3 scholarships (predoc) in Ancient Studies starting 2025 at Freie Universität Berlin

The Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (BerGSAS) is offering 3 predoc scholarships at Freie Universität Berlin in 2025 in the field of Ancient Studies. Funding is available from 1 July 2025 onwards for up to 6 months. An extension is not possible. You receive a scholarship of EUR 1,000 per month.

At the beginning of the scholarship, you must be enrolled in either a master's program or a doctoral program at the Freie Universität Berlin. Funding is available to students whose Master’s thesis is completed and evaluated by 1 May, 2025, and who are planning to conduct & complete their doctorate at the Freie Universität Berlin, within BerGSAS. When submitting your application, please specify who the potential academic supervisor of your doctoral dissertation at the Freie Universität Berlin should be. Please enclose her/his letter of confirmation.

More information on the range of subjects in Ancient Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin https://www.fu- berlin.de/einrichtungen/fachbereiche/fb/gesch-kultur/altwiss/index.html, and on the Graduate School https://www.berliner-antike-kolleg.org/bergsas/index.html

The purpose of the predoc scholarship is to develop a dissertation topic as well as to submit an application to scholarship providers (e.g., Elsa Neumann Scholarship; Gerda Henkel Foundation; Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes) within the 6-month funding period. It is expected that your doctoral dissertation will be written at and submitted to the Freie Universität. Predoc scholarship holders, who successfully apply for external doctoral funding, will be admitted as full members to BerGSAS and participate in the curriculum of a structured doctoral program.

Please send your application as one single PDF file to bergsas@berliner-antike-kolleg.org

Application documents (in German or English, Arial 12pt, 1.5 line):

• A letter of motivation (maximum 1 page, A4)
• A project outline for a doctoral dissertation (ca. 6,000 characters including spaces). The outline should include a title, state of research, aim/main research question, methods and material/evidence.
• A letter of confirmation of the potential supervisor of your doctoral dissertation at FU Berlin
• A curriculum vitae (CV, resume)
• University transcripts: B.A. and M.A. certificates
• English language certificate e.g., IELTS or TOEFL: C1 (only if your mother tongue is not German or English)

In addition, a letter of recommendation from the supervisor of your MA thesis is required. The reviewer should send the letter directly to bergsas@berliner-antike-kolleg.org.

The deadline for your application is 00:00 CET on 5 May 2025. The selection committee will not consider incomplete or late applications. For further inquiries, please contact the coordinator Dr Regina Attula, regina.attula@berliner-antike-kolleg.org

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Study places (without funding)

The Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (BerGSAS) accepts applications for both winter and summer admissions for our doctoral programs Ancient Languages and Texts, Ancient Objects and Visual Studies, Ancient Philosophy and History of Science, and Landscape Archaeology and Architecture. The starting date for doctoral studies in the summer semester is the first of April – for the winter semester, the starting date is the first of October.

If you would like to apply for summer admission, please you submit your application materials by September 30 of the preceding year.

If you wish to apply for winter admission, we request that you submit your application materials by April 30 in the year you wish to start.

Prospective doctoral students apply for our doctoral programs. Each of the programs has its own curriculum, which takes six semesters to complete. In the course of their doctoral studies, doctoral students have the opportunity to spend a semester at one of our partner universities – Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford or Princeton University – and can receive financial support for that purpose.

Minimum requirements for applicants

• Completion of a master’s degree with a very good result in a field of ancient studies or a closely related discipline, e.g. prehistory, classical or Near Eastern archaeology, Egyptology, ancient Near Eastern studies, ancient history, medieval history, religious studies, philosophy and the history of knowledge, theology, art history, classics, Byzantine studies, Iranian studies.

• When you submit your application, you must be able to prove that you have a way of financing the three-year course of doctoral studies (scholarship, part-time scientific position) or at least show that you have submitted a request for the funding of your doctoral project to a third party.