A boost for Social Sciences and Humanities research
For more than 20 years, the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH, Paris), created by Fernand Braudel, has managed international fellowship programmes for incoming researchers. It also has an outgoing programme for researchers from French research institutions. FMSH is the largest establishment in the country for hosting and providing work facilities for researchers in social sciences and humanities from all over the world. BRAUDEL-IFER-FMSH (Fernand Braudel International Fellowships for Experienced Researchers in Social Sciences and Humanities) is an EU-funded project dedicated to the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). The project’s main aim was to nurture the career development of experienced researchers (ER). Precedence was given to supporting first and second year postdoctoral students. During the implementation of the programme, 247 fellowships were granted. The postdoctoral fellowships were for a nine-month period and included all fields in SHS (social and human sciences). Both incoming and outgoing grants were published for fellows from 50 countries applying in Europe. Two calls for applications were published each year. Applicants to the FMSH requested a different host laboratory relevant to their research and responsible for providing scientific support. All fields of social sciences and humanities were covered and a total of 28 partner institutions were included. Evaluation criteria included scientific qualifications and language skills, quality of the research project and choice of host institution. The programme achieved all of its objectives and helped establish a renewed interest in the SSH scientific community. Scientific mentoring and international and intercultural mobility experience provided by senior scholars at the host institutions allowed the fellows to be trained in methodologies that enriched their scientific background. In turn, this creates an impact on their projects as well as to their research in general.
Keywords
Career development, international fellowship programmes, social sciences and humanities, BRAUDEL-IFER-FMSH