The Käte Hamburger Kolleg Rohstoffwelten – Kulturen im Umbruch (KHK) and the Hamburg Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS) call to outstanding academics from all parts of the world to pursue their research projects on-site for 10 months in Germany (5 months at the HIAS in Hamburg and 5 months at the University of Kassel). The Käte Hamburger Kolleg and the HIAS invite applicants from all disciplines, senior fellows and early career scholars to pursue their individual research project in a creative, inter- and multidisciplinary community, and open atmosphere.

The research focus for the year 2026-27 is on Carbon Culture -examining the epistemic, cultural, political, and socio-economic foundations of fossilism and related raw materials; and seeking to explain their remarkable persistence despite decades of climate debates, technological alternatives, and ecological crises. There are three thematic profile areas and one cross-cutting methods area which serve as gravitational centers: Profile Area I: Raw Material Cultures (Rohstoffkulturen); Profile Area II: Raw Material Regimes (Rohstoffregime); Profile Area III: Raw Material Practices (Rohstoffpraktiken); Cross-Cutting Methods Area: Critique/Reflection.

The fellowship offers a space for collaborative, theory-driven, and empirically grounded research on the possibilities and conflicts of contemporary material and cultural transformations and energy transitions.

Join us in shaping a new understanding of raw material worlds!