Golestan Fellowship

The fellowship is intended above all for researchers based outside the Netherlands who have already made a significant contribution to their field. Golestan Fellows pursue their own research within the international and multidisciplinary community at NIAS, where daily contact with scholars from many fields gives them new perspectives on their work.

The fellowship is open to researchers with at least three years of academic experience after their PhD whose work has a clear link to the medical or biological sciences and meets the humanities or social sciences. In accordance with the wishes of the late Professor Kenower Weimar Bash, the Golestan Foundation gives priority to researchers based outside the Netherlands.

The working language at NIAS is English. Applicants should speak and write it well enough to take a full part in the life of the institute and to benefit from the responses of their peers.

The Golestan Foundation offers one five-month or ten-month fellowship each academic year. The fellow receives a personal stipend. For researchers affiliated with a Dutch university or research institute, a Dutch University Grant is paid to their institution instead. NIAS provides an office and research facilities and, where eligible, subsidised accommodation in Amsterdam or reimbursement of local public transport.

A fellowship at NIAS is a full-time commitment. Fellows are expected to be at the institute four days a week from the start to the end of their fellowship. More information is available under What NIAS offers and Commitment, rules and regulations.

Applications are submitted through the online application form. An application consists of three parts:

• the completed form
• a project proposal of no more than 1,500 words, including footnotes and excluding references
• an up-to-date CV

The Board of the Golestan Foundation selects the fellow in consultation with the NIAS Director. Suitable candidates who apply through the regular NIAS Open Call may also be nominated for a Golestan Fellowship by the NIAS Director.

Professor Kenower Weimar Bash was a Swiss psychiatrist who worked extensively in Iran. He was a fellow at NIAS in 1973–1974 and found the experience so fruitful that he wished other researchers, preferably from abroad, to benefit in the same way. On his death in 1986 he left his estate to the NIAS Fellows’ Association. He wished it to fund a fellowship and a Persian garden in the grounds of NIAS in memory of his wife. Golestan means rose garden in Persian.

The Golestan Foundation was set up in 1991 to manage the estate. It is administered by NIAS and overseen by the NIAS Fellows’ Association. The board consists of Dr Luc Coffeng (chair), Joe Bauman (treasurer) and Dr Franjo Weissing (secretary), who receive no payment for their work.