FAQ

The Käte Hamburger Colleg: Cultures of Research (c:o/re) is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). It is an international Center for Advanced Studies at RWTH Aachen University, one of the largest and leading technical universities in Europe. The center aims to strengthen the link between philosophy, sociology, and the history of science with science and technology studies (STS) and, on the other hand, the link between science and engineering. Read more about c:o/re’s thematic fields in the second funding period (2025–2029).

All applicants must have a completed PhD degree with an excellent grade in their academic field. For junior fellows, a successfully completed PhD is a formal requirement; for senior fellows, a professorship or comparable position is expected (full or associate professorship or senior lecturer). We particularly encourage interdisciplinary proposals.

No, unfortunately not. All applicants must have completed their PhD by the time of their application. The completed PhD will be verified through the upload of the PhD certificate (as pdf) in the application portal. In the case of a PhD certificate written in non-Latin letters, please upload a certified English translation.

Yes. The fellowships are open to researchers of all nationalities and university affiliations.

Your application should include a letter of motivation (1 page), your CV, a project proposal including the research question, state of the art, method, and project outline (max. 3 pages), your list of publications, a writing sample (journal article or book chapter), and the filled-out online application form. All documents (except the online application form) should be submitted as PDF files. During the online application process, you will also be asked to upload a copy of your university PhD degree. The application must be written in English. All documents can be uploaded to our online application form. Once you have registered to our online application form, you can save the status of your application there anytime.

Only writing samples in English will be accepted.

You may address your cover letter to the selection committee or to both directors, Professor Gabriele Gramelsberger and Professor Stefan Böschen.

Of course, you can submit a co-authored paper as a writing sample. If it is currently under review, please add the full bibliographical information of the paper (title, journal, expected publication date, etc.).

The Calls for Application are usually published by the end of October, and the application deadline will be December 31. Fellowships are very competitive. The applications will be reviewed first by the team members with the directors, and then by the international scientific advisory board. The success rate of applications in the first funding period (2021-2025) was around 8-10%.

No. The online application form will no longer be available after the expiration of the application deadline.

The main selection criterion is the strength of the individual research proposal. The well-written proposal should clearly fit into the research agenda of c:o/re and make an original contribution to at least one of the thematic fields.

No, these are research fellowships; a teaching background is not required.

Sorry, this is not possible. In order to process your data properly, we kindly ask you to apply via the online application form only. Please note that towards the end of the application deadline, there is usually larger number of applicants trying to submit their application which might cause technical difficulties. Therefore, we recommend to not submit your application last minute. If you have applied for the previous call you may use your login details for the application platform again.

All applicants will be notified about the results by email by the end of March, at the latest in the beginning of April.

Yes, if your application also meets the requirements of the next call for applications, you are welcome to apply again. If you have already registered for the application platform in the previous call, you may use your login details again.

Yes, fellows are expected to take residence in Germany (we recommend in Aachen or the surrounding areas) and be regularly present at the KHK during the entire fellowship; the center does not fund archival or field research trips.

Fellowships are usually awarded for a period of twelve months but also shorter stays can be arranged. At the KHK c:o/re fellows are provided with working space in fully equipped shared offices, administrative and IT support as well as library service. The KHK can also support fellows with access to interdisciplinary research environments , and access to the interdisciplinary research environment (such as HumTec) as well as to the research labs at RWTH Aachen University. Three different financial arrangements are available: a) fellows who take unpaid leave during their fellowship will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with their level of professional experience as well as a monthly allowance to cover their housing expenses; b) fellows who spend their sabbatical at c:o/re will receive a monthly allowance to cover their living and housing expenses; and c) for fellows who continue to receive their regular salary, c:o/re can pay for a teaching replacement at the fellow’s home institution. All financial arrangements will be individually negotiated after the fellowships have been awarded.

As a resident of the European Union you don’t need a visa. Fellows from non-EU countries have to apply for a visa and it is strongly recommended that you do so as soon as possible after having been awarded the fellowship at c:o/re. We will provide you with all information and an official invitation letter and fellowship agreement in due time. You can find further information on visa regulations at the German Foreign Ministry’s website.

Both, c:o/re and the Welcome Service for international guest researchers at RWTH’s International Office offer support for finding suitable accommodation in Aachen. The Housing Guide provides a lot of helpful information to start off with. Further, Milestone Aachen-West is offering fully-furnished student and guest apartments (including WLAN, heating, electricity, etc.) in a recently renovated cloister close to the center of Aachen, which fellows might want to consider. Further information can be found at the website of the location. In all cases, fellows have to rent a place themselves, RWTH Aachen University and c:o/re cannot provide accommodation.

Important to consider in your financial plans is the cost of accommodation: furnished accommodation in Aachen is usually around 700 to 900 euros for a studio apartment and up to 1,000 euros and more for a two-bedroom apartment. We recommend taking the bike or public transport. The so-called Deutschlandticket is a monthly subscription that allows you to use all public transport (except intercity and international trains) and costs 58 euros.

Aachen is a lively city with more than 50,000 students. It is the westernmost city in Germany directly at the boarder to Belgium and The Netherlands. It is known as the medieval imperial residence of Emperor Charlemagne of the Frankish Empire. It takes one hour by train to Liège, Maastricht, Brussels, Cologne and Düsseldorf, two hours to Frankfurt, two and a half hours to Paris and Amsterdam. The city is surrounded by green landscapes and forests, which invite visitors to hike or cycle around the region. Aachen is also a popular destination for visitors during Carnival in February or early March. The Käte Hamburger Kolleg: Cultures of Research is just a five-minute walk from Aachen central station and about ten to fifteen minutes from the city center. The nearest international airports are in Maastricht, Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn, and Frankfurt.

Handling application data for employment
Personal data of applicants are collected and processed to properly conduct and complete an application procedure based on finding the most suitable applicant and the possibly ensuing fellowship. Processing this data is based on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Informationsfreiheitsgesetz Nordrhein-Westfalen – IFG (North Rhine-Westphalian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act).
The collected application data will be saved for as long as necessary subject to relevant retention periods for completing certain tasks and, if necessary, also for meeting documentation duties. Every six months at the latest any transferred / provided data will be deleted if the application does not result in a fellowship.
Recipients of personal data (Art. 4 no. 9 GDPR)
Application data is transferred to:
– The department, the directorate, the services or unit where the applicant has applied for fellowship,
– The Directorate of Human Resources Management and Development,
– The staff council, the gender equality officer and as necessary the representative body for severely disabled persons and/or the representative body for youth and trainees to observe respective participation rights.
For further information please see the Privacy Policy of RWTH Aachen University.

In case your question has not yet been answered here or you have any other concern regarding the fellowship program, please contact the coordinator of the fellowship program Dawid Kasprowicz at dawid.kasprowicz@khk.rwth-aachen.de.