Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Institute for Advanced Study
Wallotstraße 19
D-14193 Berlin
Telefon: +49 30 89001 0
Telefax: +49 30 89001 300
E-Mail: wiko@wiko-berlin.de

Living and Working at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

The Wissenschaftskolleg's charter commits it to "enable recognized scholars to carry out research work of their own choice in Berlin." The Rector and staff regard it as their task to create the most favorable conditions possible for the research projects of the Fellows – the invited scientists and scholars. As a rule, the Fellows come to Berlin for one academic year (from October to July). In exceptional cases, the Rector can also invite them for a shorter period. Scholarly life at the Kolleg is shaped by the Fellows themselves and should be kept mostly free of external obligations. With fu­ture Fellows in mind in their reports on their experience, former Fellows have repeatedly under­scored how important for the success of their fellowships it was to arrive without prior obligations and, to the greatest possible degree, to have avoided committing themselves to continuing responsi­bilities.

The fol­lowing information clarifies the most important general conditions of a stay at the Wissen­schafts­kolleg. Modified rules are agreed upon for individual cases of visitors present only for a few days or weeks.

Stipend

The Rector of the Wissenschaftskolleg concludes an agreement with each Fellow before his or her arrival. It lays down the agreed specific conditions of the stay. This agreement is prepared by the Secretary of the Wissenschaftskolleg, who is available to answer any questions at any time. Many of the following rules are necessitated by the fact that the Wissenschaftskolleg is funded primarily by public funds, whose use the Rector must justify in accordance with the rules of public administration.

Within certain limits, Fellows receive stipends and housing allowances to compensate for the costs incurred by their stay in Berlin, generally for the ten-month period of the academic year (October 1 to July 31). The Wissenschaftskolleg's stipend fund is not large enough to offer more than a few full stipends. All Fellows are therefore asked to persuade their home institutions or another institution or foundation to cover their salary entirely or in part.

  1. The Wissenschaftskolleg is aware that it is not always possible for the home institution to make such a contribution, whether because of general conditions in the home country or because of the Fellow's individual situation. In such cases, Fellows receive a stipend for the period of their stay in Berlin that is based on their prior salary or, if that is an unsuitable yardstick for conditions in Berlin, on the salary of German academics. The calculation will be based on one's net salary of the previous year. Differences between the German cost of living and that of the Fellow's home country will be duly taken into account (based on data from the German Federal Statistical Office). The stipend is tax-free in Germany. A Fellow's additional income as well as his or her spouse's salary will not be included in the calculation. In order to establish the amount of the stipend, the Wissenschaftskolleg requires written certification of the Fellow's salary in the year before assumption of the fellowship.

  2. Experience shows that the best solution is a leave of absence at full pay. Upon application, university professors from the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland are regularly given a paid leave from their home institution for the period of their activity at the Wissenschaftskolleg. The Wissenschaftskolleg tries to make similar arrangements with Fellows from other countries. When necessary, the Wissenschaftskolleg can reimburse the Fellow's home university (up to the amount of the Fellow's salary or up to the maximum allowed by the Wissenschaftskolleg, whichever is lower) for the costs of a substitute. This substitute should, if possible, be regarded as an opportunity to provide a younger scholar or scientist with teaching experience. If the costs of substitution are low, the Wissenschaftskolleg can also pay compensation for additional burdens, but not more than the Fellow would receive as a stipend.

  3. If the home institution can cover only part of the salary (for example, for a sabbatical), the Fellow receives a stipend from the Wissenschaftskolleg to compensate for the difference between his or her previous salary and this partial salary; it also takes other details of the individual case into consideration.

  4. Along with the stipend, the Wissenschaftskolleg also provides a lump-sum research allowance. For professional purposes, the costs of photocopying (self-service) and postal, IT and library fees are covered by the Wissenschaftskolleg. The Fellows' professional telephone fees are tallied for each Fellow individually; the Wissenschaftskolleg will cover them up to the amount of € 75 per month; fees beyond that are billed to the Fellow.

  5. The Wissenschaftskolleg assumes the costs of the Fellows' arrival and departure as well as travel expenses for those family members who will be accompanying the Fellows for the entirety of their stay (provided they stay for at least 3 months). As a rule, flights will be booked and paid for by the Wissenschaftskolleg in consultation with the Fellows. The costs of train tickets will be reimbursed. If arriving by car, the Fellows' fuel costs will be reimbursed - up to a maximum of € 130 - at a flat rate of € 0.20  per kilometer. Fellows residing at the Wiko for a period of more than 3 months will be reimbursed for the costs of transporting working materials and luggage up to an amount that depends on the distance traveled and the number of family members accompanying them (between € 500 and € 1,800, round trip).

  6. A Fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg does not constitute an employment relationship. For this reason, the Wissenschaftskolleg is not obligated to contribute to the Fellow's social insurance. No payments are made into pension or unemployment insurances.

  7. All foreign Fellows are requested to clarify whether their insurance plan will provide adequate coverage for the period of their stay abroad; EU citizens, with their European insurance card, have European-wide health coverage. In cases where health insurance fails to guarantee adequate coverage, the Wissenschaftskolleg can insure Fellows and their accompanying family members through a group policy with EUROPA Health Insurance AG. The premium amounts to about € 85 per month and the Wissenschaftskolleg will assume 50 % of the costs.

  8. About nine months before the Fellow's stay at the Wissenschaftskolleg begins, the Kolleg requests that the future Fellow fills out a questionnaire to provide information on his or her situation (stipend, apartment, etc.). This information provides the basis for the stipend agreement.

Housing and Housing Supplement/Working and Guest Rooms

For Fellows who come unaccompanied, the Wissenschaftskolleg has several one-room apartments in its own buildings, some of which also have a separate working room. For Fellows with family, the Wissenschaftskolleg has rented 28 two- to five-room apartments in the Villa Walther. These apartments are completely furnished. They are rented to the Fellows generally for the period from October to July. Only in exceptional cases (for example, the start of the school term for accompanying children or preparatory instruction in the German language) they are available in August and September, for it is during this period that necessary cleaning and renovating measures are undertaken.

In cases where Fellows have continuing costs for their apartment in their home country and the rent in Berlin exceeds a reasonable amount, the Wissenschaftskolleg grants a housing supplement to compensate for financial disadvantages caused by the Berlin apartment. If the Fellow rents out his or her apartment in the home country, 50 % of this income is deducted from the housing supplement. Fellows who receive a stipend from the Wissenschaftskolleg contribute 10 % of their stipend (at least € 250) to the basic rent. If a larger apartment is desired than the one the Wissenschaftskolleg has offered, the Fellow must cover an additional 5 % of the rent. Fellows who have a leave of absence from their home universities at full pay or who, for other reasons (for example, sabbatical), require no or only a small stipend from the Wissen­schaftskolleg, can receive a housing supplement to the amount of the basic rent. Utilities (operating costs, heat, water, electricity) are paid by the Fellow. If a Fellow is able to rent out his or her home during the Fellowship, the apartment subsidy will be reduced by 50 % of the rental income

There are 25 offices for Fellows at the Wissenschaftskolleg. This number is not enough to offer each Fellow a separate office, so in distributing them priority goes to those Fellows who are accom­panied by their families and who do not have an office in their apartment. Finally, the Kolleg has a few guest rooms. They serve as short-term accommodation for scholarly guests, former Fellows, and close family members of Fellows who cannot be accommodated in the Fellow's apartment.

Academic Life

Institutes for Advanced Study see themselves as places that afford outstanding or promis­ing scholars the opportunity to be relieved for one year of the obligations and distractions of everyday life at an university and, in an atmosphere providing for the free exchange of ideas with other scholars, to work on or complete a research project that they think promises substantial progress in knowledge. In the framework of working groups, the stay can focus on a common project undertaken by several Fellows. To ensure that living together with circa 40 persons from various disciplines and nations is as stimulating as pos­sible, in past years certain conventions have developed: the Tuesday Collo­quium, the meals taken together, and the residence obligation. Beyond this, the Fellows themselves shape their scholarly life and cooperative work. The Kolleg merely offers rooms and aid in organizing seminars and in invit­ing guests. The Fellows' spouses or partners are welcome at all events, including the common meals. Spouses and partners who also do scholarly or scientific work and require support in their performance of it can, like the Fellows, avail themselves of the institute's services to the extent that resources permit.

  1. Colloquia

    At one point during his or her stay, each Fellow will be expected to give a talk to the other Fellows on his or her work in a colloquium. Since the founding of the Kolleg, these colloquia have been held Tues­days from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. As a rule, they consist of a lecture and subsequent discussion. The lec­ture should have the char­acter of a workshop report and at the same time be understandable to scholars from unrelated disci­plines. The language chosen for the lecture is usually English, German, or French. The Wissenschaftskolleg encourages its Fellows - and supports them in this - to use for their lecture the language in which they can best present their material, even if this means not all the other Fellows will understand them. If a Fellow lectures in German or French, the Fellow Services will provide an English translation of the text, so that English-speaking Fellows can read the lecture.

    The Rector asks selected Fellows to conduct a public evening lecture. These lectures are generally held once a month at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday. They serve to present to a broader public the research of individual Fellows as examples of the work of the Wissenschaftskolleg.

  2. Meals

    The Wissenschaftskolleg regards the common lunches offered every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and the common dinner on Thursday as an important part of community life. They provide additional opportunities for discussion and often go beyond just shop talk. Seminar participants and Guests of the Fellows also take part in the meals. The Fellows may in turn invite guests from Berlin.

  3. Residence obligation

    In the Agreement with the Rector, Fellows consent to the residence obligation and declare their willingness to take part in the Kolleg's scholarly events, in particular the Colloquia and the common meals. Using E-mail, they inform the Secretary about their travel plans for professional or private reasons. One-time absences that will take longer than one week or total absences of more than 30 days over the academic year require prior consent of the Rector.

  4. Seminars

    The Wissenschaftskolleg has rooms of various sizes for regular or one-time meetings of Fellows' working groups. Seminars with outside participants are intended to help Fellows advance their research projects. Outside funding must be found to invite those participants not living in Berlin. Within the framework of its capacities, the Wissenschaftskolleg gladly assists in applying for the necessary funding and in organizing the seminars. Because of space limitations, the number of external participants at such seminars is usually restricted to ten, including five from outside.

  5. Guests of the Fellows

    The Wissenschaftskolleg can also support the scholarly work of the Fellows by following their suggestions to invite certain guests for stays of up to two weeks for an intensive exchange of ideas in their field. As far as capacity allows, the Wissenschaftskolleg provides the guest with a room and invites him or her to join in the Fellows' common meals. Attending to his or her guests during their stay at the Wissenschaftskolleg is the responsibility of the Fellow who requested their invitation.

  6. Publications, Yearbook

    Upon their arrival, the Fellows are asked to provide the library with a copy of each of their most important publications, so that these works - especially those listed as recommended reading in the Fellow's research plan - can be made available to other Fellows. The Wissenschaftskolleg library collects works that Fellows have published during their stay at the Wissenschaftskolleg or that are based on their research here. To this end, Fellows are requested to send us copies. These publications should contain acknowledgement of the support received from the Wissenschaftskolleg.

    After the end of each academic year, the Wissenschaftskolleg publishes a yearbook, for which the Rector requests that each Fellow submits a short report on his or her work and stay at the Kolleg.

Fellow Services

  1. Library

    The library of the Wissenschaftskolleg contains a basic reference collection and collects the Fellows' publications. It provides access to databases and electronic journals. The librarians facilitate access to the academic literature from Berlin and external libraries and support the Fellows' research in the literature and their use of specialized sources of information. Literature needed for research is bor­rowed from the Berlin libraries or through inter-library loan for use at the Wissenschaftskolleg.

  2. IT Services

    The Wissenschaftskolleg provides network connections in the apartments and offices. These connections enable access to the Internet and to the internal network services (backup server, printer server).

    Fellows can be provided with a PC or a Mac by the Wissenschaftskolleg. By arrangement with the IT Services, Fellows' private computers can be connected with the Wissenschaftskolleg's network if they are equipped with current anti-virus software. The IT Services provide help if computer problems arise, but cannot accept any liability for work done on private equipment.

    The Wissenschaftskolleg sets up an e-mail address for all Fellows. This allows one to fully use the Wissenschaftskolleg's various services, for example the library, and permits access to Wiko-internal information. Use of this e-mail address is expected so that it is clear that the sender is a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg.

  3. Administrative Fellow Services

    The Administrative Fellow Services assist Fellows in their practical preparations for their stay (planning and booking their trips, visa issues, police registration, residence permit, insurance). Fel­lows coming to Berlin with their children are supported in their search for slots in schools, kinder­gartens, or day-care centers.

  4. Organizing Events

    The staff of the Event Department supports the Fellows in preparing their Tuesday Colloquia and public lectures, in the organization of seminars with outside guests, and in inviting scholarly Guests of the Fellows; it also assigns rooms and coordinates event dates.

  5. German Instruction and Language Services

    At the Wissenschaftskolleg, thinking and working goes on in a number of languages, whereby communication within the Institute is conducted primarily in German and English.

    Intensive preparatory German courses are offered before the beginning of each academic year. During the academic year, accompanying group German courses are provided on various levels of proficiency and individual instruction can be given at hours that are freely arranged. 

    The Wissenschaftskolleg  subsidizes these German courses, but assumes that the participants will also contribute to the costs. Group instruction in the ongoing courses is offered free of charge to Fellows, while family members pay a flat fee of € 300 for the entire year. Individual lessons cost Fellows € 25 per hour. The 6-week intensive course (beginning of September to mid-October) is free of charge to Fellows, while the cost to family members is € 1,000 for a total of 150 hours (25 hours per week) and € 750 for a total of 90 hours (15 hours per week). For German instruction for Fellows' children, the contribution will be between € 7 and € 15 per child, depending on the size of the group.

    Fellows who wish to lecture or write in a language other than their native tongue can receive assistance from translators who will correct and style-edit their texts in German, English or French. Translation costs are covered only for texts needed for colloquia. For other translations, the Kolleg can mediate translators. Conversation courses in English and French can also be arranged if desired.

  6. Website

    The website of the Wissenschaftskolleg (www.wiko-berlin.de) contains general information on the Institute's organization, structure and goals, on the Fellows, on applications, and on projects. A calen­dar of events provides information on the Wissenschaftskolleg's own events as well as on lectures that Fellows give in Berlin.
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