Call for Applications: LMU Junior Scholars Seminar in the Contemporary History of Europe in the World (CALM)

Contemporary European history—broadly defined as the history of the continent since c. 1900—is a lively area of historical enquiry. As a relatively young field, however, its ‘academic infrastructure’ is still developing. One promising methodological turn has invited scholars to think beyond national historiographical traditions and narrower topics that consider Europe in geographical isolation and instead interrogate the history of Europe’s relationship to other parts of the world. Practitioners of this approach engage with the history of the region, varyingly, in comparative, international, transnational, and global contexts. They tend to consider Europe’s interactions with other non-European nations, regions, or empires or its role in global processes like migration, globalization, environmental change, epidemics, among many others.

In support of a new generation of historians in this field, the Department of History at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, and the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge, are pleased to announce that they continue their successful two-part collaborative seminar for junior scholars working on themes pertaining to the contemporary history of Europe in the world. This collaboration aims to create a space for PhD candidates and post-docs at the partner universities to advance their research by engaging with cutting-edge debates, workshopping writing-in-progress, and building international intellectual networks at an early stage in their careers.

CALM will invite a small group of junior scholars from each of the partner institutions to participate in two two-day seminars. The first seminar will be held at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Munich, Germany) in May 2026. The second will take place at Cambridge University (Cambridge, UK) in September 2026. The seminars will include opportunities to discuss important methodological and historiographical approaches, to engage with recent literature, as well as to discuss precirculated papers with an international group of both junior and senior scholars. All selected applicants will receive full funding to participate in the seminars.

CALM is co-directed by Kiran Klaus Patel (LMU), and Pedro Ramos Pinto (Cambridge). Each seminar will also involve the participation of additional senior scholars from the respective host institution.

Eligibility and Application Process

The application to participate in CALM is open to PhD candidates and post-docs working in the
field of Contemporary History of Europe in the World at Cambridge, and LMU. Postdoctoral
applicants should be within two years of their thesis defense/viva.

Priority will be given to applicants, who are able to attend both seminars and have not participated in earlier iterations of CALM or CMY.

Each participant should plan to submit one draft dissertation chapter or article of up to 8000 words for one of the two sessions. Additionally, there will be opportunity to discuss think pieces of up to 1500 words that raise provocative questions about the contours of the field, important directions for future research, etc.

To apply to participate in CALM, please prepare the following materials in English:

the application form; please provide the following information:

• your name, institutional affiliation and email address;
•  when you plan to submit which piece of writing;
• a brief motivational statement explaining your interest in participating in CALM;
• a 500-word summary of your current research project and the draft chapter or article that you would like to present;
• a CV no longer than 2 pages.

Please submit your completed application as one PDF file by 30 September 2025 to Thomas. rohringer@lmu.de.

For enquiries please contact Thomas Süsler-Rohringer (thomas.rohringer@lmu.de).