Digital Humanism Junior Visiting Fellowship 2027 at the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (IWM), Vienna [Stipend EUR 3,300/EUR 2,750 per Month]

The Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Institute for Human Sciences, IWM) is an institute for advanced study based at Spittelauer Lände 3 in Vienna, Austria. Its Digital Humanism programme, launched in 2022, is run in close collaboration with Vienna's University of Technology and the initiatives associated with the Digital Humanism agenda in Vienna, and its activities are inspired by the Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism. The programme is led by IWM Permanent Fellow Ludger Hagedorn.

The programme is built on the premise that the challenges thrown up by digitalization and the recent rise of AI require interdisciplinary collaboration, and it has been inviting researchers from a whole range of disciplines, from computer science to the humanities, to examine both the opportunities and the risks of a digitized world. From 2026, its calls invite scholars working in particular on democracy and governance, on inequality and social justice, and on the opportunities and potential of digital transformation. The fellowship is funded by the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure of the Republic of Austria.

The Digital Humanism Junior Visiting Fellowship is part of the Digital Humanism programme, and the IWM states that the call for applications is open to all academic disciplines. The Institute defines Digital Humanism as an approach that describes, analyzes and, most importantly, influences the complex interplay between technology and humankind, striving for a better society while maintaining full respect for universal human rights.

Candidates are expected to pursue research on digitalization's intersection with societal, economic and geopolitical dimensions, as well as other relevant research foci from the humanities and social sciences. The IWM draws a clear line between this programme and the Digital Humanities: applications that merely apply digital means and new technologies to research in the humanities will not be considered.

Law is squarely within scope. The online application form lists Recht / Law among the disciplines an applicant may select, and recent fellows in the programme have worked on subjects such as AI-assisted judicial decision-making in comparative perspective and the human-rights costs of digital surveillance.

• Selected candidates are invited to spend a term of three consecutive months at the IWM in Vienna between February and June 2027 to pursue their research projects as Digital Humanism Junior Visiting Fellows.
• The fellowship period is synchronised to overlap with the presence of the Senior Digital Humanism Visiting Fellow.
• Fellowships start on the first day of the first month and end on the last day of the last month of the fellowship period.
• The IWM provides visiting fellows with office space, internet access, in-house research facilities and administrative services, all free of charge.
• Visiting fellows join the IWM community of scholars and are invited to participate in the activities of the Institute.

• Postdoctoral candidates who have defended their PhD by the date of the fellowship application deadline receive a stipend of EUR 3,300 per month.
• Candidates currently pursuing their doctoral degree receive a stipend of EUR 2,750 per month.

From the stipend, visiting fellows are responsible for covering all living expenses during their research term, including travel to and from Vienna, accommodation costs, health insurance, utilities, local transport and telecommunications, as well as research costs such as literature and conference fees.

• Candidates must be enrolled in a doctoral programme, or must have obtained a PhD not longer than four years previously at the time of the application deadline, that is, not before 21 September 2022.
• The IWM does not accept multiple fellowship applications from the same candidate within the same academic year.
• Candidates who have previously received an IWM fellowship must wait three academic years before applying for another fellowship.
• The call states no nationality or residence restriction. The online application form accepts applicants of any nationality, India included, and the programme's recent fellows have come from institutions across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, including the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

• A brief letter of motivation that addresses how the project would benefit from time at the IWM, its connection to the IWM's mission and research, and concrete research or writing goals during the fellowship.
• A project description of maximum 550 characters including spaces.
• A project proposal of maximum 7,500 characters including spaces, containing (a) a description of the project's objectives, (b) a discussion of the current state of research, (c) methods, and (d) a work plan.
• A curriculum vitae, including a list of publications.
• Two letters of recommendation from scholars familiar with the applicant's academic work. The letters must be submitted directly by the recommenders before the application deadline; recommenders receive an automatic email with a link to a web form once the application has been submitted.

Applications must be submitted through the online application form linked below. The IWM will not consider applications sent by email. All application materials must be in English.

Attached documents must be combined into a single PDF, because the online submission form allows only one attachment, and file names of attachments must use Latin characters only. The application deadline is 21 September 2026, 23:59 CEST.

Applications that meet the formal and thematic criteria of the call are evaluated, and the finalists are selected by a jury of experts. Applicants will be notified of the jury's decision by email by 30 November 2026. The IWM states that the jury is not required to publicly justify its decisions, nor to provide applicants with individual feedback on their applications.