The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (HCAS) invites applications for one HCAS-RJ Fellow to be hired for a fixed term from August 16, 2027 to August 15, 2028.

The fellowship is intended for mid-career researchers in the fields of the humanities and social sciences with an affiliation with a university in Sweden.

The purpose of this Nordic Fellowship Programme is to facilitate academic exchange between Sweden and Finland and to give the selected fellows an opportunity to pursue their research interests in the multidisciplinary environment of HCAS. The working language of HCAS is English, and the Collegium expects the fellows to be present for at least 80% of their working time. The program is made possible by funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

The HCAS-RJ Fellowship is intended for mid-career researchers representing any discipline in the humanities and social sciences, including law, theology, and behavioral sciences. Mid-career researcher refers to persons who have received their PhD degree more than five years ago and do not yet have a full professorship. In addition, applicants should have an affiliation with a university in Sweden. The job title of the position is University Researcher.

Besides having a doctoral degree in the humanities or social sciences, successful candidates should have the ability to produce internationally recognized high-quality research in their field. Their research topic should also show potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. 

The Director of HCAS makes the decision on the fellowship based on the applicants’ academic merits and the suitability of their research topic for HCAS. 

HCAS provides a creative and inspiring research environment, which allows the fellows to pursue their personal research projects. All fellows have an office on HCAS premises, located at the heart of the University of Helsinki on the City Centre Campus, with easy access to libraries and other university services. More information about HCAS is available on our webpage.

The HCAS-RJ Fellowship is a salaried position. The salary will be based on levels 6–7 of the job requirement scheme for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will receive a salary component based on personal work performance. The annual gross salary is 60 000 – 73 000 €. Moreover, the RJ Fellow is entitled to a housing benefit arranged by HCAS as well as a personal allowance up to 4 000 € for research and travel costs.

The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies is an independent institute for advanced study at the University of Helsinki. The purpose of the Collegium is to promote high-quality research in the humanities and social sciences, further interaction between different academic fields, and to facilitate international and interdisciplinary research collaboration.

HCAS is committed to the values of equality and inclusivity in all its operations, including recruitment.

Applications must be written in English and submitted electronically together with the required attachments. These are:

• Motivation Letter (maximum of 8 000 characters including spaces)
• Research Proposal (maximum of 8 000 characters including spaces)
• Curriculum Vitae
• List of Publications 

Other attachments, including letters of recommendation or certificates, are not taken into consideration.

Applications must be submitted through the University of Helsinki electronic recruitment system here

The deadline for applications is 30 November 2026 at 23.59 local Helsinki time. The decision on the appointments will be announced by the end of the year. We kindly ask that any inquiries and questions about the recruitment be addressed to: recruitmenthelsinki [dot] fi (recruitment[at]helsinki[dot]fi).

The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (HCAS) was established in 2001 as an independent institute of the University of Helsinki to enhance scholarly excellence in the humanities and social sciences, promote interaction between different fields of academic research, and to further international academic cooperation. The Collegium’s fellowships are open to researchers in the humanities, social sciences, educational sciences, theology, and law, and to researchers in other fields focusing on topics related to the human sciences. The applicant’s doctoral degree must have been conferred by the application deadline.

The Collegium appoints fellows at different stages in their academic careers and from different disciplines, but has no fixed quotas for seniority, discipline, nationality, or gender. The Collegium is committed to promoting equality and preventing discrimination in its operations.

Applications must be prepared in accordance with the specified instructions available on the HCAS website. Successful applicants should provide evidence of their ability to work in an international, interdisciplinary research environment and of their ability to publish at a high international level. In the application documents, applicants must also indicate how they plan to participate in the interdisciplinary cooperation central for the Collegium as an institute of advanced study. Relevant evidence may be provided by reference to publications, academic activities or participation in research projects or posts at research institutes, or in the research proposal itself. Planned or existing cooperation with researchers of the University of Helsinki may be explained in the letter of motivation, in which the applicants are asked to explain why the University of Helsinki is a suitable environment for their research.

The Collegium does not consider research plans that propose to rewrite the applicant’s PhD thesis as a book. The Collegium will not grant two consecutive funding periods to one researcher. If an applicant has been at the Collegium before, at least ten years must have passed after the previous fellowship term, and the applicant must justify why they ought to be accepted for another funding period.

The Core Fellowship Program is the basis of all HCAS activities and the majority of our fellows are appointed through it. We are seeking up to 15 Core Fellows for the academic year 2027–2028. You may find the key information on the core fellowship below. The application period begins on 17 August 2026 and ends on 14 September 2026 at 23:59 local Helsinki time.

• Annual open call usually from August to September.
• Open to researchers from the humanities, social sciences, behavioral sciences, theology, and law, as well as to researchers in other fields focusing on topics related to the human sciences.
• Employment, not a grant program.
• Fixed term appointments for 0,5–3 years.
• For all career levels beyond the doctorate (post-docs, mid-career researchers, and full professors).
• Usual number of appointments 8–14 per year.
• Number of applications has been 250–450 per year, with well over 50% from outside Finland.
• No fixed career stage or discipline quotas.

• Time and freedom for focused research, free from administrative duties and heavy teaching obligations.
• A thriving and stimulating collegial work environment in the center of Helsinki, surrounded by libraries.
• Salaried positions with associated benefits (paid family and sick leave, pension benefits and occupational health care) in accordance with the General Collective Agreement for Universities.
• Office space.
• Language check services.
• Travel and research allowance.
• A taxable relocation allowance for newly recruited fellows who must relocate to the Helsinki area from elsewhere in Finland or from abroad.
• Relocation assistance for international fellows.
• Social programming and limited in-house wellness services.
• International fellows are assigned a host working at the University of Helsinki, and they are encouraged to collaborate with the broader academic community.

• Fellows are expected to spend at least 80% of their total research period at the Collegium.
• Fellows are expected to attend the weekly Fellows’ Seminar.
• Fellows must report their publications in the University’s research portal.
• While working at HCAS, fellows are required to mention the Collegium as their primary affiliation in publications, presentations, and interviews.
• Fellows whose term exceeds one year have a 5% teaching duty starting from the second year onwards, which may be fulfilled by helping to organize the HCAS Winter School for doctoral students.
• After their fellowship has ended, fellows are expected to submit a final report.

The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (HCAS) was established in 2001 as an independent institute of the University of Helsinki to enhance scholarly excellence in the humanities and social sciences, promote interaction between different fields of academic research, and to further international academic cooperation. 

We are currently inviting applications for fixed-term appointments to our Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Arts program for the academic year 2027–2028. The fellowship program aims to develop new forms of cooperation and dialogue between art and scholarship. The position is primarily intended for persons holding a doctoral degree in the arts. However, also persons engaged in artistic work but having completed a doctoral degree in a different academic field are eligible to apply. Applicants must have completed their doctoral degree by the end of the application period. In addition to the doctoral degree, the requirements for the position include experience of artistic work or artistic research. Practitioners of all fields of art may apply for the position. The appointment of the Fellow in the Arts is for one year. 

The postdoctoral researchers in the arts are appointed on the basis of a highly selective international competition. There is an annual call for applications for the position of the postdoctoral researcher in the arts at the Helsinki Collegium.

The fellowship program is funded by the Kone Foundation.

The Fall 2026 application period begins on 17 August 2026 and ends on 14 September 2026 at 23:59 local Helsinki time.   

For more details, please visit the HCAS website.