GSC 1039: Distant Worlds: Munich Graduate School for Ancient Studies

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The central aim of the Graduate School Distant Worlds is to train doctoral students by providing individually-tailored support based on the broad spectrum of ancient studies disciplines and institutions working together in Munich. Combining attractive working conditions with a comprehensive and flexible mentoring and training programme over six semesters, the Graduate School will prepare its graduates to achieve academic independence at an early stage. Instruments for accomplishing this will be the seven interdisciplinary research groups that form the core structure of the Graduate School. Each will consist of five to eight doctoral students and one postdoc and will be supported by mentors. They will undertake research projects in an environment, which strikes a balance between offering support and autonomy. The principal investigators expect that these groups will expose students to international collaborative research, which will be supported by a mentoring and training programme organised within the disciplines as well as at the interdisciplinary level. This shall bridge the well-known gap between doctoral programmes and permanent academic employment, and addresses the difficulties faced especially by female junior researchers in planning their career progression. The research groups will extend opportunities for collaboration between the various disciplines of ancient studies, exploit the potential of ancient studies in Munich, and develop as a testing-ground for the generation of new research perspectives. The collections and museums associated with ancient studies in Munich will play a systematic role in the programme, making their collections available for the Graduate School's research. In terms of content, the seven research groups are constructed around seven focus areas: constructions (1) of norms, (2) of elites, (3) of "the beautiful" (aesthetics as a whole), and organisation (4) of coexistence, (5) of exchange, (6) of dealing with dissent, and (7) of memory and forgetting. The mutual goal is to lay bare the foundational, "axiomatic" structures of ancient cultures. Moreover, the investigation of the different forms of organisation explores the dynamics, which create change in societies. The Graduate Schools concept is structurally innovative, since (1) it integrates the full range of ancient studies disciplines in Munich, (2) it exploits the dual nature of ancient studies disciplines, (3) the research group concept marries the advantages of a Graduate Schools group dynamic with the best possible support for the individual.