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Theme-group Fellowships
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NIAS Theme Group Fellowships

A NIAS Theme Group is an (international) team of two to four researchers who collaborate on a specific research topic for five consecutive months. While each researcher pursues their own individual project, they also contribute to the team’s collective research efforts. Theme Groups are established either through an application process or may be initiated by the NIAS director.

The Fellowship call (for the 2027–2028 academic year) is open from 15 January 2026 until 16 March 2026, 12:00 noon CET.

During the semester, the Theme Group works on a self-chosen project that falls within the scope of the humanities and/or social sciences. Fellows may apply for a stipend or a Dutch University Grant, as well as reimbursement for daily commuting costs or subsidised accommodation in Amsterdam.

A NIAS Theme Group Fellowship offers the opportunity to collaborate daily on a specific research topic. It is also a true residency: all fellows commit to stepping away from their regular obligations to dedicate themselves fully to their research within NIAS’s international, multidisciplinary environment. In addition to providing uninterrupted time and space for the Theme Group’s research, the residency emphasises both intellectual and informal exchanges with other fellows. Participation in communal lunches and weekly seminars, where fellows present their work-in-progress, is a central aspect of the NIAS Fellowship experience.

To ensure the highest quality of the residency, NIAS requires fellows to be present at the Institute for at least four days per week, including attendance at the weekly fellows’ seminar on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We strongly recommend that fellows make the necessary arrangements with their home institutions before the start of the fellowship to enable full immersion in the residency.

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Who can apply

NIAS Theme Group Fellowships are awarded to scholars from both the Netherlands and abroad. Applicants should have at least three years of academic experience since obtaining their PhD, and their project proposal should be related to the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences.

These fellowships are also open to scholars who do not hold a permanent position at a university or research institute. The working language at NIAS is English, and applicants are expected to have a strong command of the language in order to contribute fully to the fellows’ group and to benefit from feedback on their own research.

NIAS seeks to assemble a balanced cohort each year, reflecting a diversity of academic cultures, gender, career stages, and disciplines.

For a complete list of the formal requirements please see here.

NIAS aims to grant equal freedoms and rights to all researchers. We will not exclude individual researchers based on their nationality, ethnicity, religion, or affiliation, and are dedicated to ensuring that everyone in our community feels safe among their peers. However as of March 2022, as part of the EU sanctions in response to the Ukraine crisis, NIAS is forced to deny applicants (whatever their nationality) affiliated to Russian or Belarusian universities and research institutes. Applicants with a Russian or Belarusian nationality who are independent or are affiliated to a research institution outside Russia or Belarus, are eligible.

The proposal

The proposal contains both the group application as well as the individual fellowship application forms of all group members. The group proposal (max. 1500 words, including footnotes, excluding bibliography and abstract) should include:

  • Title, topic and main idea of the theme-group project
  • Relation of the project to existing literature in the field
  • Academic and societal relevance of the research project
  • Methodology
  • A description of the interdisciplinary character of the proposal, and expected benefit of group collaboration, and the manner in which the NIAS environment will contribute to this collaboration
  • Intended research output (e.g. lectures, articles, monographs, constitution of databases, websites)
  • A definitive list of the theme-group members (min. 2 – max. 4)

The proposal must be submitted via the application form on this website. All theme-group members should also submit their application, including a research proposal for their own individual project. It is recommended that the theme-group coordinator organises this process since only applications that contain all individual fellowship forms will be selected for further evaluation. The theme group coordinator should provide both the theme group proposal and a proposal for his own individual project.

For your convenience, we have provided a blank application form to give you an idea of the information required.

Selection procedure

The selection procedure for a NIAS theme group consists of:

First stage: eligibility

In order to be eligible for a NIAS Fellowship, candidates must meet all formal eligibility criteria that are communicated with the call. By 1 May Team Selection at NIAS will let applicants know by email if their application does not comply with these criteria, and is therefore rejected. Please, note that among them are those conditions concerning the maximum lengths of your entries and submitted documents. NIAS will not allow any additions or changes after submission.

Second stage: commitment
A NIAS Staff Committee, composed of members not otherwise involved in the selection procedure, assesses the applicants’ commitment—NIAS’s core value. They review the candidates’ statements on interdisciplinary and community engagement and propose up to 150 candidates for the reviewing phase, taking into account the level of dedication and care evident in the applications. Candidates not proposed for review will be notified by email before 15 May. The lists are compiled into a matrix produced by the Staff Committee, which presents the geographic distribution, disciplinary diversity, and various career stages of the cohort-in-the-making.

Third stage: peer review
Applications that meet the stated requirements will be forwarded to two selected external referees. These referees are chosen either from NIAS’s expanding panel of reviewers or from the three referees proposed by the applicant.

The NIAS panel represents a diverse range of expertise and backgrounds. All referees are provided with a set of evaluation guidelines, which include consideration of the applicant’s personal circumstances when preparing their proposal.

By the end of September, the dossiers of the 75 highest-rated applications will be submitted to the Academic Advisory Board. A more concise overview will be provided for the other applicants.

Fourth stage: Academic Advisory Board
The three Theme Group applications with the highest scores from the referees’ evaluations are presented to the NIAS Academic Advisory Board (AAB). This board is responsible for advising the NIAS Directorate on which candidates should be invited as fellows.

As part of this role, the board ranks the candidates presented to them in dossiers. They are specifically asked to consider the overall balance of the proposed year group, taking into account factors such as discipline, gender, seniority, and regional diversity.

Fifth stage: final selection by the director of NIAS
Based on the Academic Advisory Board’s (AAB) recommendations, the NIAS Director makes the final decision on fellowship allocations from the Open Call.

While academic considerations—both individual excellence and the potential impact on the collective of fellows—remain the priority, practical factors may also be considered at this stage. These include the availability of housing and other resources relative to demand, for which the Institute Manager will be consulted.

The Director of NIAS informs the Theme group coordinator in writing of his decision no later than 15 December in the year that the application was submitted i.e. Theme groups who have been selected, Theme groups who have not been selected and Theme groups who have been placed on the reserve list.

Accepted candidates receive a Preliminary Offer, and upon acceptance, a Fellowship Agreement will be issued along with any relevant attachments and documents. Full agreement must be reached and signed by 15 April, after which the offer will expire. Offers cannot be deferred to a future year.

If an accepted candidate declines or their offer expires, the Director will offer the position to an alternate candidate. By 15 May, the final NIAS year group for the upcoming academic year will be confirmed and ready for presentation in June.

The selection process takes up to 12 months.

Time path

Call for NIAS theme-group proposals for the academic year 2027/28:

  • Call opens: 15 January 2026
  • Call closes: 16 March 2026, 12.00h noon CET
  • If the application does not meet the formal requirements the application will be rejected and the applicant will be informed by email before 1 May 2026.
  • Candidates not proposed for review will be notified by email before 15 May.
  • The Director of NIAS informs all eligible candidates in writing of his decision no later than 15 December 2026

Apply now

Previous NIAS Theme Groups include:

Past & present Fellows

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