The Collaborative Research Centre CRC 1252 “Prominence in Language” at the University of Cologne in Germany invites applications for short-term fellowships available between April and December 2025. We invite applications for two types of fellowships:

(1) Senior Fellowships for experienced international researchers (at least 5 years after PhD) who will reside in Cologne for a duration of 1 to 3 months. The CRC can cover 2,500 Euro per month for travel, accommodation and personal allowance.

(2) Junior Fellowships for young international researchers (doctoral students and researchers up to 5 years after their PhD) who will reside in Cologne for a duration of 3-6 months. The CRC can cover 1,800 Euro per month for travel, accommodation and personal allowance.

In the Collaborative Research Centre “Prominence in Language” (CRC 1252, Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB 1252)) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) researchers from different fields of linguistics and language studies are collaborating in 20 individual scientific projects. More than 60 researchers investigate how prominence structures language with respect to prosody (Area A), morphosyntax and semantics (Area B) as well as text and discourse structure (Area C). The projects work on a large variety of languages from more than a dozen major language families and pursue various methodological approaches. Our research on prominence contributes to a better understanding of language as a system between communication and cognition. For more information see https://sfb1252.uni-koeln.de/en/.

The CRC provides an international and highly innovative research environment and is well connected to other linguistic research centres in Germany and abroad. Fellows will be offered office space, access to libraries, administrative support, as well as support in arranging accommodation and travelling.

Application procedure:
Applicants must choose a suitable host for the time of the fellowship in advance. Any Project leader (PL) of a current CRC project is eligible to act as host. We expect the fellow to be well integrated in the research team of one or more projects. The host should be identified and contacted in advance, i.e. before submitting your application (including a letter from the PL willing to host you). Please submit a 2-page (maximum) personal statement including an outline of your research plan for the stay in Cologne. In addition, please provide your CV and a letter from the PL who is going to host you.
All application documents must be submitted as a single pdf per email to the coordinator of the CRC, Dr. Christine Röhr ([email protected]). The application deadline is January 20th, 2025.
Applications are evaluated and ranked by the management committee of the CRC with respect to the following criteria: scientific quality, thematic matching of the proposal to the host project as well as diversity. Applicants will be notified about the decision in February 2025.

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
Morphology
Phonology
Pragmatics
Syntax