The Käte Hamburger Center for Cultural Practices of Reparation (KHK CURE) at Saarland University is an Institute for Advanced Study, funded since 2024 by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Each year, an international and interdisciplinary group of fellows conducts research at the Center. For the third year of the program (October 2026 to September 2027), KHK cure is offering up to 12 fellowships with a residency of 10 to 12 months (starting in October 2026).
Research Program at the Käte Hamburger Center CURE
The research program at the Käte Hamburger Center CURE focuses on questions of reparation and irreparability, explored through the projects of the fellows and the CURE team from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.
Many injuries and damages—such as the destruction of cultural heritage in colonized regions, trauma resulting from war experiences, or the consequences of climate change—can no longer be undone. Such damages and their irreversibility often trigger complex processes of negotiation that can lead to changes in cultural self-understandings and to new visions of living environments. They raise the question of how, despite a past marked by violence, injustice, or the destruction of natural environments, a future livable for all can be created. While economic and legal compensation is often a necessary condition for addressing resulting asymmetries and structural inequalities, the enduring injuries in people and the damages to their life worlds can usually be addressed only through cultural and social practices.
At the Käte Hamburger Center CURE, these cultural practices of reparation are at the heart of research. By reparation, we mean the process of shaping the future with the awareness that past harms can never be fully undone: to repair something always means that traces of destruction remain—more or less visible, tangible, or understandable—pointing to the fragility of the self. Cultural practices of reparation encompass a wide range of possible responses to the perception and experience of damage or injury: oral and written storytelling, poetry, (language) rituals, music, visual arts, film, theater, curatorial practices, historiography and other scholarly approaches, public discourse styles, and more. These practices attempt, in the face of deep wounds, to develop future possibilities that go beyond narrow identity interests and the restoration of an imagined original state. The goal of our Center is to collaboratively develop theoretical approaches to such practices.
Call for Applications: UniGR-Fellowships in the Käte Hamburger Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation (CURE)
Each year, up to twelve international fellows conduct research at the Center. One of these fellowships is offered as a University of the Greater Region (UniGR) Fellowship, awarded to scholars who have completed their PhD (i.e., submitted and successfully defended by the application deadline) and are employed at one of the UniGR member universities. For the third year of the program (October 2026 to September 2027), we invite applications for Junior Fellowships with a residency of up to 12 months.
Applicants should be scholars in the humanities or cultural studies who have completed a PhD at a high academic level (i.e., submitted and successfully defended by the application deadline).
In addition to the above criteria, applicants for the UniGR Fellowship must hold a current academic position at the time of application at one of the following member universities: University of Trier, University of Liège, University of Luxembourg, Université de Lorraine, or RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau. Proof of employment must be submitted along with the application materials.
The selection for the UniGR Fellowship takes place in parallel with the other advertised fellowships in the same selection process by the Academic Advisory Board.
CURE is committed to diversity and explicitly encourages applications regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic or social background, religion or worldview, disability, age, sexual orientation, or identity.
Applicants who have not completed a PhD, as well as members of Saarland University, are not eligible to apply.
Application materials must include a project relevant to the Center’s research theme, which will be pursued during the fellowship. The project should address at least one of the three programmatic focuses—History, Experience, or Nature—and engage with the third of the four annual themes:
- 2024/2025: Theory
- 2025/2026: Society
- 2026/2027: Body
- 2027/2028: Objects
Regarding the dimension of corporeality in cultural practices of reparation, projects may, for example, investigate questions of bodily perception, embodiment and its performative practices, therapies, or forms of living, starting from individual damages and trauma.
Applications are only considered for the period from October 2026 to September 2027. Further information on the programmatic focuses and annual themes is available on the Center’s website: https://cure.uni-saarland.de/forschung/forschungsprogramm/
Involvement and participation
Each year, up to twelve fellows conduct research at the Center, including one UniGR Fellow. Fellows are expected to reside in Saarbrücken and dedicate their fellowship to both collaborative work at the Center and their own research project. They participate in the Center’s events—such as colloquia, working groups, conferences, and workshops—and actively contribute to the Center’s publication formats. In consultation with the Director, fellows may also have the opportunity to organize their own workshops or participate in (teaching) events with our academic and cultural partners. Extended research or study stays elsewhere are not planned.
Saarland University has a strong focus on European and French studies. The Käte Hamburger Center CURE is embedded in this environment, particularly through the Cluster for European Studies (CEUS) with its overarching theme “Europe-World(s): Projections, Reflections, Transformations,” the European university alliance Transform4Europe (T4EU), and the cross-border university network “University of the Greater Region” (UniGR).
The University of the Greater Region is an innovative university grouping comprising the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau (D), the University of Liège (B), the University of Lorraine (F), the University of Luxembourg (LU), Saarland University (D) and Trier University (D), as well as the htw saar (D) as an associated partner. The cooperation between the seven higher education institutions in the Greater Region offers privileged conditions for study and research, focused on mobility between the partner universities and between scientific disciplines, as well as on the acquisition of language skills.
Duration and conditions
Fellowships are typically awarded for a duration of 10 to 12 months, always starting on October 1.
According to the fellowship guidelines of Saarland University, there are two funding options:
Fellows who take unpaid leave from their home institution during the fellowship (or are independent researchers) receive a financial stipend (at least €6,100 gross per month, depending on qualifications).
Fellows who choose to retain their previous salary and contractual benefits will have their salary paid by CURE to their home institution as a teaching substitute during their stay at the Center.
Accommodation in modern apartments is provided free of charge. Family housing can also be arranged if needed. Additionally, one-time travel expenses to and from Saarbrücken are reimbursed in accordance with the regulations of the Saarland Travel Expenses Act (SRKG). On site, fellows have access to a fully equipped workspace.
Insurance and all other (living) expenses must be covered by the fellows themselves.
Application Deadlines and Materials
Applications for the UniGR junior fellowship are only accepted from researchers who are employed at one of the UniGR partner universities (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Université de Liège, Université de Lorraine, University of Luxembourg, Trier University).
Please submit the following application materials via the application form on the Center’s website by 15 December 2025 at the latest:
CURE application form, including an abstract
Statement of motivation (maximum one A4 page)
Curriculum vitae (tabular format, maximum three A4 pages)
List of publications
Project proposal with references, demonstrating the relevance to the Center’s research program and alignment with at least one of the programmatic focuses and the annual theme (maximum five A4 pages)
Please use a minimum font size of 11 and a line spacing of 1.15.
Applications may be submitted in German, English, or French.
We kindly request that applicants do not include photographs in their application.
After submitting your online application, you will usually receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive one, please contact
UniGR-Fellow 2024
Dr. Oana Adelina Stefan is a historian of tourism and consumption during the Cold War with a particular focus on socialist Romania and Franco’s Spain. She gained a PhD in History from the University of Pittsburgh, United States. She was a Humanities Initiative Fellow at Institute for Advanced Study at Central European University in Budapest and held positions at European University Institute in Florence and The Centre for Contemporary and Digital History at University of Luxembourg. Her latest book, Vacationing in Dictatorships: International Tourism in Socialist Romania and Franco’s Spain was published with Cornell University Press in December 2024.
Research topic at the Käte Hamburger Centre: Cultural Reparations in the Cold War: Socialist Romania and the Global Circulation of Cultural Objects, 1950s-1980s.
You can find the profiles of the other 11 Fellows residing at the Centre on the CURE-Website.
Photo: ©Anna Warum, CURE
Contact
Please find more information about the KHK CURE on their website: https://cure.uni-saarland.de/fellows/call-for-application/.
We will notify applicants by the end of April 2026. Until then, please avoid inquiries about the status of your application.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact the centre by writing to cure@uni-saarland.de.
As part of your application for a fellowship at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation (CURE) at Saarland University (UdS), you will be submitting personal data. Regarding our use of personal data, please see the university’s privacy policy in accordance with Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regarding the collection and processing of personal data. By submitting your application, you confirm that you have read the UdS policies on data privacy and protection.
