Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences

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The BGSS

The BGSS serves as the platform for international graduate training at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin's Department of Social Sciences.

The graduate school´s mission is to train and promote doctoral researchers from Germany and abroad/the world for both scientific and professional careers. Doctoral researchers who participate in the training structure of the BGSS International Doctoral Program complete their doctoral degrees in either Sociology or Political Sciences. The degree is awarded by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities III of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Since 2007 the BGSS is funded by the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal and State Governments via the German Research Association

The Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences (BGSS) is calling for applications to its International Doctoral Program starting in October 2012.

Research proposals should relate to the comparative analysis of the following research areas and topics. The combination of areas and topics is welcome:

Inclusion

• social inequality and well-being
• social protest and social conflict
• migration and cultural diversity
• the clash and the management of collective identities

Democracy

• performance of mature and young democracies
• processes of democratization, and the resilience of autocracy
• multilevel and multinational policy
• political institutions, political conflict, and welfare states

Knowledge

• scientific knowledge in processes of policy-making
• the impact of science and religion on processes of inclusion and democratization
• communicating knowledge in public spheres
• the governance of science

BGSS is also calling for the European PhD in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies, its interdisciplinary European doctoral program in cooperation with eight partner universities. See www.europhd.org .

Admission is based on academic excellence and is open to students with a Master's degree or equivalent in social sciences (sociology, political science, and neighbouring disciplines). We expect high-level knowledge of current theoretical debates in the social sciences and in-depth knowledge of quantitative or qualitative techniques of social research as well as a commitment to empirical research. English proficiency at an academic level is assumed.

Scholarships are awarded of up to 1200€/month for a maximum of 36 months, contingent on the successful completion of each year and the granting of funds in the second period of Excellence Initiative. Applicants with alternative funding are welcome.

Applicants may submit their documents from January 2 to February 15, 2012 via the BGSS online platform at www.bgss.hu-berlin.de or the SESS.EuroPhD website www.europhd.org.

Contact us via bgss@sowi.hu-berlin.de and www.bgss.hu-berlin.de