The KIU Graduate Program places Ukraine in the epicenter of a new research program that focuses on the topics of “Resilience, Restoration and Transformation” through the lenses of History, Literature and Cultural Studies, Political Science, Economics, Law, Peace and Conflict Studies, Sociology, and Digital Studies. From 2025 on, the KIU Graduate Program intends to train a new generation of scholars who will dedicate their PhD to an entangled understanding of Ukraine within its multiple historical, political, and institutional layers. Utilizing the elite network of Berlin-Brandenburg universities (Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt University Berlin, European University Viadrina), united by a profound focus on Ukrainian and European Studies, the proposed thematic corridors advance the respective disciplines represented in the KIU Graduate Program, while suggesting a new global direction in the area of Ukrainian Studies. We actively invite international scholars to work with us within this framework and develop their doctoral projects. Project proposals should directly relate to the graduate program's framework topic, “Resilience, Restoration and Transformation. Ukraine in a world of turmoil”. Projects dealing with the overall topic from a comparative, interdisciplinary or transnational perspective are particularly welcome.
Possible thematic corridors include: In history, we encourage applications that deal with the entangled, postcolonial, and decolonial history of Ukraine, German-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian relations, and comparative approaches towards democracy and dictatorship. In political science, we concentrate on comparative authoritarianism and democratic theory, EU-Ukraine relations, and the role of culture in political development. In economics and political economy, we focus on comparative institutions, economic development, international economic policy and global political economy, and economics of nation- and state-building. In law, we touch on important issues of public and private international law, EU economic and criminal law, and the law of Ukraine in comparative perspective. In sociology, our interests lie with migration and the role of technology and digitalization in societal transformations; public activism. Impact of war on minorities, urban /rural spaces. In peace and conflict studies, proposals on innovative perspectives on dialogue, mediation and conflict transformation as well as methodological studies on necessary adaptations of the field are encouraged. In literature and cultural studies, we encourage research ideas on geopoetics, cosmopolitanism, and the role of natural resources in the formation of collective identities. In digital studies, we invite research that focuses on the role of (digital) media technologies, practices and infrastructures in shaping contemporary epistemic cultures about Ukraine and/in Europe, with a particular focus on the digital dimension of war in Ukraine and Europe.
PhD students will complete their respective formal PhD requirements including the dissertation at the respective KIU partner university, which are European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to participate in acitivites in the framework of existing Graduate Schools from all three universities. Furthermore, and beyond disciplinary boundaries, the KIU Graduate Program aims at forming an interdisciplinary scholarly collective based in the KIU premises in Frankfurt (Oder), with specific workshops, seminars and lecture series, designed for KIU PhD students. Participants of the program are also encouraged to benefit from Ukrainian language courses offered at all three universities.
The program offers 9 PhD scholarships plus 6 positions for associated doctoral students who bring their own funding but will be part of the KIU Graduate Program. All successful applicants will be offered a co-working space in the KIU premises in Frankfurt (Oder).
The whole duration of the program is 36 months, starting in April 2025. Within these 36 months, KIU scholarship holders will receive a stipend of monthly 1.300€.
The working language of the PhD program is English. Future PhD students are expected to have a basic knowledge of the Ukrainian language or to acquire it by the start of the doctoral program. Successful candidates are expected to continue to learn Ukrainian regularly during the doctoral phase and attend the corresponding courses at the KIU universities.
Actual enrollment as a doctoral student ultimately depends on the fulfillment of all formal requirements and a positive vote by the doctoral committee of the respective university.
How to apply
Interested candidates should apply online through the KIU application portal by January 25th, 2025, 23:59 CET. Applicants first need to register on the portal. The application portal is now open: KIU Application Portal.
Please note that due to our funding conditions, scholarships are only eligible for non-German nationals. The positions for associated doctoral students are open to all applicants regardless their nationality.
You are invited to contact potential thesis supervisors in advcance – please find the list below.
For your application, please prepare the following documents and information:
Applications received by 23:59 CET on January 25th, 2025 will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary and international selection committee. Promising candidates will be invited to participate in an online interview on February 17th, 18th and 19th, 2025.
Work on the doctoral projects within the program is to begin on-site at Viadrina between April and June 2025.
The official opening is envisaged to take place on June, 16th 2025.
Please direct any questions about the application to the program coordinator, Dr. Susann Worschech: kiueuropa-unide.
