International Diversity Guest Professorships
To strengthen diverse, inclusive research and to promote the expansion of international networks, the University of Bamberg has initiated a funding program for international guest professorships. During their approximately one-month research and teaching stays at the University of Bamberg, each visiting professor collaborates with a Bamberg colleague to develop a diversity-related research project and presents the project to the public, ideally in the form of a guest lecture. Additionally, the international guests contribute to teaching and advise early-career scholars from Bamberg.
Call for Proposals
For 2024, up to six international guest professorships focusing on diversity-related research will be funded. Each guest professor will receive an honorarium of � 4,300 (in total) to help cover travel, accommodation, and other expenses during their short-term research stay (2 to 4 weeks) in Bamberg. The stay can begin in June 2024, or later.
The University of Bamberg will fund research stays for
- the development of a new cooperative research project between a Bamberg and an international scholar that focuses on issues of diversity, or
- an existing, collaborative research project between a Bamberg and an international scholar that will now, additionally, also consider diversity as a significant category.
The program is meant to foster international research collaborations on diversity-related issues and to increase the diversity of research and teaching at the University of Bamberg, also through bringing a more diverse group of researchers to Bamberg.
Dimensions of diversity include – but are not limited to – age groups, socio-economic, cultural, and geographical backgrounds, physical and mental abilities, genders, sexual orientations, religions and ideologies. By emphasizing the significance of diversity in academic research, the University of Bamberg heeds the diversity guidelines of the DFG/German Research Council and other organizations:
- DFG funding activity to follow new integrated equal opportunities and diversity concept; research-oriented equal opportunities standards expanded to include diversity
- DFG on the importance of gender and diversity in research projects
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation on why science needs more diversity
During their actual stay at the University of Bamberg, the international guest professors should present their diversity-related research to members of the university (in the specific field or faculty), in the form of a guest lecture or a related format (organized by the Bamberg colleague who extends the invitation); they are highly welcome to participate actively in seminars or lectures on diversity-related issues; and they should meet with junior faculty or Ph.D. students to discuss diversity-related research questions. The overall and most important goal is to foster sustainable international research collaborations on questions of diversity. This entails possible visits of Bamberg scholars, including junior scholars, to the international guest’s home university to facilitate diversity-related research synergies on all levels.
Application
Only scholars employed at the University of Bamberg can apply. To be eligible for consideration by the selection committee, the Bamberg scholar should submit a short project description (including the specific time of the planned visit to Bamberg), together with a CV of the international scholar, in either English or German as a PDF to the Vice-President for Diversity and International Affairs by October 31, 2023.
The current call for proposals is also available as a PDF(134.8 KB, 4 pages).
2023 Diversity Guest Professors and Their Joint Projects with Bamberg Scholars
Dr. Guillermo Aguirre Martínez - Romance Studies and Translation, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Research topic: The Spanish Poet Manuel ?lvarez Ortega. From Inner Exile during Dictatorship to the Margins of the Literary Industry in Times of Democracy - with Prof. Dr. Enrique Rodrigues-Moura (Hispanic Studies)
Dr. Noran Amin - English Language and Literature, Cairo University, Egypt
Research topic: Who Am I? A Cultural Exploration of the Construction, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction of the Self across Media - with Prof. Dr. Lale Behzadi (Arabic Studies)
Prof. Fiona Ellis - Philosophy, University of Roehampton, UK
Research topic: Unity of Nature and Diversity of Spirit - with J.-Prof. Dr. Silvia Jonas (Philosophy)
Dr. Kaye Mitchell - English/American Studies and Creative Writing, University of Manchester, UK
Research topic: Writing Shame: Negative Affect at the Intersection of Gender, Sexuality and Disability in Anglophone Literature and Autobiographical Life Storying - with Prof. Dr. Katrin R?der (English Literature)
Dr. Elisabeth Punzi - Critical Heritage Studies, Gothenburg University, Sweden
Research topic: Autobiographical Narratives and Life Storying at the Intersection of Gender, Ethnicity, Disability and Mental Distress - with Prof. Dr. Katrin R?der (English Literature)
Prof. Dr. Trinidad Rico - Heritage Conservation, University of Southern California, USA
Research topic: Diversity and Cultural Heritage. Methods, Loci, Practices. - with Prof. Dr. Gerhard Vinken (Heritage Conservation)
Dr. Wouter Vleugels - Management, Deakin University, Australia
Research topic: The Dark Side of Person-Organisation Fit - with Prof. Dr. Maike Andresen (Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour)
2022 Diversity Guest Professors and Their Joint Projects with Bamberg Scholars
Prof. Dr. Antonella Ghersetti
Ca’Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Arabic Language and Literature
Research topic: Discourses of Alterity in the Classical Arabic adab Tradition with Special Reference to Language Ideology with Prof. Dr. Lale Behzadi (Arabic Studies)
Prof. Dr. Don E. Walicek
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Linguistics
Research topic: Diversification of the International Corpus of English with Prof. Dr. Manfred Krug (English Linguistics)
Prof. Dr. David D. Kim
University of California, LA, USA
European Languages and Transcultural Studies
Research topic: Hannah Arendt - Exile and Diversity with Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Marx (Modern German Literary Studies)
Prof. Daniel Mayerhoffer
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Computational Social Science
Research topic: Modelling intra- and inter-generational network effects on life courses of marginalised groups mediated by value change in society with Prof. Dr. Johannes Marx (Political Theory)
Prof. Dr. Nancy Kendall
University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA
Educational Policy Studies
Research topic: Gender Issues in International Education Research with Dr. Susanne Ress (General Pedagogy)
Dr. Mervi Kaukko
Tampere University, Finland
Education
Research topic: Expertise in Innovative Research with Refugee Children and Youth with Prof. Dr. Annette Scheunpflug (General Pedagogy)
Dr. Yariv Feniger
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Education
Research topic: From Research to Education Policy in Israel with Prof. Dr. Steffen Schindler (Sociology with Focus on Education and Work in the Life Course)
Dr. Laura Swift
Open University, UK
Classical Studies
Research topic: Dramatic Discourses on Diversity in the Bacchae of Euripides with Prof. Dr. Sabine Vogt (Classical Philology with a focus on Greek Studies)
Prof. Dr. Dr. Dion A. Forster
University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology
Research topic: Social Coherence and Mechanisms of Othering during the Corona Pandemic in South Africa and Germany with Prof. Dr. Thomas Wabel (Systematic Theology)
2021 Diversity Guest Professors and Their Joint Projects with Bamberg Scholars
Dr. Anna Nedoluzhko
Charles University Prague, Czech Republic
Formal and Applied Linguistics
Research topic: Modeling Language Learner Diversity with Prof. Dr. Sandra Birzer (Slavic Linguistics)
Prof. Dr. Sophia Labadi
University of Kent, England
Heritage Studies
Research topic: Diversity, Gender, Women, and Heritage with Prof. Dr. Mona Hess (Digital Technologies in Heritage Conservation)
Pravdoliub Ivanov, PhD
National Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
Psychology of Art, Art Education, and General Education
Research topic: Collective Aesthetic Situations in Theory and Practice with Dr. Notburga Karl (Didactics of Fine Arts)
Dr. Ella Peltonen
University of Oulu, Finland
Ubiquitous Computing
Research topic: Encouraging Young Female Engineers by Citizen Science and Crowd Sensing for Smart Cities with Prof. Dr. Daniela Nicklas (Mobile Systems)
Dr hab. Maria Nowak
University of Warsaw, Poland
Roman Law and the Law of Antiquity
Research topic: Diversity in Roman Law with Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Peter Riedlberger (Late Antique History and Culture)
Prof. Dr. Alexander Yao Cobbinah
Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil
Linguistics
Research topic: West-African Heritage in Colonial Brazil: Language, Culture, and Resistance in Minas Gerais with Prof. Dr. Enrique Rodrigues-Moura (Romance Literary Studies / Hispanic Literatures)