YOU are a researcher at the University of Konstanz, with a non-tenured or a tenure-track position.

YOU are interested in bursting open new boundaries, think beyond and across disciplines.

YOU want to investigate an exciting question in collaboration with colleagues across the world.

YOU want to create a

Zukunftskolleg Exchange Network: interdisciplinary Talent (ZENiT)

!! If so – do apply!!

WE offer financial support for up to 3 research groups:

• of up to 5 people in total to meet in Konstanz for
• up to 3 times on short research stays,
• up to 3 years.

These stays could be symposia, group discussions, writing retreats, preparations for experiments, coordination of group activities – it is up to you. We cover the costs for the meetings, and research costs for the group in the range of € 10.000 to € 100.000 over the three years (within DFG funding rules).

You will be a ZUKUNFTSKOLLEG RESEARCH FELLOW with all its benefits:

• An interdisciplinary community with a weekly Jour fixe during teaching term
• An international, interdisciplinary network and visibility
• € 3.000/year research funds and the possibility for additional funding upon application, based on yearly decision by the Zukunftskolleg’s Executive Committee

Researchers at an early career stage have to focus on a single research question in order to become the best in their fields, gain visibility and create a successful career. At the same time, this is a career stage in which new questions, often across disciplinary boundaries, become particularly interesting: creating tomorrows ideas! These projects are best pursued as groups, with the best colleagues from across the world, and need preparation – but often the structures within our universities are not ideal for creating such groups.

The Zukunftskolleg ZENiT Research Group allows the creation of a group, which would meet in Konstanz over the course of three years, to develop such ideas: maybe write a joint book, or a grant application; develop a new research idea; found a new society, or establish a specialized meeting series; invent a new discipline at the interface of related ones; create a new show or exhibition, or follow the dream project on the sidelines of your current focus: think big, think long-term, think creative.together!

All applications should be submitted via the Online Application Platform and contain the following supporting materials:

1. Letter of motivation (1 page max., the length is an eligibility criterion*)
2. Research proposal (5 pages max., including references, the length is an eligibility criterion*). The proposal should include the long-term goal! Where are we, what do we expect to know in 3 years, that we do not know now? Do you foresee a sequel for the group?
3. Curriculum vitae of the applicant (3 pages max., the length is eligibility criterion*)
4. Curriculum vitae of the partners (3 pages max./each, the length is eligibility criterion*)
5. Letters of consents of the partners.
6. Excel table with the yearly budget

* If the length of 1, 2, 3 and 4 exceeds the max. allowed number of pages, your application will be ineligible and will not be considered further.

• You generally hold a PhD, you have a (postdoc) position at the University of Konstanz, you do not (yet) have tenure.
• Your position should ideally be available to you for the whole project time. If that is not the case, propose a scenario for how you will follow the project after your working contract termination!
• Any department is eligible.

Your partners should have complementary expertise to your own, in order to create synergistic effects. They should be active academics and/or artists or they might come from other fields in any place in the world. They should ideally hold a PhD (or equivalent grade if in an artistic discipline), and may well have tenure or be emeriti. Interdisciplinarity and diversity is encouraged.

The group needs to be international, but more than one member per institution (including Konstanz) is permissible.

The Zukunftskolleg ZENiT Research Group comes with two packages:

(1) the group is funded according to the submitted cost plan (with – if necessary – the amendments requested by the Recruitment Committee), with up to €100.000 to be spent within the three years of the project duration. This money is intended for the meetings, and for necessary research to be conducted during the time between meetings. Just as an example, a prolonged research stay of yours at another university or in an archive, a major equipment item, the extension of a PhD salary.

(2) You will be a Zukunftskolleg Research Fellow, with the following benefits:

• An interdisciplinary community with a weekly Jour fixe during teaching term
• Research funds upon application, decided by the Zukunftskolleg’s Executive Committee
• An international, interdisciplinary network and visibility
• € 3.000/year research funds, upon decision by the Executive Committee.

1. Eligibility, as stated above.
2. The academic originality and quality of the research proposal
3. The feasibility of the research plan
4. The accuracy of the proposed budget
5. The appropriateness of the research group members
6. Diversity of network members
7. Congruency to the 5i strategy of the Zukunftskolleg
8. Considerations for sustainability within a finite planet

CAT will provide teams of early-career researchers (three to five persons) time and space for thought and discussion in the best research environments Europe has to offer. The groups may include one representative of a stakeholder organization related to the theme of the project. During a period of up to three years, teams will benefit from a series of short stays (i.e. between one and two weeks, two to three times a year, for a maximum of six stays) in institutes participating in the program (see list below). Online meetings and digital research stays at the institutes are possible alternatives to onsite stays and can complete the work and time plan of CAT groups.

CAT will cover travel and accommodation expenses for the team meetings/short work stays in the participating institutes. CAT will not fund salaries or research-related expenses.

The participating institutes will support the teams by connecting them with the most knowledgeable and experienced researchers onsite as well as digitally, and by helping them valorise the obtained results through their legitimating channels. During their stay, CAT teams will benefit from the institutes’ amenities and conviviality for work and exchanges. Discussions at the institutes will provide a unique sounding board for innovative ideas and will give valuable feedback.

The project must address emergent societal issues.

• The Principal Investigator (team leader) must have a stable research position in a European (EU as well as UK and associated countries) higher education and/or research institution for the entire duration of the project.
• S/he must have obtained a PhD between January 2016 and September 2025.         
• No team member should have obtained his/her PhD before January 2016. Doctoral researchers may also participate.
• The eligibility can be extended beyond 10 years after the PhD for any member of the group for certain properly documented circumstances such as maternity and paternity leaves, clinical training, long-term illness, national service, natural disaster or seeking asylum.
• There is no specific diploma or age requirement for representatives of stakeholder organizations.
• Each team should include participants from at least two different countries (current workplace, including non-European countries; any nationality).
• The team of 3 to 5 persons (stakeholders included) must be fully constituted, with CVs of all members named in the proposal.