Within the research perspective “Intermateriality,” the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture (IMAREAL), a research institute of the University of Salzburg based in Krems an der Donau, Austria, invites applications for a six-week research fellowship to be held between October 2026 and January 2027. We welcome proposals that engage intermaterial approaches to premodern text cultures. Projects may address literary, religious, and liturgical texts as well as pragmatic written sources (e.g., charters, letters, administrative records) and investigate intermaterial evidence in texts, such as material spectra, intermaterial metaphors, composites or constellations of materials, and cross-material comparisons in texts.
The fellowship entails synthesizing existing, scattered research on intermateriality in textual sources and collaboratively developing subsequent research questions with the IMAREAL team. It is conceived as a collaborative, exploratory environment that fosters interdisciplinary exchange.
Scholars with experience in scoping and framing new research areas—at PraeDoc (advanced doctoral) or PostDoc level (PhD within the past five years)—are warmly encouraged to apply. We welcome candidates from literary studies, history, musicology, theology, and other culturally oriented fields working with historical textual sources.
Fellows will take part in IMAREAL workshops, discussions, and related scholarly activities, both in person in Krems an der Donau and online. Outcomes should be documented and, in addition, communicated in an accessible format—for example, a blog post, a contribution to the online journal MEMO, or a digital format such as a podcast.
The fellowship term is six weeks between October 2026 and January 2027 (with preferred start dates in October or November 2026). Remuneration is in accordance with the Collective Agreement for University Staff (Kollektivvertrag für die Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer der Universitäten), as project staff (ProjektmitarbeiterInnen).
Please submit by 30 June 2026 a brief project sketch (1–2 pages) outlining how materiality/intermateriality figures in your prior projects and publications and proposing possible lines of inquiry for the fellowship, together with a curriculum vitae and your preferred start date (October or November 2026).
Please send your materials and any inquiries to: Isabella Nicka (isabella.nicka@plus.ac.at) and Jasmin Kneidinger (jasmin.kneidinger@plus.ac.at).