Following the successful launch of its inaugural fellowship program Revisionism and Falsification, Evidence and Proof for the academic year 2023/24, the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS CEU), the CEU Democracy Institute (DI) and the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA) are pleased to continue their joint fellowship program, and invite applications to it. The new call for applications for the academic year 2024/25 focuses on the topic of Falsifying the Future.

In various capacities, DI, IAS and OSA are engaged in a multi-year research, teaching, and public program series on issues related to historical revisionism. The present call focuses on one important aspect of revisionism, the projection of either a fearful or reassuring future with an eye on immediate political profiteering.

We invite scholars and artists from all disciplines and artistic fields who are interested in exploring the extrapolation of the consequences of ideologically or politically selected events of the past and the present, or misrepresentations and revisions of history, in the service of constructing an invented, ideologically sanitized and politically marketable future.

Going beyond textual narratives, many of these revisionist projects have visual and spatial dimensions as well. A spectacular manifestation of this manipulation concerns the urban landscape of illiberalism. Highly ideologized projections of the past and the future are employed for the purpose of destroying the public sphere by reframing the symbolic and spatial setup of key urban sites. Recent examples range from Kossuth Square and the Castle district in Budapest to Skopje 2014, or the New Parliament House in New Delhi. We are interested in receiving applications which aim at discovering and analyzing the tools, techniques and methods of both the creation, visual and spatial representation, and the ways of transmission of a politically bespoke future.

Deadline for application for the academic year 2024-2025: September 21, 2023, 11:59pm CET

Eligibility, qualifications, experience

• Applicants must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent in the social sciences or humanities at the time of their application. Artists should hold a relevant university degree.
• Only those with publications in internationally recognized scholarly outlets will be considered. Artists should provide a commensurable strong track-record.
• Junior fellows must have obtained a Ph.D. degree issued in 2016 or later and must apply for the junior fellowship. Candidates who obtained their Ph.D. before 2015 are considered “senior” and must apply for the senior fellowship.
• Former full time CEU employees and students are not eligible to apply for 5 years after the end of their studies/contract (degrees must have been received and contracts must have ended by December 31, 2018 or earlier).
• Part-time/temporary employees of CEU are not eligible for 1 year after their contract ends (their contract must have ended by August 31, 2022 or earlier).
• Former fellows of IAS CEU are not eligible to apply again for a period of 7 years. Applications at an earlier stage may be considered only in exceptional cases.
• Reapplication is possible only 3 times within a period of 5 years.
• Applicants are expected to be able to communicate fluently in English as this is the working language of CEU.

How to apply

All applications must be submitted through our online application system.

Step 1: Prepare your application package: create a single pdf file no larger than 12 MBs containing all your application documents. The name of the pdf file should contain your name and the type of fellowship you are applying to.

Example: Smith, Evelyn_JBC_Junior OR Taylor, Judith_JBC_Senior OR Rodriguez, Jose_JBC AiR Application pdf

Your application package should contain the following documents. Only applications using the requested format and word counts will be considered for review:

1. A letter of intent (max 1,500 words)
2. The abstract of your research project (max. 150 words)
3. A description of your research project (min. 1,000 - max. 2,500 words; the reference list is not included in the word count)
4. A CV (max. 5 pages)
5. References: for junior applicants ONLY: the name and email address of two referees (for potential reference).

Application packages submitted by artists should contain the following:

• Cover letter indicating how the fellowship is beneficial for the artistic project (max. 3 pages)
• Abstract of the project (max. 400 words)
• Project plan which describes a concrete project that can be developed while in residence, identifying any technical support needed (max. 1,500 words, not counting references; possible additional video material)
• CV (max. 4 pages), including a list of published works and/or portfolio (the selection committee might request samples at a later stage)

Step 2: Go to the Application Form for the Academic Year 2024/25, and fill in all your data as required.

Step 3: As a final step, upload your application package (pdf file), and submit your application.

Please note that you cannot save your work and continue filling in the form at a later time, so you are asked to submit your application when you have all information and materials ready! Incomplete forms, or applications submitted in any other way than what is described in this Call will not be considered.

Upon successful submission, you will receive an automated email confirmation of receipt of your application.

Successful candidates will be informed between February and March 2024. All others will be notified of the result of the evaluation process by the end of April 2024 the latest.

For more details please click here.

Questions and comments may be sent to IAS_applications@ceu.edu.

Cover photo: Shutterstock