Scientific exchange and grants at the highest level

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

Networking

Not only does the GAFP promote interdisciplinary exchange between excellent young talents (junior fellows) and established researchers at the university (senior fellows and associate fellows), but it also establishes contact with former fellows from 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 for maintaining 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 outside perspectives 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 senior fellows, associated members, and junior fellows 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 departments, thus promoting the identification of its members with the university as a whole.

Junior fellows are entitled to financial support of up to EUR 2000 for a maximum of 2 years as a member of the program. EUR 1000 can be claimed annually.

Applications can be submitted for the following services:

1. for travel to participate in specialist congresses, research workshops, etc. that are connected with official activities (excluding daily allowance)

2. for travel costs incurred as part of the GAFP, such as for traveling to meet with external mentors (excluding daily allowance)

3. expenses resulting from a pursuit of the dissertation goals

…following the time as a fellow

If junior fellows successfully complete their dissertation, the printing costs incurred for the publication of their doctoral dissertation following their time as a fellow can be subsidized. These funds are independent of the above-mentioned financial support option and amount to a maximum of EUR 3000.

In addition to providing financial support for completing the dissertation, which frees fellows up to work and develop as individuals, membership in the GAFP enables expert knowledge to be reorganized and recontextualized. An exclusive sponsorship and mentoring model is available to junior fellows for this purpose.

The internal sponsorship offers the possibility to build an intensive exchange within the university that transcends the borders of a single subject. Junior fellows can choose an internal sponsor from among the senior and associate fellows of the GAFP for the period of their time as a fellow. This sponsor will give them a different professional perspective on their doctoral dissertation.

In addition, junior fellows can choose external mentors for the duration of their time as a fellow, based on their own professional goals and academic interests. The mentors will advise and support them in their further career. They are proven experts from science, the arts, culture, politics, business, or society who broaden the mentee’s view of the dissertation project and beyond, and also provide contacts and networks for their future career.

The Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program | GAFP is looking for excellent early career researchers and artists. At Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU), around 650 people obtain a doctoral degree each 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 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 fellows are officially admitted at the beginning of the summer semester, resulting in a delay of around 6 months between nomination and admission. Academic progress should be sufficiently demonstrated. Artists who have already demonstrated their outstanding qualifications can also be nominated. Nominations can be made by the supervisors of young researchers and young artists. The nominated doctoral candidate/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 evaluation, the CV, and the research proposal. Submission is possible in German as well as in English. The following documents are required for application:

1) A strong evaluation

Supervisors submit an evaluation for the nomination in which they comprehensively assess and evaluate the candidate’s academic or artistic work. 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 of the candidate
3. Originality of the research topic
4. Linguistic and analytical brilliance
5. Positioning 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. Candidates should be willing to play an active role in the GAFP.

2) Curriculum Vitae

A curriculum vitae written by the candidate (including contact details) should be attached to the evaluator’s report.

3) Synopsis of the dissertation topic

A research proposal of no more than three pages (plus the bibliography) written by the candidate should be attached to the evaluator’s report. When formulating the research proposal, 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 fellows and the GAFP team will conduct personal interviews with the applicants. The date and format of the selection interview will be communicated to the nominees via email (usually in November). A positive outcome of the interview will result in a recommendation by the selection group to the other GAFP fellows. All fellows then decide together on the admission of the applicant. 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. The membership of young scientists and artists as junior fellows in the GAFP is limited to two years and ends at the latest upon completion of the doctorate (disputatio, 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.