Call for Applications for Winter Term 18/19

Up to two 3-year Doctoral Stipends: Transnational Institution Building and Transnational Identities in East Asia

The Alliance for Research on East Asia (AREA) Ruhr, supported by the Mercator Research Center Ruhr (MERCUR), invites applications for up to two 3-year doctoral stipends for highly qualified graduates from the social sciences, business and economic studies, the humanities, or East Asian studies programmes, who possess advanced language skills in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.

The structured three-year doctoral programme on Transnational Institution Building and Transnational Identities in East Asia aims to advance knowledge on East Asian regional institution building, identity formation, and the interaction between both processes throughout history and today. By applying transnational and comparative approaches to the study of East Asia, the programme looks beyond national borders and seeks to unleash the potential of combining humanities and social sciences and to base research projects on interdisciplinary perspectives. Participating scholars allocate their research within three larger sub-themes related to transnationalisation:

transnational labour
regional institution building
transcultural identities and institutions: universalization and localization.

Detailed information on the sub-themes can be found here.

AREA Ruhr is a new research and teaching alliance of the Faculty of East Asian Studies at the Ruhr University Bochum, and the Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST) at the University of Duisburg-Essen and is part of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr). IN-EAST and the Faculty of East Asian Studies are uniquely positioned to offer this interdisciplinary doctoral programme. Under the roof of AREA Ruhr, the two institutions cooperate to bring together more than 20 professors and 100 researchers with expertise in a wide range of scholarly fields and disciplines, ranging from historical to contemporary research, from linguistics to economics, from religious studies to sociology and political science.

What our Doctoral Programme Offers

Each member of the AREA Ruhr Doctoral Programme enjoys (among others):

extensive training in disciplinary perspectives on transnationalisation in East Asia,
approximately five-months of fully-funded field research in East Asia (a network of East Asian partner institutions exists)
extensive academic guidance and support by a team of supervisors,
opportunities to present and debate their research with peers and senior scholars at research seminars and thematic workshops,
a basic monthly stipend of 1,365 Euros.

Depending on the research focus, doctoral degree certificates will be awarded by the Faculty of East Asian Studies (Ruhr University Bochum), the Faculty of Social Sciences, or the Mercator School of Management (both University of Duisburg-Essen).

We invite applications from highly qualified graduates from the social sciences, business and economic studies, the humanities, or East Asian studies programmes. Candidates must hold an excellent master’s degree in one of these fields, and demonstrate advanced language skills in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.

If you are interested in applying for the doctoral programme, please submit:

a cover letter stating how your proposal fits the doctoral programme’s profile as well as a specific sub-theme and how your skills meet the requirements of the planned research,
an outline of your dissertation project of approximately 1.500 words (plus references),
a copy of your MA thesis (pdf life),
a curriculum vitae with a detailed description of your academic profile,
copies of all relevant certificates such as university degree, language and methods training certificates,
two reference contacts including email address from university teachers.