Strong focus on public discourse

A special feature of HIAS, in addition to its close ties with local academic institutions, is its strong focus on the Hamburg public: for example, the Hamburg Körber Foundation, together with HIAS, organizes “Hamburger Horizonte”, an annual series of conferences for the exchange between academia and society.

In order to support and personalize the networking with scholars and researchers based in Hamburg, each HIAS fellow is assigned a collaboration partner from one of the nine HIAS member institutions. These partners ensure that the fellows are integrated into the respective Hamburg specialist communities and that both the fellows and their Hamburg collaboration partners receive new impulses for their research.

The institute organizes lectures and symposia on topics and findings discussed at HIAS.

Fellows are invited on the recommendation of a selection committee based on their academic excellence, their innovative strength, and the interdisciplinary nature of the research project they will be working on at HIAS. Fellows may apply for a fellowship themselves or be nominated by researchers from the Hamburg member institutions. The fellowships are financed by the Federal Government and the State of Hamburg as part of the University of Hamburg’s Excellence Strategy, as well as by the Joachim Herz Foundation and the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS. The Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg provides fellowships for early career researchers.