Van Doorn Fellowship
The Van Doorn Fellowship is a collaboration between NIAS and the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences | Department Public Administration and Sociology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The fellowship stimulates sociological research that critically analyses societal issues.
About the Van Doorn Fellowship
The Van Doorn Fellowship and Chair is set up in honour of Prof. dr. J.A.A. van Doorn (1925–2008), Professor of Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and one of the leading sociologists in the Netherlands in the second half of the twentieth century. It stimulates the critical analysis of societal issues and research relevant to social policy.
The Van Doorn Fellowship at NIAS is for 5 months and is both on the basis of nomination and by invitation. The focus of the Fellowship/Chair is on the analysis of the relationship between social processes on the one hand and policy and administration on the other. The person holding the Fellowship/Chair is expected to be able to connect with the style of Van Doorn. That is to say: to have a broad orientation towards an analysis of societal, political and administrative issues with a strong historical basis. As in the themes analysed by Van Doorn: the relationship between modernization, rationalization and technocracy, colonial history or the sociological analysis of military organizations and the use of force.
For a large part of the 5 months, the holder of the Chair can work on his or her own research as Van Doorn Fellow of NIAS, in addition to giving a limited number of lectures, seminars, master classes, lectures etc. to students, PhD students and staff of Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences/Erasmus University Rotterdam.
The holder of the Chair will present the Van Doorn lecture during her or his tenure.
Who can apply
The Van Doorn Invitational Chair/Fellowship is intended for mid-career and end-career full professors in the Netherlands or abroad. Preference is given to a leading social scientist (preferably a sociologist or public administration expert) with very broad theoretical and empirical experience in the field of societal issues and the analysis of policy and administration.
Practical Information
- In principle, there is one Van Doorn Fellowship every other year for 5 months
- Fellows are provided with an office with research facilities in the NIAS building and, if eligible, subsidized accommodation or set commuting allowance
- Fellows can apply for a replacement teaching fund to cover (part of) their contractual obligations for teaching
- See here for more information about practical and financial matters
How to apply
The Fellowship and Chair is by invitation and nomination. See here for more information.
Nominations can be submitted between 15 January and 15 April.
Selection procedure
Candidates are reviewed by the Curatorium of the prof. dr. J.A.A. van Doorn Chair | Fellowship, and consists of:
- The chairman of the Department of Public Administration and Sociology, which is currently prof. dr. R.J. Van der Veen;
- The director of NIAS, which is currently prof. dr. Jan Willem Duyvendak;
- The dean of the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities, which is currently prof. dr. Liesbet van Zoonen.
The Rector Magnificus of the Erasmus University offers the candidate a Van Doorn Chair at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. The selection process is overseen by the NIAS Scholarly Committee.