Young academics from all over the world starting work on their dissertations

This summer semester, the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS) will be welcoming 17 new doctoral students. Six of them – three women and three men – are being funded by the BGHS. They were awarded their scholarships after a multi-stage international selection procedure.

Three of the five doctoral students receiving scholarships from the BGHS are returning to the Graduate School for their doctorates: Mehran Haji-Mohammadian from Iran and Sisay Megersa Dirirsa from Ethiopia had previously attended the Graduate School as start-up scholars. With the support of this scholarship programme targeting international MA graduates, the two international researchers were already able to work on exposés for their planned dissertation topics. Theresa Renana Faye Hornischer prepared for her doctorate in the shortcut scholarship programme for German-speaking young academics at the BGHS.

The topics for the new doctoral projects vary greatly: What is the recent history of Ethiopia like? Do children bring happiness? How do people and dogs communicate with each other? These are just three out of the total of 17 research questions.

Here is an overview of all the researchers and their topics:
•    Jule Adriaans: Der Einfluss gesellschaftlicher Diskurse auf individuelle Gerechtigkeitseinstellungen im internationalen Vergleich. Ein Beitrag zur komparativen Gerechtigkeitsforschung [The influence of societal discourse on individual attitudes to justice: A contribution to comparative research on justice]
•    Edvaldo de Aguiar Portela Moita: Influxes of subinclusion in the construction of constitutional fields of illegalities
•    Indra Bock: Studien an den Grenzen des Sozialen. Multimodale Analysen der kommunikativen Praktiken zwischen Mensch und Hund  [Studies at the limits of the social: Multimodal analyses of communicative practices between humans and dogs]
•    Sisay Megersa Dirirsa: Ethiopia as a supra national state: An inquiry into the space of Contemporary Ethiopian History
•    Julia Engelschalt: Ilustrado scientists, revolution, and transformations of empire in the Philippines, 1872–1916
•    Paul Goerigk: Berufsbildung in (Inter-)Aktion. Vermittlung von Praktiken des Werkzeuggebrauchs [Vocational training in (inter) action: Imparting practices regarding how to use tools]
•    Mehran Haji-Mohammadian: The rise of retirement in Iran: A movement from the margin to the center of social policy?
•    Simon Hecke: Delegitimizing empire: Social sciences and the demise of empire as a legitimate political form
•    Anja Henkel: Erika Mann. Eine intellektuelle Nomadin? [Erika Mann: An intellectual nomad?]
•    Theresa Renana Faye Hornischer: "Les écrivaines-voyageuses" - Reisende Frauen als Intellektuelle in der Zwischenkriegszeit in Frankreich am Beispiel von Léo Wanner [Women travellers as French intellectuals in the inter-war period: The example of Léo Wanner]
•    Björn Huß: Machen Kinder glücklich? Auswirkungen von persönlichen, familialen und sozioökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen auf das subjektive Wohlbefinden von Müttern und Vätern [Do children bring happiness? Effects of personal, familial, and socio-economic framing conditions on the subjective well-being of mother and fathers]
•    Ina Kiel: Fernand Desprès. Ein engagierter Aktivist in internationalen Zirkeln während der Zwischenkriegszeit – Un militant engagé dans des cercles internationaux pendant l'entre-deux-guerres [Fernand Desprès: A committed activist in international circles during the inter-war period]
•    Ayomide Kolawole: The politics and outcomes of welfare in developing economies: A comparative analysis of Brazil and South Africa.
•    Henning Middelschulte: Conceptual change in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Bildung: Zur fachdidaktischen Integration von Wissenschaftstheorie, Lernpsychologie und empirischer Sozialforschung [Conceptual change in social science training: On integrating theory of science, the psychology of learning, and empirical social research in social science teaching]
•    Rodney Buadi Nkrumah: The politics of social protection in comparative perspectives: Between policies, programmes, and the lived experience of vulnerable children
•    Johanna Paul: Transnational mobilization for memorialization in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina: Reconceiving diasporans as transnational actors of reconciliation
•    Aanor Roland: Tax governance in the European Union: Explaining the post-crisis answer of the EU towards corporate tax avoidance

The BGHS offers structured doctoral programmes in history and sociology at Bielefeld University. It is international, it is open to all topics within the breadth of the cooperating disciplines, and it thrives on interdisciplinary exchange. It has been funded since 2007 as part of the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. It is currently in the second phase of funding up to 2017. From November 2017 onwards, all Graduate Schools, and therefore the BGHS as well, will enter a two-year phase of final funding as the Excellence Initiative draws to an end.

Further information:
The BGHS: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/bghs
Both the new and all the other doctoral students at the BGHS and their research projects:
http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/bghs/Personen/Promovierende
The BGHS Shortcuts Programme: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/bghs/Ausschreibungen/shortcuts.html
The BGHS Start-up Programme: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/bghs/Ausschreibungen/startup_scholarships.html