With the Dahlem Junior Host Program (DJHP), the Dahlem Humanities Center (DHC) supports the international networking of early career researchers at Freie Universität Berlin.

The DHC supports Academic staff (wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter:innen) from the humanities departments of Freie Universität Berlin as hosts of visiting scholars from Germany and abroad.

FUNDING: maximum 5,000 Euro per application
APPLICATION DEADLINE: November 24, 2025
EARLIEST GUEST ARRIVAL: February 2, 2026

The program enables doctoral and postdoctoral researchers employed at Freie Universität to invite a scholar/several scholars to Freie Universität whose work is central to their research. Activities undertaken during the guest stay depend on the individual scholarly objectives and goals of the applicants and must be described in the application. Researchers at all career stages can be invited for a period of up to 12 weeks. Applications can also be submitted for short visits by several guest researchers in order to conduct workshops, with the maximum funding amount remaining the same.

Possible projects that can be carried out during the collaboration and for which funding can be applied for are:

• Conception and work on joint publictions (inlc. E.g. proofreading, image procurement, translations)
• Editing a joint research proposal
• Guest leactures and /or workshops
• Co-teaching projects
• Projects with students (e.g. exhibitions)
• Conception and implementation of own science communication formats (e.g. blog, video, website, digital formats or other innovative and creative formats to reach broader audiences)
• Networking meetings to connect different research groups
  
  

Application documents

• Completed application form
• Letter of motivation, including project outline: Please outline the specific objectives of the invitation/cooperation as well as the planned activities during the guest stay. Explain how your own research project would benefit from inviting the scholar(s) from abroad. Also address the following points:
  • If inviting one guest: schedule/program of the guest stay; max. 4 pages
  • If inviting several guests (workshop): Concept and program of the event, including research topics of individual guests/potential workshop contributions with reference to own research project, reason for guest invitations, description of academic objectives; max. 4 pages
• CVs (incl. list of publications) of the applicant(s) and the guest(s); max. 3 pages per CV
• Informal letter of support from the Department/Mentor/Research Group (Fachbereich/Projekt)
• Brief informal letter of intent from the guest(s) to be invited
• Tentative budget: Please provide an overview/tentative calculation of the requested travel and accommodation costs for guests as well as for material costs/services incurred for the implementation of the projects based on the guidelines listed below. The maximum amount that can be applied for is EUR 5,000 per project. Please budget economically.
  Guidelines
  a) Guest expenses
  Travel costs: A calculation of the individual anticipated costs (flight/train/accommodation) is required for each guest invitation. The calculation should be based on the following criteria:
  •national travel: 2nd class train tickets
  •International travel: economy class flight
  Overnight stays: Please calculate with rate of 105 euros/night for the first 14 days of your guest’s stay. From the 15th day onwards, apply a reduced rate of 13 euros/night. Daily allowances cannot be granted.
  b) Other costs
  For projects such as conferences/workshops, costs for public relations (graphic design, printing) can be applied for. Expenses for editing are also eligible. Flat-rate printing costs and publishing subsidies as well as costs for hospitality of any kind (food, beverages, etc.) cannot be applied for. Please submit a list of the individual items including the estimated amounts.

The application (in German or English) must be submitted by e-mail as one (1) PDF document in the order specified above to the managing director of the Dahlem Humanities Center (geschaeftsfuehrung@dhc.fu-berlin.de) by November 24, 2025.

Eligibility
The prerequisite for participation in the Dahlem Junior Host Program is employment (budget or third-party funding) at Freie Universität Berlin. Accordingly, academic staff (“Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeitende”: doctoral candidates and postdocs up to 6 years after the date of their dissertation) who are employees of the Departments of Philosophy and Humanities and History and Cultural Studies or of the central institutes of Freie Universität Berlin working in the humanities (e.g. JFKI, LAI) at the time of the application and the planned guest stay are eligible to apply. Child-raising periods within the time limit are credited at a standard rate of two years per child under the age of 12.

Scholars employed in the above-mentioned departments and institutes are particularly invited to apply; applications from scholars based at Forschungsverbünden (collaborative research projects/networks, externally funded institutions) must explain why the planned activity cannot be financed from project funds.

Terms of funding
Under the DJHP, funding can be applied for to finance the travel and stay of one or more guests and to implement joint projects up to a maximum amount of EUR 5,000 per application. The funds to be awarded are lump sums for guest stays and projects, not funds to finance job positions.
The final budgeting and determination of the funding amount will only take place after approval of the application in direct consultation with the DHC, at the latest 6 weeks before the planned event.
The approval may deviate from the submitted application with regard to the funding amount and/or the funded measures. The project funds applied for must be used within 12 months of the start of funding.
Guest stays can begin no earlier than February 2, 2026 and must begin no later than October 13, 2026.

Report
A report on the projects carried out during the cooperation and their results must be submitted by 15.12.2026 at the latest (informal, max. 3 pages).

Contact:
Dr. Anne Schenderlein
Managing DIrector and Academic Coordinator
Dahlem Humanities Center (DHC)
Freie Universität Berlin
Silberlaube, Raum KL 26/122h
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin
E-Mail: geschaeftsfuehrung@dhc.fu-berlin.de
030-838 67097