute:
The Oriental Institute (www.orient.cas.cz) is a public non-university research institution. The Institute currently employs approximately 30 researchers from across the Czech Republic, Europe, Asia, and the United States. Formally established in 1922, the Oriental Institute is one of the oldest institutions dedicated to the study of Oriental cultures in Central and Eastern Europe. Since 1993, it has fallen administratively under the auspices of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), an umbrella research institution similar in function to its counterparts in continental Europe, such as the CNRS in France. The CAS was established in 1992 as the Czech successor to the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. It is set up as a complex of 54 public research institutions. The primary mission of the CAS and its institutes is to conduct basic research in a broad spectrum of the natural, technical, and social sciences and the humanities. This research, whether highly specialized or interdisciplinary in nature, aims to advance developments in scientific knowledge at the international level, while also considering the specific needs of both Czech society and national culture. In a country such as the Czech Republic, where university departments dealing with Oriental studies tend to be small and understaffed, the structure of non-university research bodies with permanent research positions brings numerous benefits. Among other things, scholars are enabled to pursue their specializations according to the needs of relevant fields of study, aiming correspondingly at the highest levels of research quality. The framework of the Institute allows for a flexible and open-ended approach to research initiatives in Asia-related topics, creating, in effect, an ideal environment for interdisciplinary research. The research quality is guaranteed by the Council of the Institute, composed of both internal and external members, and regular – both Czech and international – peer-review evaluations. Currently, the work of our researchers is mainly focused on the Arab world, Iran, Israel, Turkey, India, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, China, Tibet, Japan, and the ancient Near East.
The Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, national or ethnic origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation when considering admission to any form of membership or application for employment.