Job Description

The



Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory



in Frankfurt is a world leader in research on legal history and legal theory. We award several PhD student, post-doctoral and senior researcher scholarships to enable outstanding researchers enable outstanding researchers to spend time at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory.



Historical Regimes of Normativity (Thomas Duve) - Scholarships and Guest Residencies 2026/2027



The Department



Historical Regimes of Normativity



(Thomas Duve) will award scholarships for research stays of three or six months, starting on 1 April 2026 / 1 July 2026 / 1 October 2026 / 4 January 2027 for PhD students, post-doctoral and senior researchers. This will be the only call for applications for the above named department in this period.We invite legal historical studies on normative knowledge shaped by religion, morality, everyday practices, and diverse actors. Projects may draw on approaches such as global history, translation studies, history of knowledge, moral theology, or art history, and may engage with epistemic communities such as the School of Salamanca, among others. Research project dedicated to Iberian, Ibero-Asian, and Luso-African contexts are especially welcome. Applicants should clearly explain how their work relates to the department’s methodology and research questions.



Scholarship holders are invited to not only pursue their own research project but also contribute at least one article to the Department blog



Legal History Insights



during their stay. Applications should include the following documents, written in English:



Research proposal (up to 2.500 words), including an explanation as to how the project relates to the Department’s research programme CV List of publications Names and contact details of two scholars who have agreed to provide references (upon request) Three relevant publications of the last five years (as PDFs)

Deadline:

All applications must be submitted via the



online application system



by 30 September 2025. Decisions will be communicated in November. Scholarships run for either 3 or 6 months, starting at the beginning of April, July, October 2026 or January 2027. Once the scholarship has been granted, changes of the date of the beginning will not be accepted. Scholarship holders will receive a monthly stipend of either €1,365 (PhD students), €2,500 (post-doctoral researchers) or €3,000 (senior researchers). Additional income (for example from existing employment relationships) has to be set off against the amount awarded and will thus be taken into account when determining the exact amount of the stipend.



Contact



International Office



io@lhlt.mpg.de



.