Research Stays at PRIF

As Germany’s leading institute devoted to peace and conflict research, and one of the major Euro­pean peace research institutes, PRIF is a top desti­nation for scholars from all world regions. Convinced that inter­national exchange and personal encounters are essen­tial both to academic excellence and to develo­ping common solutions for key global conflicts, PRIF welcomes inter­national researchers at all career stages (Visiting Fellows and Visiting Professors) for research stays at our Frank­furt office.

FAQ

PRIF Visiting Fellows

PRIF’s Visiting Fellows prog­ramme is open to applicants en­rolled in a doctoral prog­ramme or em­ployed as an aca­demic member of staff at a non-German univer­sity or research institute.

RResearchers interested in a stay a PRIF are invited to submit their application to the coordinator for academic visitors at academicvisitors(at)prif.org.

There is no fixed dead­line for appli­cations, but given capacity constraints appli­cants are en­couraged to apply at least 6 months in advance.

Your application should include:

  • academic CV
  • short (1-2 pg.) research proposal on the project that you intend to work on during your stay

Please also include information on the preferred date and du­ration of your stay, and – where applicable – who you would like to work with at PRIF. It can be useful to get in touch directly with PRIF colleagues in your area of interest before submitting your application, to ask about collabo­rative opportunities. Please also indicate how you are planning to fund your stay (see funding your stay) below.

Visiting Professors

Under the Visiting Professor programme, PRIF invites internationally renowned experts in the fields of international relations and peace and conflict research to spend a period of one to three months at PRIF. Visiting Professors receive accommodation and a monthly allowance from PRIF, and are invited to share their research and expertise with both senior and junior staff members through talks,
workshops, or academic collaborations. There is no formal application process for the Visiting Professor programme, as PRIF usually reaches out directly to scholars whose work could make a particularly strong contribution to PRIF’s international profile and visibility. However, interested senior scholars may directly contact Research Department heads to discuss potential opportunities.

PRIF prides itself on its culture of intellectual and social openness. PRIF visiting fellows are in­vited to participate fully in the institute’s life, ranging from dis­cussions with fellow experts in one of
PRIF’s research departments to academic workshops and talks to regular brown bag lunch meetings on current politi­cal events. While PRIF’s main working language is German, English is an in­creasingly important second (given PRIF’s recent diversifica­tion of its own staff) and will be used whenever international researchers partici­pate in meetings.

Doctoral Visiting Fellows are matched with a senior member of staff as academic advisor for the du­ration of their stay, and are invited to discuss their research with the vibrant group of PRIF’s doc­toral researchers. Visiting fellows often develop and pursue joint publications or project proposals with PRIF staff, or con­tribute to one of PRIF’s house publication series (PRIF Blog, Spotlights,
Reports).

While a typical research stay at PRIF runs over a period of three months, a shorter or longer du­ration can be agreed depending on individual needs and research projects. While some past Visiting Fellows have used their time at PRIF for con­centrated work on manuscripts, others have used PRIF’s location in a major hub at the center of Europe to con­duct fieldwork or reach out to colleagues located in other German and European in­stitutions. With its Berlin office, PRIF is uniquely equipped to provide support to Visiting Fellows interested in conducting re­search trips to Germany’s capital.

At the Frankfurt office, visiting fellows are pro­vided with office space and IT support and have full access to PRIF’s library resources.

While PRIF cannot currently offer direct fi­nancial support to visiting fellows, we support suitable candi­dates in applying for a variety of funding schemes, in­cluding fellowships offered by

In addition to hosting shorter stays, PRIF also wel­comes expressions of interest from international re­searchers wishing to bring their own third-party-funded research project to PRIF.

Visa

Depending on your home country, you may need a visa for your stay at PRIF (see information pro­vided by the German Federal Foreign Office). For longer stays, an additional re­sidence permit may be required. Please inform yourself about re­quirements and start the appli­cation process well in advance of your trip.

Health Insurance

Academic visitors are legally required to have a health insurance that covers the entire duration of their stay, immi­gration authorities may ask you to prove your insurance status upon entering the
country. For short term stays, EU citizens may have su­fficient cover under their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). For longer stays, non-EU visitors and more ex­tended coverage, we re­commend that you take out an additional in­surance policy in your home country or with a German insurance company (“in­coming travel health insurance”) such as Allianz, Hanse-Merkur or Würzburger

Liability Insurance

We strongly re­commend that you take out liability insurance to insure you against any claims for damages you may accidentally cause du­ring your stay. Examples of liability in­surance policies include Huk Coburg oder Cosmosdirekt.

Please be aware that it is extremely difficult to find accommodation in Frankfurt and the prices are very high as Frankfurt is an e­conomically very busy city and space is limited. In many parts of Germany, it is quite common to spend 40% to 50% of your net salary on acco­mmodation. Warning! Do not trans­fer any security deposit for accommodation before you have signed a contract or viewed the apartment/room. If you are un­sure whether it is safe to transfer money, you should con­tact us before proceeding. Please be parti­cularly cautious when asked to transfer money to a foreign country (not Germany). We are happy to give you advice on re­commendable neighbourhoods.

Types of Accomodation

  • Furnished: it is rather uncommon for apartments to be rented furnished, though, about 20% of the rental market (mainly one/two bedroom apart­ments) are furnished. These will also be more
    expensive.
  • Unfurnished: If you stay in Frankfurt for a longer pe­riod of time you may consider renting an un­furnished flat.
  • Shared acco­mmodation: it is common to live in shared housing (Wohngemeinschaft/WG). In this case, you will have your own room but will share the bath­room and the kitchen with all the other occupants in the apartment. These rooms are usually cheaper than a furnished one-room flat and have the ad­vantage of offering you the companionship of the other tenants from the beginning of your stay.

Where to Find Accomodation

  • For shared accommodation: WG Gesucht
  • Furnished flats: Homecompany, City residence, 9flats
  • Apartment swaps: sabbatical home, homeexchange.com, homeforswap.com
  • The real estate section of daily newspapers such as the “Frankfurter Rundschau” or “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”
  • You can also post your own ad­vertisement on the websites mentioned above, for example, or in local newspapers and on notice boards
  • Agent: You can enlist the help of an agency to find acco­mmodation. Note, however, that in Germany the tenant/purchaser usually pays the agent’s commission

Please note that you have to register with the municipality (Bürgeramt). Open a bank account (recommended for stays exceeding three months)

Arriving at PRIF

The PRIF headquarters are conveniently located very near to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Station) at Baseler Str. 27-31. On your first day, please go to the 4th floor reception desk, where you will
receive your keycard and will be shown your office and desk. The PRIF co­ordinator will arrange to meet you and give you an introductory tour of PRIF.

Join Goethe University’s intensive German courses! Visiting Researchers are eligible to take part in GU’s language courses.

Further details on the application procedure and residence can be found in the document PRIF Informationen for Academic Visitors.

Current Visiting Fellows

Suparna Banerjee

Dr. Suparna Banerjee holds a PhD from the University of Bonn and is now a freelance writer at D+C Development and Cooperation. During her research stay, Suparna Banerjee will investigate the reasons for the in­crease in lynching in India. She is particularly interested in the years since 2014, when the right-wing government came to power. The aim of her research is to understand the patterns and symbolism that create the necessary environ­ment for the e­mergence and persistence of such acts in a secular and democratic society. As a TraCe Visiting Fellow, she will explore the space of digital India that is being used by the right-wing govern­ment to ideologically infiltrate society. As India gradually emerges as a major player in the global power structure, it will be in­teresting to see how these internal develop­ments are negotiated with the demands of a liberal Western value system.

Duration of stay: July – December 2024 (TraCe Visiting Fellow)

Thomas Lord

Thomas Lord completed his Masters in Antarctic Studies at the University of Canterbury with a dissertation on the con­struction of Antarctic security. During his research stay at PRIF, he will build on this research and explore Antarctic security in the recent academic literature. 

Duration of stay: October – December 2024

Skollan Elisabeth Warnck

Skollan Elisabeth Warnck is a doctoral researcher in the BMBF-funded joint research project “African non-military conflict intervention practices (ANCIP)” and part of the Research Centre Global Dynamics at Leipzig University. During her research stay, she focuses on mapping African regional organizations’ intervention practices in and through a database. Her research interests include African peace and security, database design, critical geography, and archival work and practice.

Duration of stay: November – December 2024

Current Visiting Professors

Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl

Dr. Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl is Universitair Docent in Political Science (with tenure) at Leiden University and a member of the Amsterdam Conflict Research Network (ACRN).

Schulhofer-Wohl’s research agenda on the conduct of civil wars focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, and addresses questions about civil wars as a general matter, also drawing on comparisons across diverse countries.

Duration of stay: October – November 2024

Anja P. Jakobi

Anja P. Jakobi is Professor of Political Science and International Relations, and head of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at TU Braunschweig, Germany. Her research focusses on actors and institutions of global governance, with a particular focus on security, crime and the political economy. During her time at PRIF, she works on her monograph on cities and global security, including an analysis of worldwide urban peace movements.

Duration of stay: November – December 2024

Past Visiting Fellows

  • Nicole Doerr, University of Copenhagen
  • Selma Kropp, European University Institute
  • Alex Kuehl, American University School of International Service
  • Yury Terekhov, independent re­searcher
  • Yuan Xinyu, Geneva Graduate Institute, Schweiz

  • Xie Peixuan (Peking University/­Lund University, China/­Schweden)
  • Zhou Yiqi (Shanghai Institut für Inter­nationale Studien (SIIS, China)
  • Mónica Chinchilla (Universi­dad de Navarra, Spanien)
  • Christoph Humrich (University Groningen, Nieder­lande)
  • Santiago Lopez Alvarez (Rice Uni­versity, Ver­einigte Staat­en)
  • Jusaima Moaid-azm Peregrina (Uni­versi­dad de Granada, Spanien)

  • Luciana Jáuregui Jinés (Auto­no­mous National Uni­versity, Mexico)
  • Cecilia Ducci (Uni­versität Bologna, Italien)
  • Shimaa El Sharkawy (Uni­versität Kairo, Ägypten)
  • Lucy Maycox (Uni­versity of Ox­ford, Ver­ein­igtes König­reich)
  • Nadine Sika (American University in Cairo, Ägypten)
  • Steven Silva Salazar (Uni­versität Extern­ado de Colombia, Kolumbien)
  • Celine Emma la Cour (Uni­versität Kopen­hagen, Dänemark)
  • Manuel Herrera (King Juan Carlos Univer­­sity of Madrid, Spanien)

  • Ariadna Petri (Univer­­sity Complu­tense, Spanien)
  • Niels Byrjalsen (Univer­sity of Copen­­hagen, Dänemark)

  • Luqman Saeed (Royal Holloway Univer­sity of London, England)
  • David Alzate Rojas (Univer­sidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, Kolumbien)
  • Eldad Ben Aharon (Univer­sity of London, England)
  • Aser Babajev (ADA Univer­sity, Aser­baidschan)

  • Magnus Lundgren (Stock­holm Univer­sity, Schweden)
  • Carlos Salamanca (CONICET, Argentinien)
  • Amr Salah (Ägypten)
  • Amr El Shobaki (Cairo Univer­sity, Ägypten)
  • Armenuhi Nikoghosyan (Oral History Center, Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Armenien)

  • Zhouchen Mao (Univer­sity of Kent, England)
  • Innocent Twagilimana (Univer­sity of Rwanda, Ruanda)

  • Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann (Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Brasilien)
  • Prakash Bhattarai (Centre for Social Change, Nepal)
  • Allan Bloomfield (Univer­­sity of New South Wales, Australien)
  • Kavitha Suthanthiraraj (Univer­­sity of New South Wales, Australien)
  • Nadine Abdallah (American University Cairo, Ägypten)
  • Yoav Kapchuk (Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel)
  • Nayera Abdel Rahman (Arab Forum for Alternatives, Libanon)
  • Nicolas Bouchet (The German-Marshall Fund of the United States, Deutschland)

Past Visiting Professors

  • Juan Albarracín Dierolf (University of Illinois, USA)

  • Gilber Khadiagala (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)
  • Nicole Doerr (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • Anindya Sekhar Purakayastha (Kazi Nazrul University/School of Translation and Cultural Studies, Institute of Language Studies and Research (ILSR), India)
  • Annika Björkdahl (Lund University, Sweden)
  • Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl (Leiden University, The Netherlands)

  • Brian Rathbun (University of Southern California, USA)

  • Charli Carpenter (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA)

  • Mariana Budjeryn (Harvard University, USA)
  • Matthew Evangelista (Cornell University, USA)