About
Research Collaboratives and the Fellowship Competition | Seminar
Themes | Awards | Eligibility
| Application Guidelines | Download
Announcement
ABOUT
CGES RESEARCH COLLABORATIVES AND THE GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP COMPETITION
The Center for German and European Studies aims to train a new generation of German and European experts in the United States by supporting multi-institutional research collaboratives and developing a series of interdisciplinary seminars focusing on Germany and Europe . The Center’s fellowship program provides support for students pursuing a graduate degree with a research interest that contributes to or draws on German and European studies.
German and European studies can be defined broadly to embrace the multi-faceted, interdisciplinary study of the geography, history, politics, economics, law, society, people and culture of Germany and its role in Europe . The particular place of German and European identities in the reconfiguration of Europe provides a compelling paradigm for interdisciplinary teaching and research, inviting interdisciplinary and comparative examination from all vantage points and disciplines. Global parallels and intersections with German and European experience provide a wider context for understanding concepts, and offer non-American frameworks that are useful for analyzing social change.
The Center regularly establishes one or more research collaboratives on different themes in German and European Studies with faculty from two or more institutions. Students are selected not only to participate in a graduate seminar on a topic related to the faculty’s research theme but to develop their own research into an article, thesis or dissertation chapter in this broad, interdisciplinary area. The seminar is held jointly with faculty and students from the UW-Madison and the collaborating institution(s) and also includes guest speakers.
back
to top
RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE THEME
Family Dynamics in a Changing Europe
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stockholm University, & University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
The CGES Research Collaborative on Family Dynamics in a Changing Europe welcomes scholars from the humanities and specialists in qualitative methods as well as those who are familiar with indicators of demographic change. Readings and seminar discussion will be oriented toward theory and empirical results rather than methodology. Lectures will cover historical, anthropological and policy perspectives as well as sociological and demographic research. An introduction to demography will be provided to interested students (small book, short lecture) but is not required to understand and participate actively in lectures and discussions.
This graduate-level course provides an overview of recent theory and research on changes and dynamics in family demographic behavior in Europe . With its variation in cultural, political, economic, and institutional settings, Europe is the ideal place to test various hypotheses on the causes and consequences of family demographic change in economically developed societies. The recent transformation of Central and Eastern Europe , and the increasing importance of international migration have added to the variety of demographic dynamics of the continent. The seminar will cover changes in living arrangements and union dynamics; changes in childbearing dynamics; causes and consequences of family-demographic change; relationships between social and economic policy and family-demographic change; and transnational vital events, family dynamics in the course of international migration. Particular attention will be devoted to comparative research within Europe and to theoretically informative comparisons with low-fertility settings in North America , Oceania and East Asia .
The course is a joint venture between Stockholm University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). Class meetings will be held via video conference so that all faculty and students can participate simultaneously. The course is supported by UW-Madison’s Center for German and European Studies and by the Demography Unit at Stockholm University . I t is designed to further a collaborative research agenda among faculty and doctoral students at both institutions. Professor Elizabeth Thomson leads the UW-Madison group. At Stockholm University , Dr. Gunnar Andersson (Docent), a leading expert on family demographic change in the Nordic countries, is the course organizer . Guest lecturers will include Professor Ron Lesthaeghe , Professor Emeritus of Demography and Social Science Methodology at the Free University of Brussels and Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan and the University of California-Irvine; Professor Caroline Bledsoe, Northwestern University; Dr. Gerda Neyer, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research; and Dr. Mikaela Kreyenfeld, University of Rostock and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.
back
to top
FELLOWSHIP
AWARDS FOR FALL 2007
Four fellowships will be given out to students working in
the theme area for Fall 2007. Students applying for fellowships should
indicate if they have applied for other support (Fulbright, DAAD, etc.)
for the same time period. CGES fellowships will be awarded for one semester
and in the form of a research or project assistantship. The appointment
carries with it tuition remission and health insurance. Students must
enroll and participate actively in the collaborative seminar for which
they are receiving the fellowship,
but the research in which they are engaged will generally extend beyond this single seminar.
back
to top
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
To be eligible for the CGES Fellowship Competition, students must satisfy
the following requirements:
1.
Full-time graduate student at the UW-Madison (students from all fields
and schools are welcome to apply)
2.
Must have completed at least one year of graduate-level coursework
by the Fall of 2007.
3.
Must be able to enroll in the CGES seminar for which the fellowship
is awarded.
4. Preference will be given to students planning research within one or
more of the following topic areas: social change in Europe; the second
demographic transition; international migration and family/demographic
behavior; welfare state policy and family/demographic change.
CGES will provide fellowship support for the following types of students:
1.
Doctoral Candidates engaged in a course of study that will lead to
a dissertation that will benefit from work done in German and/or European
Studies. The dissertation might be focused on Germany or Europe but
might also draw on research and perspectives offered by German and
European Studies fields.
2.
Masters Candidates working toward a thesis drawing on or contributing
to German and European Studies.
3.
Students who have a specific research plan for the semester that relates
to the topic of the seminar. This research plan may or may not develop
into a Masters thesis or doctoral dissertation topic
but should represent a potentially publishable piece of work in whole or part.
back
to top
APPLICATION
GUIDELINES
To apply, send the following materials to:
CENTER
FOR GERMAN & EUROPEAN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
213 INGRAHAM HALL / 1155 OBSERVATORY DRIVE
MADISON, WI 53706
1.
Download CGES cover letter (MS Word).
2.
A two to three page, double-spaced description of your research
topic and how it is related to the theme of the seminar to which
you are applying. In this description, outline your proposed research
plan during the period of the fellowship as specifically as possible.
If your topic is not on a German and/or European theme, please detail
how a German and/or European perspective will inform your work.
3.
Two letters of recommendation from UW-Madison faculty familiar
with your work (including PhD or directed research advisor).
4.
Undergraduate and graduate transcripts (one official copy of
each). If you did your undergraduate or graduate work at the UW-Madison,
campus copies of your transcripts are acceptable.
5.
An up-to-date CV.
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MARCH 30!
Download
this Graduate Fellowship Competition Announcement here
(MS Word)
back
to top
