CALL FOR APPLICATIONS „UniGR-Chair in Border Studies 2019“

The Interreg V A Greater Region Project UniGR-Center for Border Studies launches the call for the “UniGR-Chair in Border Studies” (action 4.2) 2019. This chair supports short-term mobility (2 months) of professors and / or post-doctoral researchers between the six UniGR universities (University of Kaiserslautern, University of Liège, University of Lorraine, University of Luxembourg, Saarland University or Trier University). Accommodation and travel costs are sponsored by the Interreg V A Greater Region EU programme (max. 4000 EUR).

In 2019, each project partner will receive and send a researcher from / to another UniGR university. In 2020, a seminar gathering all the researchers who benefited from this mobility grant will be organized in Liège, in order to share their experience and their insights into recent developments in the Greater Region and/or the field of Border Studies.

Who should apply? 

The mobility grants are intended for professors and / or post-doctoral researchers, who would like to conduct a collaborative research with a partner from another UniGR university in the Greater Region. Topics from the following sections will be prioritised:

  • Section 1: governance, power & cooperation,
  • Section 2: regional development and sustainability,
  • Section 3: employment, training & economy,
  • Section 4: language, culture & identity,
  • Section 5: theoretical and conceptual as well as methodological issues in Border Studies.

The candidate will be asked to:

  • organise an open workshop addressing key challenges related to cross-border issues together with the collaborators from the host institution. This workshop will be open to local partners (e.g. economic partners, public authorities) and will propose key themes for future calls at European level (H2020, Urban Europe, etc.).
  • commit to write a short report of 2 pages describing the mobility visit.
  • participate in the final one-day seminar in 2020 in Liège.

We invite applications from professors and / or post-doctoral researchers with a background in social sciences and humanities.

Application process

Two application stages are foreseen.

1. stage: 

  • 30 August: The candidate hands in an expression of interest in German, English or French containing contact details and affiliation as well as a brief description of the planned research (see form on this website).
  • September 2018: Candidates will be informed about the decision taken.

2. stage: 

  • 15th of October: Accepted candidates hand in a full application form (see form on this website). This form contains:
  • a short CV (max. 3 pages)
  • a statement describing the candidate’s interest as well as a description of the project that you are going to collaborate on, a proposal for the open workshop, and a description of the outcomes that are foreseen
  • a time schedule for the short-term mobility
  • an authorisation letter of the sending and the receiving university
  • End of October: Candidates will be informed about the decision taken.
Priorities for selection

Researchers will be selected based on the following criteria:

  1. Proposed research project
  • Relevance and pertinence of the proposed research subject (the proposed subject must be consistent with one or more of the five themes of the UniGR-CBS)
  • Scientific quality of the project
  1. Researcher profile
    • Does the current career and scientific work reveal references to Border Studies or another familiarity with the field of Border Studies?
    • Scientific career
  2. Profile of the hosting institute
    • Does the profile of the host institute show linkages to Border Studies or to actors in Border Studies?
  3. Development and strengthening of the UniGR-CBS network
Application forms
Further information

Nathalie Christmann

Liège University
T. : +32(0)4 366 98 27
Mail : n.christmann@uliege.be

Contacts in the universities