Junior and Senior Core Fellowships

The Institute for Advanced Study at CEU (IAS CEU) is pleased to invite applications for its Junior and Senior Core Fellowship program for the academic year 2026/27. Fellowships are available in all research areas of the social sciences and humanities, broadly defined.  Fellowships run for the full 9-month period (October-June), for the 3-month short fall semester (October-December), the 5month fall semester (October-February) or the 6-month spring semester (JanuaryJune).  

Each year, IAS CEU selects some twenty fellows for its fellowship programs. Fellows are chosen through a rigorous selection process, which includes stages of pre-selection and peer reviews as well as a final decision made by an independent, interdisciplinary, and international Selection Committee. The Institute is committed to the pursuit of cutting-edge interdisciplinary scholarship and will seek innovative research proposals. Young scholars with demonstrable promise of excellence will be considered; established senior scholars are expected to have solid records of first-rate scholarship. All disciplines within this remit are welcome. A primary criterion for selection is the expectation that each fellow’s stay at the Institute will yield original and significant research results.  

As CEU is in the process of transformation, our fellowship programs are meant to contribute to the formation of a Global Invisible University framework as an innovative new format coordinated by CEU’s Budapest site. This framework builds on the Global Forum organized by the CEU Democracy Institute,  as well as CEU’s engagement with different groups of scholars and students at risk (including the Invisible University for Ukraine and various Southeast European and Southeast Asian academic networks among others). It seeks to rethink the relationship of research, education, and civic engagement in a transnational manner and reinforce CEU’s links to individuals and institutions defending academic freedom and seeking to develop innovative strategies in autorcratic contexts.   IAS CEU is an independent Institute for Advanced Study based at the Budapest site of Central European University. CEU operates at two locations, with the main campus in Vienna and several research institutes and centers in Budapest. Located in the heart of one of Central Europe's most attractive cities, IAS CEU seeks to benefit from this arrangement and to be part of the rich academic life and research generated in both places. The Budapest site hosts, besides the IAS, a part of the CEU Library, the Blinken OSA Archivum, the Democracy Institute, the Center for Ethics and Law in Biomedicine, and the Summer University (SUN), as well as various research units and non-degree education programs. For further information, please refer to the Institute's website at https://ias.ceu.edu. 

The Institute and the Budapest site provide a stimulating environment in which fellows can devote themselves to research and writing, and share their work with peers through weekly seminars and other community activities. Fellows have access to all CEU facilities, including seminar and conference space, computer services, and library resources. They benefit from CEU’s  international atmosphere, its strong regional ties in Central and Eastern Europe, and its international scholarly networks. CEU facilitates the fellows’ engagement with the university of CEU, Vienna and with Hungarian and Austrian, regional and international scholarly communities by encouraging collaborative projects, organizing joint public lectures and related activities. Scholars at IAS CEU receive a monthly stipend and accommodation in the Raoul Wallenberg Guesthouse, located in the Castle district and in close proximity to CEU’s Budapest site. Fellows are expected to reside in Budapest during their fellowship, participate in the intellectual life of the Institute, and pursue their research agenda. 

Senior fellows receive a net monthly stipend of 2,600 Euros and junior fellows receive a net monthly stipend of 1,500 Euros to help support their stay in Budapest. In addition, all fellows and their families receive housing at the Raoul Wallenberg Guesthouse. Utilities at the Guesthouse will be charged to the Fellows. Fellows are also responsible for their own travel and health care provisions. 

The deadline for application is 20 September 2025.   All applications must be submitted through our online application system. This year’s application form will be open starting from 10 July 2025. Step 1: Prepare your application package: create a single pdf file no larger than 12 MBs containing all your application documents. The name of the pdf file should contain your name and the type of fellowship you are applying to. Example:  Doe, Jane_Senior Core.pdf   OR  Doe, John_Junior Core.pdf 

Your application package should contain the following documents. Only applications using the requested format and word counts will be considered for review: 1. A letter of intent, including a paragraph on how the applicant sees the problems of academic freedom, scholars at risk, and transnational cooperation in the face of global autocratic threats against higher education and research institutions (max 1,500 words)  2. The abstract of your research project (max. 150 words) 3. A description of your research project (min. 1,000 - max. 2,500 words; the reference list is not included in the word count) 4. A CV (max. 5 pages) 5. A list of your most important publications, including up to 5 items for junior applicants and up to 15 items for senior applicants (please do not include full text articles!) 6. References: for junior applicants ONLY: the name and email address of two referees (for potential reference). 

Please also note that if you wish to apply to IAS for more than one fellowship type, you should fill in and send a separate application for each (choosing the relevant category each time in “Fellowship type”). 

Successful candidates will be informed between late February 2026. All others will be notified of the result of the evaluation process by the end of April 2026 the latest.