News

In August 2015, Norman Backhaus (human geography/URPP Asia and Europe) was a visiting fellow at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Ulrich Brandenburg (Islamic and Middle Eastern studies/URPP Asia and Europe) was awarded an extension of his Forschungskredit from the University of Zurich for the completion of his doctoral thesis “Japan and Islam 1890–1914: Between Global Communication and Pan-Asianist Movement” (September 2015 to January 2016). Additionally, he took up a position as a teaching and research assistant at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich, starting in February 2016.

Bettina Dennerlein (Islamic and Middle Eastern studies/URPP Asia and Europe) and Aymon Kreil (URPP Asia and Europe/Anthropology) received three years’ funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation for their reseach project “Locating Trust in Cairo: Security, State, and Neighbourhood Politics,” starting in December 2015.

Annuska Derks (social and cultural anthropology/URPP Asia and Europe) received three years’ funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation for her reseach project “Spice Chains: Vietnamese Star Anise, Global Markets and the Making of an Indigenous Commodity,” starting in April 2016. Furthermore, she was awarded funding from the Swiss Bilateral Research Programme of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) to carry out the international summer school “Southeast Asia on the Move” in Cambodia (July 2016).

Starting with January 2016, Amir Hamid (Islamic and Middle Eastern studies/URPP Asia and Europe) took up a position as a project coordinator of the multilateral research partnership “The Maghreb in Transition: Media, Knowledge, and Power” at the LMU Munich. The research partnership consists of the LMU, three universities in Morocco, and four universities in Tunesia and is funded by the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) for two years.

Justyna Jaguścik (Chinese studies/URPP Asia and Europe) was granted the annual award 2015 of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences for her doctoral thesis “Literary Body Discourses: Corporeality, Gender and Class Difference in Contemporary Chinese Women’s Poetry and Fiction.”

In September 2015, Aliya Khawari (political science/URPP Asia and Europe) completed her doctoral thesis “The Political Economy of Microfinance.”

Ayaka Löschke (URPP Asia and Europe/Japanese studies) was awarded a Doc.Mobility grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation for the completion of her doctoral thesis “Advocacy of the Japanese Civil Society after Fukushima: The ‘National Network of Parents to Protect Children from Radiation’ as a Case Study” (January 2016 to August 2016).

In September 2015, Linda Maduz (political science/URPP Asia and Europe) completed her doctoral thesis “Protest during Regime Change: Comparing Three Democratizing Countries in (South-) East Asia, 1985–2005.” Additionally, she took up a position as a researcher at the Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich, starting in February 2016.

Angelika Malinar (Indian studies/URPP Asia and Europe) was awarded a Research Fellowship at the Max-Weber-Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt, in the fall term 2016.

From February to April 2016, Katharina Michaelowa (political economy and development/URPP Asia and Europe) was invited as a JNIAS fellow to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Study, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Julia Obinger (Japanese studies/URPP Asia and Europe) was awarded an Early Postdoc.Mobility fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation for a eighteen-month stay at the SOAS, University of London, and at the University of Tokyo (September 2015 to March 2017) to conduct research on “Political and Ethical Consumption in Japan.”

Together with a team of researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Zurich, Johannes Quack (social and cultural anthropology/URPP Asia and Europe) received a seed money grant of the Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme in the Social Sciences, jointly financed by the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) to conduct joint research on the “Dynamics of Well-Being.” Furthermore he was awarded funding from the Swiss Bilateral Research Programme of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) to carry out the research project “Researching Secular and Religious Identities in Tandem.” The major aim of the project is to intensify academic exchange between the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Zurich, and the Department of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University (Savar, Bangladesh).

Ulrich Rudolph was accepted as a member of the Milan “Accademia Ambrosiana,” Classe di Studi sul Vicino Oriente, in November 2015. Furthermore he was invited for a one-month stay as a scholar in residence to the University of California, Berkeley (academic year 2017–2018).

Fabian Schäfer (Japanese Studies/URPP Asia and Europe) submitted his habilitation “Medium as Mediation: Media and Media Theory in Japan, 1920–2012” to the University of Zurich and successfully completed his habilitation review in December 2015.

Melek Saral (political science/URPP Asia and Europe) was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship for a two-year stay at the Faculty of Law, SOAS, University of London.

Starting in April 2016, Serena Tolino (history/URPP Asia and Europe) accepted a position as a junior professor of Islamic studies at the University of Hamburg.

Marco Vitale (ancient history/URPP Asia and Europe) submitted his habilitation “Das Imperium in Wort und Bild: Römische Darstellungsformen beherrschter Gebiete in Inschriftenmonumenten, Münzprägungen und Literatur” to the University of Zurich and successfully completed his habilitation review in March 2016.

Urs Weber (URPP Asia and Europe/religious studies) was awarded a Doc.CH grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation for his doctoral project “Tradition, Modernity, and Ritual Change: Funerary Practices in Taiwan” (March 2015 to July 2017). From October to December 2015 , he was a visiting student at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei (Taiwan).

Tobias Weiss (URPP Asia and Europe/Japanese studies) was invited by the Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien (DIJ) in Tokyo for a research stay from September to December 2015. Additionally, he was awarded a Forschungskredit from the University of Zurich for the completion of his doctoral thesis “‘Fukushima’ in Japan: Media System, Networks and Framing” (January 2016 to December 2016).

In November 2015, Miriam Wenner (geography/URPP Asia and Europe) completed her doctoral thesis “Monopolising a Statehood Movement: Gorkhaland between Authoritarian Parties and ‘Aware Citizens’.” Furthermore she took up a position as a senior teaching and research assistant at the Department of Geography, University of Zurich, starting in October 2015.

Sandro Zanetti (comparative literature/URPP Asia and Europe) received three years’ funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation for his reseach project “Dada Generation after 1945: Avantgardism and Modernity in Postwar Literature,” starting in November 2015.

(Asia & Europe Bulletin, 5/2016, pp. 39–40)