Deadline: September 20, 2025
Applications are open for the Budapest Open Society Fellowship on Modalities of Resilience and Resistance 2026-2027. The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS CEU), together with the Democracy Institute (DI) and the Blinken OSA Archivum (OSA) at the Budapest site of CEU, is pleased to launch their fourth joint call for applications for the Budapest Open Society Fellowship program. The new call for applications for the academic year 2026/27 focuses on the topic of Modalities of Resilience and Resistance: Academia and Society in Illiberal Times.
In various capacities, the three Budapest-based units of CEU are engaged in research, teaching and public program series focusing on the cultural, political, social, legal, economic, aesthetic and epistemic problems posed by the rise of autocratic governments and regimes in the last two decades worldwide. These regimes use new techniques of mobilization and undermine traditional conceptions of truth, verification, and falsification; they merge populist, neoliberal, religious fundamentalist, biopolitical and other ideological components into a new mix that subverts the liberal democratic institutional system.
The present call focuses on analyzing the morphology of these tendencies and regimes, as well as on the ways of defying and resisting them. They seek to pay special attention to the transnational entanglements of these regimes and ideologies as well as of those who contest them. Their aim is to pursue this in a multidisciplinary manner, creating new synergies between different fields and methodological traditions.
Benefits
- Senior Fellows receive a net monthly stipend of 2,600 Euros, Junior Fellows receive a net monthly stipend of 1,500 Euros, and Artists in Residence 2,000 Euros to help support their stay in Budapest.
- In addition, all fellows and their families receive housing at the Raoul Wallenberg Guesthouse. Utilities at the Guesthouse will be charged to the Fellows. Fellows are also responsible for their own travel and health care provisions.
Eligibility
- Applicants must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent in the social sciences or humanities at the time of their application. Artists should hold a relevant university degree.
- Only those with publications in internationally recognized scholarly outlets will be considered. Artists should provide a commensurable strong track record.
- Junior fellows must have obtained a Ph.D. degree issued in 2018 or later and must apply for the junior fellowship. Candidates who obtained their Ph.D. before 2018 are considered “senior” and must apply for the senior fellowship.
- Former full time CEU employees and students are not eligible to apply for 5 years after the end of their studies/contract (degrees must have been received and contracts must have ended by December 31, 2020 or earlier).
- Part-time/temporary employees of CEU are not eligible for 1 year after their contract ends (their contract must have ended by December 31, 2024 or earlier).
- Former fellows of IAS CEU are not eligible to apply again for a period of 7 years. Applications at an earlier stage may be considered only in exceptional cases.
- Reapplication is possible only 3 times within a period of 5 years.
- Applicants are expected to be able to communicate fluently in English as this is the working language of the Institute and CEU.
- All nationalities are encouraged to apply. However, be informed that the eligibility of applicants who require a visa for their stay in Hungary may need to be assessed on an individual basis.
Application
All applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (CET) on 20 September 2025.
For more information, see Official Call or visit Budapest Open Society Fellowship.
