AKPIA@MIT Postdoctoral Fellowships

2018-2019 POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS FOR RESEARCH IN ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE, URBANISM, AND CONSERVATION

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT (AKPIA@MIT) is pleased to announce its postdoctoral fellowship program for the academic year 2018-2019. The program will focus on the subject of Destruction and Reconstruction in the Middle East and Beyond, and will contribute directly to AKPIA’s initiative in this area.  The fellowship program is intended for scholars with a Ph.D. in any field related to architecture — including architectural, art, landscape, and urban history; design, technology, computation, urban planning, anthropology, and archeology. 

We seek applications both from fields close to AKPIA@MIT’s historical core, e.g., historical, comparative, and humanistic inquiry, and from complementary fields analyzing contemporary crises, responses, and possible futures.  The postdoctoral fellows are expected to help define and expand the research rather than fit into a set agenda.  Their research proposals will ask, and attempt to show, what the historical, cultural, comparative, environmental, technological, and ethical dimensions of architecture and urbanism contribute to the current urgent issues of reconstruction.  

One to three fellowships will be granted. The fellowship duration can range from two months to a maximum of two semesters, or nine months, of residency, that will have to fall within the academic year (September to June).  Fellows are expected to engage in research that directly contributes to the topic outlined above, give at least one public lecture and participate in meetings and workshops about the research subject, submit an article on their input to the subject at the end of their fellowship that will be included in the publication planned by AKPIA@MIT for 2020, and participate in the program's other scholarly and academic activities during their stay at MIT.  The fellowship award consists of monthly stipend not to exceed the amount of $3,957 (before taxes) per month and one round-trip economy ticket for the fellow from his/her place of residence.  Fellows will be responsible to find their own housing and health insurance will be administered individually and according to MIT’s institute wide policies. AKPIA will provide library cards, email accounts at MIT, and, if available, a workplace in the AKPIA@MIT office that is shared with other fellows.

Deadline for application is March 4, 2018 and recipients will be announced by April 6, 2018.  

Further details and the online application form may be found here.