[ Doctoral Student Position ]

Funded within the Excellence Initiative of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Graduate School of the Cluster "Languages of Emotion" of the Freie Universität Berlin has as its aim the supervision of exceptional dissertation projects pertinent to the research of the Cluster. The graduate school offers intensive and individual supervision of the thesis as well as a structured course of studies. Deadline for applications: January 31, 2010.

The research of the cluster is dedicated to the complex interrelations between the use of signs/symbols, the transfer of emotions, aesthetic practices, mental dispositions and affective modes of constructing both personal and social identities the cluster. The graduate school focuses on the following research areas:

• the relations between affective phenomena and various representational media (language, sound, image),
• the artistic practices and poetics of (re)presenting/shaping emotion,
• correlations between emotional and linguistic competencies (and their disorders)
• modes of emotion modelling at the level of cultural codes and patterns of social behavior and Identity.

Applicants interested in pursuing a doctorate with an emphasis in one of the cluster's research areas must have a completed degree (MA or the equivalent) with above average marks by mid-April in one of the disciplines: Anthropology, Biology, Dance Studies, Film Studies, Japanese Studies, History of Art, Linguistics, Literary History and Criticism (Comparative Literature, Classical Greek and Latin Studies, English and American Studies, German Studies, Romance Languages and Literatures, Slavic Studies) Musicology, Near Eastem Studies, Neuropsychiatry, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Theater Studies.

The Graduate School will award 10 Scholarships per year. In the course of the selection process, the selection committee will decide upon these scholarships. Scholarships are awarded for three years; however, continuation of the degree course as well as the extension of the scholarship is subject to a favourable evaluation of the student's progress at the end of each academic year.

Applications should be submitted by January 31st, 2010. The program of study will begin in October 2010.

All obligatory application materials - completed application form, statement of purpose (max. 3 pages), outline of dissertation project of 8-10 pages, overview of experiences and skills relevant to the chosen field of studies (table form), attested copies of earned degrees, proof of language skills (in rase that these languages are not mother tongue: German level DSH2; TestDaF4/4; English level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) or equal) - as well as additional materials (2 letters of reference, writing sample) must be received at the following address: Freie Uni­versität Berlin, Graduate School "Languages of Emotion", Dr. Markus Edler, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195 Berlin, Germany.

For further information on application requirements and the graduate program please visit our homepage.