First 6 ZENiT Fellows selected
The Zukunftskolleg received 12 applications within the first call for applications for the new ZENiT Fellowship Programme (application deadline: 15 December 2023). ZENiT stands for Zukunftskolleg Exchange Network: interdisciplinary Talent.
The 12 applications reflect a wide variety in research fields and country distribution, career stages, and affiliation of the project group participants. We received applications from eight different departments as well as the two clusters. Among them are seven international and six female applicants.
We thank all applicants who managed to hand in their application within such a short application period of only six weeks.
In its meeting on 25-26 January 2024, the Recruitment Committee decided on the applications. The new ZENiT Fellows are:
· Yitzhak Ben Mocha (Biology / cluster “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour”)
· Gisela Kopp (Biology / cluster “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour”)
· Jonas Kuckling (Computer and Information Science / cluster “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour”)
· Tobias Tober (cluster “The Politics of Inequality”)
· Alexandra Windsberger (Law)
· Abena Yalley (Politics and Public Administration)
The purpose of the ZENiT programme:
In 2023, the Zukunftskolleg launched a new group fellowship format, ZENiT, which bridges short postdoctoral and tenure track positions. ZENiT offers postdoctoral researchers at the University of Konstanz the possibility to create a group of scientists and prominent people from the non-academic world and work on projects on the fringes of their research. It allows early career researchers to broaden their horizons, meet new people and create new networks. ZENiT follows the 5i strategy of the Zukunftskolleg and opens the Zukunftskolleg’s doors to postdoctoral researchers at the university by offering them a fellowship for the duration of up to 3 years. The ZENiT Fellowship provides no salaries, but financial support for researchers of up to €100,000 for research ideas and networking and a research allowance of €3,000/year. It gives the new fellows the opportunity to be part of the vibrant Zukunftskolleg community and to profit from the community’s internationality and interdisciplinary life. ZENiT is an important part of the new Excellence Strategy (ExStra) application of the University of Konstanz.