Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS)

The Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology offers young scholars at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels an innovative research environment, enabling them to work creatively through interdisciplinary exchange. The school receives financial support from the Excellence Initiative and integrates research on a broad variety of topics with a strong emphasis on theoretical and methodological training for all its members.

The Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS) is a joint institution run by the Department of Sociology and the Department of History at the Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology. It is under the School's umbrella that the international doctoral programmes in history and sociology are offered.

Around 160 doctoral candidates work at the School on historical, sociological or interdisciplinary topics. The seven to nine postdoctoral fellows do not only work on their research projects but also have an important influence on the School's teaching and research programme.

The great variety in research topics is reflected in the variety of the young scholars' cultural and national provenance, their disciplinary backgrounds and future career plans. The common base of all BGHS members is their preparedness to do scholarly work across disciplinary boundaries.

It is one of the School's main objectives to prepare its doctoral candidates for the labour market in and outside academia in Germany and abroad. One means of gaining a foothold in the scientific community is the School's focus on co-operation with foreign scholars and the training it offers in key competencies. As help with non-scientific careers the School has established a careers service and offers suitable measures to develop the key qualifications of its members.

The School's academic and interdisciplinary exchange is enriched through a programme of international visiting scholars. Each year the doctoral candidates make proposals for the invitation of a great number of distinguished scholars, who offer workshops or short, intensive courses or give lectures in the framework of the "Annual Lecture Series" on research questions of current relevance. There is also the Visiting Chair in History and Sociology, to which a visiting professor is appointed each year, who is available to doctoral candidates for individual consultation on their research topics.

The doctoral candidates' scientific communication across national boundaries is promoted both by foreign scholars on a short-term scholarship at the BGHS and the "Annual Seminar in History and Sociology", which attracts each year a group of international doctoral candidates to Bielefeld where they can present their research projects. The conference consists of a number of workshops and is framed by lectures from eminent historians and sociologists, who are also available for the discussion of research projects.