CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS Individual Residential Fellowships (9/2026 - 4/2027) for Postdoctoral and Advanced Scholars “Imagining Futures: Dealing with Disparity” Deadline 02.03.2026; 12.30h CEST (afternoon). The Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) invites applications for eight residential fellowships for postdoctoral and advanced researchers in the humanities and social sciences for the period from September 2026 to April 2027. Under the overall theme “Imagining Futures: Dealing with Disparity” MECAM is dedicated to a research agenda framed by five interrelated ‘Interdisciplinary Research Fields’ (IRFs): Aesthetics & Cultural Practice, Inequality & Mobility, Memory & Justice, Resources & Sustainability, and Identities & Beliefs. Applications should be related to the main theme and at least one of the IRFs. This call for applications is open to researchers from all countries, including Tunisia. MECAM has been established at the Université de Tunis/Tunisia in October 2020 to strengthen internationalization, free academic research and cooperation in the Humanities and Social Sciences in, with and across the Maghreb, and other regions of the world. • CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: MECAM- Fellowships 2026-2027 With this call for applications, MECAM invites postdoc and advanced scholars in the social sciences and humanities to apply for long-term fellowships with their own research projects that relate to one or more of MECAM’s Interdisciplinary Research Fields (IRFs) under the guiding theme of “Imagining Futures: Dealing with Disparities”: Ø IRF 1) Aesthetics & Cultural Practice examines how aesthetic forms and cultural practices influence the process by which models and imaginations of the future are expressed and (re-)negotiated. It also investigates the ways in which disparities, political and societal transformations influence aesthetic and cultural practices; Ø IRF 2) Inequality & Mobility has a focus on social and economic inequalities, the resulting sense of insecurity, and their role in the (re-)negotiation of visions and models of the future. The IRF specifically explores how distinct forms of disparity (incl. concrete policy decisions) drive or restrain mobility and how in turn, mobility can exacerbate or mitigate inequality; Ø IRF 3) Memory & Justice discusses legacies of the past, including their legal, political and cultural perceptions and frames in relation to different assessments of the present and to models and (re- )negotiations of the future. Research sheds light on the ways in which differential access to political power shapes questions of accountability, fact-finding, amnesty, judicial reforms, human rights claims and the legitimate sources of law in post-conflict societies and beyond; Ø IRF 4) Resources & Sustainability investigates how societies in general and political decision-makers in particular deal with burgeoning socio-economic disparities and growing environmental problems. This IRF studies which economic models might ensure a politically, socially and ecologically sustainable future. Especially rentier and extractivist economic models in the Maghreb/Middle East are addressed here as these models generate particular forms of disparities and thus also interesting visions of the future; Ø IRF 5) Identities & Beliefs examines co-existing, sometimes competing identities and belief systems which are partly impacted by political power dynamics. Disparities are felt, perceived and articulated very differently from the vantage point of diverse identities and beliefs, resulting in pluralistic ways of (re-)negotiating imaginations and models of the future. Possible research foci are on different identities (religious, ethnic, national(ist), local(ist)), diverse political ideologies, and belief systems. The Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM), based in Tunis, promotes interdisciplinary, interregional, and intergenerational research. As a centre for Advanced Study, it is dedicated to free academic exchange in the humanities and social sciences on the processes and issues that divide and connect the Maghreb, the Middle East and Europe historically and in our time – e.g., beliefs, cultural practices, distribution of resources, migration, rule of law, socio-economic conflicts, or (transitional) justice. • ELIGIBILITY & MOTIVATION Applications are welcome from postdoc and advanced researchers of all fields in the social sciences and humanities if: Ø You are interested in discussing your research in the framework of MECAM's main theme "Imagining futures: Dealing with disparity" with colleagues from the Maghreb, the Middle East, Europe, and other regions of the world. Ø You want to engage in collaborative work, in debate and exchange with other researches working on topics related to the five IRFs. Ø You are interested in revisiting your research from a different vantage point.