Zum Hauptinhalt springen (Enter drücken)Zum Fußbereich springen (Enter drücken)

Walter Benjamin Award for Young Researchers 2026
Call for Papers

Date and time:12/8/2025, 4 PMLiteratureArchivePrizes, Scholarships

Research on Walter Benjamin has been unusually productive in recent years. A generation of younger scholars has been especially active, developing new readings and exploring new contexts. This funding opportunity is intended to encourage the creation of a series of workshops for this generation of younger scholars.

Potrait photo of Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin, ca. 1929
Akademie der Künste, Walter Benjamin Archiv, Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur © Photo: Studio Joël-Heinzelmann

Diverse opportunities for scholarly exchange on Benjamin are, to be sure, already present in abundance: conferences and symposia on various aspects of Benjamin’s thought and writing are offered on a regular basis, and younger scholars now increasingly play a prominent role there. The younger generation is seldom able, however, to stage their own events and to develop their scholarly profile in conversation with other members of their cohort. The aim of the award is to create an opportunity for precisely this.

The International Walter Benjamin Society, the Walter Benjamin Archiv and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung will provide a team of younger scholars with up to 4,500 Euros for the independent conception, organization, and execution of a two-day workshop that would include up to 12 participants who are either working towards their doctorate or have received their Ph.D. within the last ten years. The workshop will take place in Berlin in 2026, with meeting rooms and facilities provided by the Walter Benjamin Archive and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung. It will be possible to conduct the workshop or individual components of it in a hybrid format.

The proposed workshop may be based either on a call for papers or on a previously established group of researchers. Alternative meeting formats—beyond the standard paper / discussion model—are particularly welcome. The support is intended to function as basic financing (travel costs, lodging, catering); we will be glad to assist in fundraising for additional expenses (e.g. international travel) as well as with the ensuing publication of contributions.

Please submit a short expose (no more than two pages in length) together with a sketch of the proposed workshop format, a concise depiction of the focus of the workshop that includes a scholarly justification, and a budget by January 24th 2026 to IWBS.webmaster@gmail.com

Further links

All documents are protected by copyright. The reprinting of texts and the copying of all other files is only permitted with the express permission of the Akademie der Künste or the authors themselves.