‘Cultures of Participation’ is an interdisciplinary, cultural studies-oriented PhD program at the University of Oldenburg. It is run in cooperation with the Universities of Braunschweig and Groningen as well as with the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies in Delmenhorst and is based on the ongoing collaboration between researchers from the humanities as well as from the social and educational sciences, across both disciplines and faculties. The disciplines involved in the program are: British and American Literary and Cultural Studies, German Medieval Studies, History, Fine Arts and Media Studies, Pedagogy, Slavic Literary and Cultural Studies, Social Sciences and Sport Science.
The PhD program provides a framework for PhD projects which examine different forms and functions, premises and conditions, media and technologies as well as the individual and collective actors and subjects of cultural participation. In particular, it asks what exactly ‘participation’ means (or meant) in present and past contexts, who participates (or participated) when, how, with what intentions and under which circumstances, and how participation is (or was) legitimized in historically and culturally specific environments. In so doing, the program contributes to developing a critical notion of participation which reflects on the normative connotations of the term as a category of self-description employed by modern western societies.
The State of Lower Saxony is supporting the PhD program “Cultures of Participation” with 15 Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg Scholarships. The first cohort of PhD students was selected in the fall of 2014. For the second cohort starting in May 2015, the program is now calling for applications for
up to 10 Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg Scholarships
(1,400 Euros/month, plus an additional 100 Euros/month for material expenses)
The program offers PhD candidates
– an ideal environment for writing their PhD dissertations by providing a module-based curriculum to enhance disciplinary expertise and competencies as well as interdisciplinary mentoring tandems;
– a platform for the proliferation of an interdisciplinary dialogue and the establishment of a network of scholars in their disciplines and beyond, and
– a wide range of course options to develop and strengthen key qualifications and foster professionalization, thus enhancing the candidates’ employability on a highly diversified labor market (both in academia and beyond).
For more information regarding the program’s overall theme, central questions and courses, please consult the program’s website at www.uni-oldenburg.de/cultures-of-participation.
Applicants are expected to have graduated in one of the disciplines represented in the program with above-average grades. Additionally, applicants are supposed to provide a clear-cut proposal of their planned PhD project, which refers to terms and concepts of participation in an analytical and reflexive way, thereby illustrating its compatibility with the program’s main questions and objectives.
In order to meet the programs broad interdisciplinary focus and in order to complement the projects which have already been selected, we would like to encourage applications from British and American Literary and Cultural Studies, German Medieval Studies, Pedagogy and Sport Science. Applications from other disciplines which are represented in the program are, of course, equally welcome.
Your application should include the following documents: your curriculum vitae, your university degree certificates, an outline of your dissertation project (max. 8 pages) as well as a half page-abstract of the project, a writing sample (e.g. a publication or an extract from your final thesis), a statement (max. 1 page) explicating your disciplinary background and positioning your planned PhD project within the thematic scope of the program, and two letters of recommendation by professors.
Please submit your application via e-mail (preferably as a pdf-file) to the program’s speaker, Prof. Dr. Martin Butler, E-Mail:partizipation@uni-oldenburg.de, by February 17, 2015.