Information for international PhD candidates
The Seminar for Ancient History and Epigraphy of Heidelberg University, with our two professors Christian Witschel and Kai Trampedach, has a long-standing tradition of welcoming doctoral students and guiding them through this important period of their academic career. Aspiring candidates will encounter a varied yet high quality research profile:
Professor Witschel generally focuses his research on the
3rd century CE,
Roman Social and Economic History,
Latin epigraphy,
Roman Imperial Representation,
the City in Late Antiquity,
Oriental Cults in the Roman Empire and,
the Transition from Late Antiquity to Early Medieval in the Northwestern Roman Provinces.
Professor Trampedach, on the other hand, mostly concentrates in
Political Anthropology and Greek Philosophy,
Greek Religious History,
Judaism in Hellenic and Roman Times,
and Political Rituals and Hagiography in Late Antiquity.
Nonetheless, the doctoral program explicitly welcomes promising research projects from all areas of ancient history.
A requirement for acceptance to the doctoral program is the Promotionsvereinbarung, the doctoral agreement, between the doctoral candidate and their respective supervising professor. The Promotionsvereinbarung is to specify, among other things, the candidate’s future working schedule and supervising modalities during the program.
This means the formalities of the program will already be determined comprehensively before the actual start of the program and potential candidates are asked to contact Professor Witschel and Professor Trampedach before beginning the application process to introduce themselves, as well as their project in form of a short abstract. Ideally, a visit to Heidelberg would allow a personal meeting and an in-depth discussion of the project. This visit could happen, for example, in form of a summer school or a short guest stay at our seminar.
We gladly support potential applicants wishing to apply for scholarships (for example from the German Academic Exchange Service) with a letter of invitation. After one of the professors agrees to accept a doctoral student and the Promotionsvereinbarung has been signed, the applicant may formally apply for acceptance as a doctoral candidate at the Philosophical Faculty of Heidelberg University. All further information may be found here (Faculty of Philosophy) and here (Heidelberg Graudate Academy).
Please note that doctoral programs usually receive external funding, e.g. scholarships, third-party funds (Collaborative Research Centers etc.). Therefore, we are not able to offer regular positions. However, we readily support promising candidates in their application for scholarships from foundations or other institutions.
