As part of the RISC Fellow Program, we invite top-class researchers as well as outstanding doctoral students and postdocs to collaborate on our research questions on social cohesion. The program is aimed equally at highly qualified individuals from academia, business, and civil society who can contribute expertise, inspiration, and creative input. The fellows are an important resource for the institute. They support research, improve transdisciplinary methodology, and help to reach political, economic, social, and civil society actors.
The research stay at one of the eleven RISC sections as part of the fellowship program is intended to facilitate intensive and long-term exchange with scientists and practitioners in relation to the fellow's own research project. The RISC fellowship offers a multidisciplinary research environment with access to other research institutions, practice partners, data infrastructures, and RISC's s transfer services. Fellows can and should also be involved in the RISC career development program.
Funding is available for stays by researchers or practice partners at RISC sections for research and knowledge transfer projects that address the RISC’s themes, aspects and research objectives, and which represent a clear added value to the current state of research and to the RISC’s existing research and knowledge transfer activities.
There are various types of fellowships, each geared towards different objectives. These include:
fellowships on annual focus topics or in the context of RISC conferences,
fellowships aimed at filling disciplinary or thematic gaps,
fellowships for initiating and intensifying national/international collaborations,
and fellowships for strengthening the thematic areas and the research data centre.
Projects addressing research questions from all academic disciplines, as well as those with interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary focuses, are eligible.
For 2026, the focus topic is based on the planned interdisciplinary workshops and the annual conference. The themes planned for this year are (a) socio-ecological transformation and (b) marginalization and inequality.
The 2027 fellows are expected to contribute in particular to strengthening interdisciplinary exchange with disciplines and subject areas under-represented at the RISC. These include, in particular, (c) a greater analytical focus on visual media and emotions, and (d) the consideration of perspectives from economics relevant to social cohesion.
For 2028, the plan is to work on both overarching key questions of the second funding phase: (e) issues of crisis-ridden belonging and collective identity, and (d) the concept of democratic cohesion.
Applications are not submitted directly by the potential fellows themselves, but via the heads of the research areas or the Research Data Centre. A prerequisite for the application is the support of the RISC section where the fellowship is to take place.
If you are interested in a fellowship at the RISC, you can use the following steps as a guide:
- Choose a research area or the Research Data Centre for your stay. Information on the individual research areas can be found on the RISC website.
- Contact the coordination team of the respective research area or the Research Data Centre, as well as the coordination team of the fellowship programme. You are also welcome to indicate at which location you would like to complete the fellowship.
- We will then advise you on the possibilities of a fellowship and work together with you to prepare the application documents.
- If the head of the research area or the Research Data Centre supports the application, it will be forwarded to the selection committee, which will decide on the approval of the fellowship.
The application for a fellowship must include the following documents: a completed application form, a written expression of interest from the potential fellow (1 page), a CV, a brief justification from the applying research area or the RISC (2–3 pages), and a visiting researcher agreement. The templates are provided by the coordinator of the Fellowship Programme, Cedric Jürgensen. Applications may be submitted at any time; however, they will be forwarded to the selection committee in batches on four fixed dates each year (15 January, 15 April, 15 July and 15 October).
Selection is carried out by a committee comprising members of the Strategy Commission and the Executive Board. A decision is usually reached within approximately eight weeks of the relevant deadline (15 January, 15 April, 15 July and 15 October). Rejected applications may be revised and resubmitted.
Selection is based on several criteria:
the relevance of the project to the annual focus area and its alignment with the RISC’s research and transfer programme,
existing contacts and cooperation with partners within and outside the RISC, with preference given to members of institutions with which the RISC already cooperates,
the scope and feasibility of the objectives.
Attention is also paid to ensuring broad participation across all subject areas and from the Research Data Centre in the fellowship programme.
The fellowships cover travel expenses in accordance with the Saxon Travel Expenses Act (Sächsisches Reisekostengesetz, SächsRKG) as well as a monthly fellowship stipend. The amount of the stipend depends on the fellow’s career stage:
| Career stage | Monthly stipend |
| Doctoral researchers | 1,750 € |
| Postdoctoral researchers | 2,000 € |
| Assistant professors | 2,350 € |
| Professors | 2,500 € |
The objectives depend on the duration of the stay. The objectives should include the following elements:
- for stays of up to six weeks: participation in the centre’s activities, writing a blog post for the RISC website, and presenting the research at the institute’s colloquium;
- for stays of up to three months: organising and running a seminar, a workshop or a similar event;
- for stays of up to six months: writing a publication on the topic of the fellowship.
In justified exceptional cases, deviations from this rule may be permitted.