The Human Past Fellowship Programme (2025-26)
The Human Past Residential Fellowship Programme, an initiative by the Center for the Human Past,
is designed to foster a collaborative environment where early-stage and established scholars can
converge across a wide range of disciplines, such as archaeology, population genetics and historical
linguistics. These fields collectively explore the shared history of the world’s populations over the
past 10,000 years, a period marked by the advent of agrarian food production, population growth and
linguistic changes, as well as the emergence of early civilizations.
The programme aims to attract research fellows pursuing research on different aspects of the human
past, combining methods and materials from different disciplines. The programme's primary focus is
on research work relating to three major migration events: The Indo-European-, Bantu- and Austro-
nesian expansions. We invite scholars who are interested in exploring archaeological evidence, linguistic
changes, or genetic factors associated with any of these major archaeological and linguistic expansions.
The programme gives fellows the opportunity to concentrate on their own research interests, free from
the teaching and administrative obligations of ordinary university life. Fellows are, however, expected to
be active members of the scholarly community of the Collegium and to participate in seminars and other
academic events beyond their own fields of specialization. The fellows within the programme will also
be expected to participate in the activities at the Center for the Human Past.
The Human Past Fellowship Programme is funded by the Swedish Research Council as an integral com-
ponent of the Center for the Human Past, which is recognized as a Center of Excellence.
The Fellowship Programme offers one Advanced Fellowship, and one Young Scholar Fellowship. For
the Advanced Fellowship, the candidate should, at the time of application, have held a PhD (or equivalent
degree) for at least seven years, have a track record of significant and original research achievements,
and be active at the international forefront of his/her research field. Early-career scholars applying for
the Young Scholar Fellowship should have a promising track record of independent achievements at the
post-doctoral level (at the most seven years from PhD degree), including significant publications, and be
active in international fora.
As an applicant, you are not required to hold a university position at the time of application.
Scholars may apply for a full academic year (September – June) or one semester.
Remuneration
Fellows receive a monthly salary. The Collegium, however, does not match fellows’ salaries. The
Collegium hopes that fellows will explore possibilities to apply for other outside support (such as
sabbatical salaries and/or grants).
The Collegium will provide and pay for accommodation for fellows who do not live in the Stockholm–
Uppsala region. When possible, the Collegium also tries to offer accommodation to fellows from Stock-
holm who are not able to commute.
Application Instructions and Deadline
Final decisions are taken by the Principal of the Collegium in consultation with a selection committee
composed of Long-term Fellows. This means that all applications (including personal data) will be
downloaded by members of the selection committee, and may also be sent to external referees, outside
of the EU/EEA.
The application deadline for the academic year 2025 - 2026 has passed (1 June 2024).
Applicants will be notified of the results through Varbi no later than 28 February 2025. If you get a new
email
address, please make sure to update it
in your Varbi account.
If you have any questions related to the Varbi online application system, please contact Varbi’s support:
varbi@uadm.uu.se
If you have any questions regarding the thematic focus of the programme, please contact
marzena.norling@ebc.uu.se
If you have any questions about the Human Past Fellowship Programme, please contact the
secretariat: fellowselection@swedishcollegium.se
