Academic exchange and top-class support

The Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program (GAFP, formerly known as Gutenberg Academy (GA)) is an institution of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) founded in 2006. It brings up to 25 of the university’s best doctoral researchers and artists (junior members) together and provides them with the chance to participate in an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas at the highest intellectual level. These students have the possibility to interact and exchange with excellent researchers and artists of the JGU (senior members and associate members). Through financial support and a specific mentoring model, the junior members are supported on their professional path into science and art. The Program’s central focus is on the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, individual development and networking.

Networking

The GAFP not only promotes interdisciplinary exchange between excellent young talents (junior members) and established researchers at the university (senior members and associate members), but also fosters contact with former members of JGU (alumni and alumnae of the GAFP) and with people and career networks outside the university.

Interdisciplinary Exchange

The Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program provides an interdisciplinary forum to maintain a continuous exchange of interdisciplinary scientific information. The GAFP’s unique status results from the association of scholars from different generations and different scientific fields of research, who are able to benefit from each other by gaining a multi-perspective view of their respective work in one particular subject area. Free from constraints that govern academic work at the university as a whole, the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program allows for a reclassification and re-contextualization of expert knowledge. The GAFP provides both junior and senior members the possibility to work with outstanding scientists from varying disciplines within the university on their particular research topics, as well as on general questions of scientific and academic relevance. Within the university, the GAFP creates spaces for networking beyond research activities and across departmental boundaries, thus promoting identification of its members with the university as a whole.

Per junior member, the maximum amount of financial assistance available is €2000. As junior members of the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program (GAFP), doctoral researchers can be granted financial assistance in the amount of a maximum €1000 per year during their membership, which can last a maximum of 2 years.

An application for financial assistance can be submitted for the following types of expenses:

1. travel expenses to attend professional conferences, research workshops, etc. in connection with professional activities (except daily allowance)

2. travel expenses within the framework of the GAFP, i.e. meetings with an external mentor (except daily allowance)

3. expenses that are necessary to support a dissertation project

…After the membership

After successfully completing a doctorate, a junior member can be awarded a grant to assist with covering printing costs for the publication of the dissertation. These funds are additional to the financial assistance mentioned above and cannot exceed €3000.

In addition to financial support for dissertation projects, which creates freedom for work and personal development, the GAFP enables a reorganization and recontextualization of expert knowledge. An exclusive mentoring model is available to junior members for this purpose.

The internal mentoring offers the possibility to build an intensive exchange within the university that transcends the borders of a single subject. Junior members can choose an internal mentor from among the senior and associate members of the GAFP for the duration of their membership, who will open up a different professional and interdisciplinary perspective on their dissertation.

In addition, junior members can choose external mentors for the duration of their membership, based on their own professional goals and academic interests, to advise and support them in their further career. These are proven experts from science, art, culture, politics, business or society, who broaden the view of the dissertation project, but also beyond, and at the same time provide contacts and networks for a later career.

The Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program | GAFP is looking for excellent doctoral researchers and young artists. Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) awards around 650 doctorates every year. The GAFP is limited to 25 junior members, i.e. only the best 4-5% of doctoral candidates should be recruited for the GAFP. Supervisors are asked to nominate only absolutely outstanding doctoral candidates or young artists. The GAFP would like the candidate to be able to take full advantage of the maximum two-year membership period at the time of admission. Nomination documents are submitted in the winter semester and new junior members are officially admitted at the beginning of the summer semester, so there is a delay of around 6 months between nomination and admission. Academic progress should be sufficiently demonstrated. Young artists who have already demonstrated their outstanding qualifications can also be nominated. Nominations can be made by the supervisors of doctoral researchers and young artists. The nominated doctoral candidate/young artist must be registered (ideally enrolled) as a doctoral candidate at JGU.

Application Documents

Please submit the documents in PDF format as three separate documents in one e-mail, consisting of the application, the curriculum vitae and the exposé. Submission is possible in German as well as in English. The following documents are required for application:

1) Written Recommendation

Academic supervisors are required to submit a written recommendation for the candidate they wish to nominate. The recommendation should contain a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the candidate’s scientific or artistic work and indicate how the candidate demonstrates academic or artistic development. The academic or artistic career path to date should be presented. The following aspects are particularly important and positively influence the selection of the candidates. They should be mentioned in the recommendation.

1. Originality of the synopsis
2. Independence
3. Originality of the research topic
4. Linguistic and analytical brilliance
5. Standing within the scientific community

For young artists, activities, such as public performances, exhibitions and awards, are of importance. Additionally, information about the candidate’s academic or artistic future prospects is desirable. Other important aspects concerning social and cultural commitment may also be included. It is also desirable for candidates to be willing to play an active role in the GAFP.

2) Curriculum Vitae

This document should be provided by the candidate and include current contact information.

3) Dissertation Topic Synopsis

A synopsis (of a maximum of three pages) of the candidate’s dissertation topic is required. Application documents should be submitted electronically (PDF) to the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program’s spokesperson. When formulating the synopsis, attention must be paid to both general comprehensibility and scientific evidence of the work.

Interview and Selection

An admissions committee composed of senior and junior members will conduct personal interviews with the applicants and submit recommendations for membership to the Gutenberg Academy. The current members of the GAFP select new members from those recommended by the admissions committee. Once the new candidates have been selected, they are required to present themselves to the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program by holding a scientific talk for all members, which can be held either in German or English. All members then decide together on the admission of the applicant. After admission, the junior member presents himself/herself to the GAFP with a scientific lecture, which can be held in German or English. For junior members, active membership ends with completion of their doctorate or year as a master class student or after a maximum of two years (Disputation, Rigorosum). The admission procedure takes place annually at the beginning of the summer semester.

The application should be submitted as a PDF to the GAFP spokesperson at the following e-mail adress gafp@uni-mainz.de.