With the prize money awarded to the Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School by the Einstein Foundation Berlin in 2022, the FSGS will establish a pre-doc programme in the coming years for doctoral candidates from the Global South with an interest in German Studies or Comparative Literature with a German-language component.

The programme combines on-site and online components and begins with a six-month phase during which PhD candidates complete digital modules from their home countries, followed by a one-year residency at the FSGS funded by the programme (for more information on funding, click here.) The digital modules, which will be developed into an autonomous digital pre-doc programme by the end of the funding period, include both synchronous elements (e.g. online workshops and courses) and asynchronous components (e.g. podcasts and online guides). They provide information on doctoral opportunities in Germany, prepare participants for doctoral studies, support them during their initial pre-doc phase, and familiarise them with external funding options (e.g. scholarships or research positions). In this way, participants have the opportunity to secure external funding during their time at the FSGS in order to obtain a PhD position. Throughout the entire programme, participants receive comprehensive academic supervision.

By integrating early-career researchers from the Global South, we aim to strengthen academic networks beyond the Global North. In addition, the FSGS seeks to include previously underrepresented research perspectives on the decolonisation of knowledge and the reduction of structural inequalities, and to critically address the dominance of knowledge production shaped in the Global North.

After the three-year funding period, the digital programme will continue at the FSGS and will gradually be extended to doctoral candidates from various countries in the Global South. It will also serve as a best-practice model for other doctoral programmes at Freie Universität Berlin and the Berlin University Alliance.