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Call for Applications
Theme: Cognition and Knowledge
Subtitle: Between Evolution and Sustainability
Type: KLI Writing-up Fellowships
Institution: Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition
Research (KLI)
Location: Klosterneuburg (Austria)
Date: 2022
Deadline: 28.2.2022
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From The KLI <co...@kli.ac.at>
The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research
(KLI) in Klosterneuburg (Austria) announces 5 Writing-Up Fellowships
for late-stage PhD students working on topics related to “Cognition
and Knowledge: Between Evolution and Sustainability”.
The KLI
The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research
(KLI) is an independent center of advanced studies in the life and
sustainability sciences. The mission of the KLI is to enable
scientific reasoning dedicated to understanding and sustaining life
in its biological, cognitive, social, and cultural diversity. At the
KLI, we are committed to contribute to addressing pressing
social-environmental challenges of our time through inter- and
transdisciplinary research. We especially support theoretical and
conceptual research as well as philosophical and historical work in
the life and sustainability sciences. In line with this mission, we
recognize equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) as fundamental
values of our institute. We believe that only if research
institutions engage with the broadest spectrum of views, opinions and
experiences will we be able to contribute to addressing the pressing
societal and environmental challenges of our world.
“Cognition and Knowledge: Between Evolution and Sustainability”.
With this call, the KLI aims to support an interdisciplinary cohort
of 5 late-stage PhD students whose work use novel interdisciplinary
approaches in the study of cognition and knowledge, especially in
relation to evolution and to their connection to sustainability.
Cognition and knowledge have played an essential role in the
evolution of life on earth. In recent years, new approaches
integrating evolutionary, developmental, and ecological
considerations have helped to explain (1) how and why cognition has
evolved in different taxa — from microbes to humans — enabling
organisms to deal with complex environments. Furthermore, situated,
embodied, extended, distributed, and enactive approaches have opened
new research avenues to understand (2) how cognition and knowledge
contribute to shaping human-environment interactions in different
cultures and in our technological societies. All these new
interdisciplinary approaches to cognition and knowledge can help to
navigate complex sustainability problems — from climate change to
loss of biodiversity — which arguably are a consequence of
dysfunctional relationships between human societies and the complex
biosphere. Interdisciplinary approaches are also important to
understand (3) how evolved diversity of cognitive styles and types of
knowledge — from neurodiversity to bio-cultural diversity — can be
valued, reflected, and fostered, also in academia.
KLI will support 5 KLI Writing-Up Fellowship projects that engage
with theoretical, philosophical, methodological, and conceptual work
in relation to cognition and knowledge in the life and sustainability
sciences. Though not exclusively, we look forward to receiving
applications especially in the following research areas:
1. Evolution of cognition and knowledge in multiple taxa
How can integrated approaches—that combine, among others,
evolutionary, developmental, and ecological considerations—contribute
to explaining the evolution of cognition and knowledge by helping to:
- facilitate comparative investigations in humans, non-human
primates, and non-primate species as well as in other taxa (from
microbes to plants)?
- formulate theoretical frameworks to explain and evaluate new data
(e.g., from neuroscience, developmental biology, and ecology)?
- integrate insights from multiple disciplines (e.g., anthropology,
archaeology, economics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience,
philosophy, cognitive science, and psychology)?
- explain co-evolutionary dynamics such as techno-social co-evolution
and/or gene–culture co-evolution in human societies?
- elucidate the role of individual and/or social learning in social
and cultural evolution?
- contextualize the history of scientific knowledge as part of
broader histories of cognition and knowledge?
2. Cognition and knowledge for more sustainable human-environment
interactions
How can approaches to cognition and knowledge—that are situated,
embodied, distributed, extended, ecologically-sensitive, and
complexity-based—help to deal with sustainability problems when
attempting to:
- explain cognitive and behavioral patterns and processes (e.g.,
biases) that underpin unsustainable social norms, practices, and
behaviors (e.g., overconsumption) or foster more sustainable
individual and collective practices and pro-social behaviors?
- investigate the so-called value-action gap or knowledge-action gap
in our modern technological societies as well as develop concepts
how to overcome this gap?
- capture the interconnections between individual and collective
cognition and knowledge in different cultures and societies within
the complex biosphere?
- support collaborative processes that include multiple actors and
involve individual and social learning (e.g., knowledge
co-production, transdisciplinary research) to generating knowledge,
action, and change towards sustainability?
3. Cognition and knowledge in science
How can we value, appreciate, mobilize, and capitalize on the evolved
diversity of human knowledge and cognitive styles in academia through
the study of:
- cognitive styles and types of knowledge of minorities in research
environments (e.g., neurodiversity)?
- cognition and knowledge in cultures and populations that differ
from those that have traditionally informed academic research (e.g.,
traditional ecological knowledge, indigenous knowledge, knowledge
from practice)?
Who is encouraged to apply?
The 5 KLI Writing-Up fellowships aim to support doctoral students in
the final stage of their PhD research. Writing-Up fellowships are
individual fellowships for researchers in residence and are awarded
to work independently on the applicant’s research project supervised
by their advisor of their home university. The 5 fellowships are
especially well-suited for two categories of PhD students:
- Those who have completed empirical research and wish to use the
Writing-Up fellowship to elaborate on the (conceptual,
epistemological, and methodological) underpinnings and implications
of their work.
- Those whose research deals with the historical, philosophical, and
conceptual foundations of research in the disciplines mentioned
above in relation to diversity.
Both categories of PhD students should be interested in and eager to
extend their research perspective by drawing on novel concepts of
evolutionary theorizing, philosophy of science, and cognition
research based on long-standing work done at the KLI.
Details of the fellowships
- Duration: KLI Writing-Up fellowships are awarded for a period of
maximum 6 months. The minimum fellowship duration is three months.
- Starting date: Fellowships must start within the calendar year of
2022. Ideally, a start date in September/October 2022 is encouraged.
- Eligibility criteria:
- Applicants must be enrolled in a PhD program.
- Applicants are in the final stages of their PhD work (as
certified by their advisor).
Benefits of working at the KLI
- Being part of the KLI Resident Fellowship Program: Students awarded
a KLI Writing-Up fellowship will be part of the KLI Resident
Fellowship Program and will enjoy all benefits connected to this
position.
- While working on their own project, the Writing-Up fellows will
participate in the regular activities of the KLI (e.g., KLI
Colloquia, KLI Lab).
- The Writing-Up fellows will also be able to participate in
workshops and professional development activities at the KLI.
- The successful applicants will work in a highly interdisciplinary
environment and will be connected to a wide network of scholars
and institutions inside and outside Vienna.
- Relocation Allowance: The KLI will cover transportation costs for
the move to Vienna or Klosterneuburg. The KLI will provide
accommodation in the vicinity of the institute for the first two
weeks of the fellowship.
- Travel Budget: KLI Writing-up Fellowship provides a travel budget
to attend scientific events related to the project.
- Use of KLI facilities and library: Each fellow will have a
workspace in the beautiful and stimulating facilities of the KLI.
Dates:
Pre-selection:
February 28, 2022
Notifikation:
Between February 28 and the end of March, 2022
Application:
April 1, 2022
Selection
Between April and mid-May 2022
Interview:
By the end of May 2022
Decision:
By the end of June 2022
Expected start of fellowship:
September/October 2022
Read more about the call here:
https://kli.ac.at/content/en/the_kli/open_calls/view/10
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