The research training group “Literature and the Public Sphere in Differentiated Contemporary Cultures” at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, funded by the German Research Foundation, is offering 11 Doctoral Positions (m/f/d) (65%, E-13 TV-L) for a duration of three years respectively, starting 1 October 2025. Extensions for the doctoral positions (6 months) are possible.

The interdisciplinary Research Training Group (RTG) aims to analyze contemporary literatures since 1945 in different public and cultural contexts. It examines the conditions that enable and influence different literatures in the public sphere, thereby focusing on their cultural specificities, potentials and functions. It uses a broad concept of literature, including the digitalization of society and its consequences, socio-cultural political and economic contexts, (inter-)mediality and media competition, institutional conditions, the literary industry and literary life as objects of enquiry.

The RTG considers literatures from different cultural and language areas, including ‘small literatures’ and minority cultures on different continents. Accordingly, the RTG investigates the interactions between literatures and public spheres in a differentiated manner. Adopting a comparative and transnational perspective, the RTG takes into account digital, praxeological, cultural studies and philological methods and supports research projects from social, media, material, ethical or economic studies.

Applying

If your field of study was Digital Humanities, Book Studies, (Cultural) Sociology, Media/Communication Studies, Romance Studies, Comparative Literature, American Studies, English Studies or German Studies and you have a suitable project idea, please apply by 1 May 2025.

More info

You can find more information about these doctoral positions and the application procedure on the website of the FAU.