Published on September 03, 2024

With the motto “Risking Creativity,” the Institute for Advanced Study of the Technical University of Munich (TUM-IAS) serves as a flagship institute for top-level international research at TUM, and has supported to drive the university’s development into one of Germany’s top academic institutions under the auspices of its strategy, “TUM. The Entrepreneurial University”.

TUM-IAS awards Fellowships to distinguished scientists and gives them the necessary time and financial support to explore new venues, to develop novel research areas and to establish intensive international collaborations. TUM-IAS invites applications for the

Philosopher in Residence Fellowship

Background: Innovative developments in modern scientific and technical disciplines are often accompanied by implications that require deeper philosophical consideration and embedding. This is what the Philosopher in Residence Program aims to do: promotion of discourse between philosophy and other sciences and public debate about the conclusions of this interdisciplinary exchange. Furthermore, this Fellowship is to be located within the framework of the TUM Agenda 2030, which pursues a stronger integration of the humanities (e.g. Human Centered Engineering).

This program is supported by the TÜV SÜD Foundation.

Target Group

The Philosopher in Residence Fellowship is aimed at internationally leading and emerging representatives of the field of philosophy wishing to carry out a joint project with a TUM professor (or several TUM professors, if cooperation in a group is suitable) from the fields of natural sciences, engineering, life sciences including medicine and health sciences, economics or social sciences. Applicants are completely free in their choice of topics. It is not possible to apply for the Fellowship on one's own, but the proposal is to be submitted jointly by the applicant and a TUM professor who acts as a host and close collaboration partner at TUM. One Philosopher in Residence Fellowship will be awarded as part of this Call for Proposals.

Duration/Stays at TUM

The Fellowship is scheduled for twelve months, at least four of which will be spent at TUM. We promote philosophical engagement with the latest research and innovative approaches in the above areas.

Funding and Fellowship award

The TUM-IAS Philosopher in Residence is endowed with €30,000 for research-related costs, travel expenses and housing. In addition, the TUM-IAS Philosopher in Residence receives an award of €70,000. The publication of the results and the organization of a workshop at TUM-IAS are expected.

Conditions

The program is designed for internationally renowned scholars in the field of philosophy (degree and/or doctorate and/or a chair/current academic position in philosophy) from outside TUM with doctoral degrees and advanced academic experience (at least five years after the doctorate) whose interests lie at the interface of philosophy and one of the disciplines at TUM.

How to apply

Please submit the following application documents:

• a cover page (available for download),
• a supporting letter (1–2 pages) by a TUM professor (host),
• a supporting letter by the dean of the TUM professor’s school,
• a CV (no more than 5 pages), 
• a list of major publications (please highlight the 3–5 most important publications of the past 5 years),
• a statement of purpose (no more than 5–10 pages) jointly signed by the candidate and the hosting professor, describing how the Fellowship would contribute to scientific innovation, and the specific issues to be investigated (including their social relevance, if applicable). The statement of purpose should also include the following elements:
  • an abstract,
  • a budget plan,
  • a time plan regarding the candidate’s projected period(s) of stay at TUM,
  • an outline for an international, interdisciplinary workshop/colloquium, to be organized at the TUM-IAS during the Fellowship period,
• a list of 4–6 international peer-reviewers without any conflict of interest (definition: please see here) – if applicable, also a list of persons that should be excluded from reviewing the proposal.

In terms of collaboration with China, we ask you to follow the recommendations of the TUM China Wiki.

For more details, please see the TUM-IAS Nomination Guidelines.

TUM-IAS explicitly encourages nominations of and applications from women as well as from all others who would bring additional diversity dimensions to the university’s research and teaching strategies.

More information on TUM-IAS and the Philosopher in Residence Fellowship is available on the TUM-IAS homepage: www.ias.tum.de

Questions can be directed to Dr. Annette Grötler, annette.groetler@tum.de.