Current Fellows
2026/27 FRIAS Fellows
Each year, researchers from around the world gather at FRIAS to further their research projects and exchange ideas with fellow scholars. This creates a distinctive intellectual and interdisciplinary environment, bringing together young postdoctoral fellows and esteemed senior professors from the humanities, natural sciences, and life sciences. On this page, we introduce the current cohort of fellows, their events, as well as their research projects and activities. An overview of all previous cohorts can be found here: Fellow Finder
Fellow Projects
Prof. em. Josephine Akosua Adomako Ampofo
University of Ghana
Gender/African Studies
Senior Fellow
March 2027 – August 2027
Dr. Robel Mulat Asmammaw
Dilla University
Social Anthropology
Early Career Fellow
October 2026 – September 2028
From Artisanal Marginality to Industrial Precarity: Migration, Labor Regimes, and the Transformation of Craft Lineages in Urban Ethiopia.
Prof. Dr. Daniela Blum
University of Freiburg
Medieval and Modern Church History
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Dialogicity. Open-Ended Inquiry through Dialogue in the Premodern World
Dr. Tom Bossuyt
Ghent University
Linguistics
Early Career Fellow
March 2026 – February 2028
‘Although … but …’: Patterns and motivations of para-hypotactic concessives
Johanna Bücker
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law
Law
Early Career Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Hybrid Threats
Prof. Dr. Andreas Christen
University of Freiburg
Environmental meteorology
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: GreenPulse. Energy-autonomous mobile sensor system with edge computing for real-time urban environmental monitoring and prediction
Dr. Kun Dai
University of Freiburg
Chemistry
Early Career Fellow
September 2025 – April 2026
September 2026 – April 2027
Artificial Protocells Driving Peptide Synthesis in Water
Dr. Hannah Davidson
University of Cambridge
Linguistics
Early Career Fellow
March 2027 – August 2027
Incorporating social and psychological approaches to better understand multilingualism in Mauritius
Dr. Aritra De
Tarleton State University
History
Early Career Fellow
October 2026 – October 2028
Competing Cold War Interventions in South Asia: US–Soviet Political, Intelligence, and Cultural Engagements in West Bengal, 1950–1977
Dr. Eagan Dean
The College of Wooster
Literatures in English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Early Career Fellow
September 2026 – August 2028
Inventing American Gender
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Dendorfer
University of Freiburg
Medieval History
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Dialogicity: Open-Ended Inquiry through Dialogue in the Premodern World
Prof. Dr. Sandra Destradi
University of Freiburg/Reichman University
International Relations
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Hybrid Threats
Prof. Dr. Moritz Diehl
University of Freiburg
Mathematics and system optimization
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – March 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Dodt
University Vienna
Medicine
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – March 2027
Prof. Dr. Sabine Döring
Tübingen University
Philosophy
Guest Researcher
April 2026 – September 2027
Acting in Solidarity in Freedom: A Liberal Theory of the Common Good.
Dr. Almuth Ebke
University of Mannheim
History
Early Career Fellow
October 2026 – July 2027
God and the World: The Inspiration of the Bible and the Concept of Modernity, c. 1860–1978.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Glunz
University of Freiburg
Solar Energy, Photovoltaics, Semiconductor Physics
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – March 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Dr. Philipp Höfele
University of Freiburg
Philosophy, Ethics
Early Career Fellow
October 2024 – September 2027
Digital Anthropocene: AI and Sustainability
Dr. Max Jack
Indiana University Bloomington
Cultural Anthropology/ Ethnomusicology
Early Career Fellow
October 2026 – October 2028
On Account of Doomsday: Climate Activism and the Politics of Survival
Ass. Prof. Dr. Stefan Kaufmann
University of Freiburg
Sociology
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Hybrid Threats
Prof. Dr. Racha Kirakosian
University of Freiburg
Medieval Studies
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Dialogicity. Open-Ended Inquiry through Dialogue in the Premodern World
Prof. Dr. Alexandra-Maria Klein
University of Freiburg
Ecology, Biodiversity
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – March 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Prof. Dr. Tim Krieger
University of Freiburg
Economics
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – March 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Prof. Dr. André Krischer
University of Freiburg
History
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Dr. Chika C. Mba
University of Ghana
Philosophy
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2026
Fanon and Nkrumah: Decolonial Discontents about the Problem of Global Justice in Philosophy
Prof. Dr. Fonka Hans Mbonwuh
University of Bamenda
Sociolinguistics
Senior Fellow
September 2026 – April 2028
Dr. Christopher Morhart
University of Freiburg
Forestry science, Agroforestry
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – March 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Prof. Dr. Florian “Floyd” Mueller
Monash University
Human-Computer Interaction
Senior Fellow
December 2026 – March 2027
Fostering nature engagement through human-computer integration
Prof. Dr. Spyridon Nikolaidis
University of Thessaloniki
Physics
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: GreenPulse. Energy-autonomous mobile sensor system with edge computing for real-time urban environmental monitoring and prediction
PD Dr. Elisa Orrù
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law
Practical Philosophy
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Hybrid Threats
Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Osterhammel
University of Freiburg
History
Distinguished Fellow
March 2019 – December 2027
Balzan Project in Global History: Global Processes and the Dynamics of Regions
Dr. Patricia Bou Pérez
University of Freiburg
Assyriology
Early Career Fellow
March 2026 – December 2027
Defining Masculinities in Mesopotamia and Syria during the Early Second Millennium BCE.
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Piller
University of Freiburg
History
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Prof. Dr. Alexandre Roberts
University of Southern California
Byzantine and Arabo-Islamic intellectual history/History of science
Senior Fellow
September 2026 – May 2027
Chemistry and Its Consequences in Byzantium and the Islamic World
Prof. Dr. Karlheinz Ruhstorfer
University of Freiburg
Dogmatic Theology/Philosophy of Religion
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Dialogicity: Open-Ended Inquiry through Dialogue in the Premodern World
Prof. Dr. Laura Rupp
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
English Language and Linguistics
Senior Fellow
April 2027 – July 2027
The story of obsolescent dialect features: the chapter from the Freiburg Corpus of English dialects
Prof. Dr. Claudius Sittig
University of Freiburg
Contemporary German Literature
Senior Fellow
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
October 2024 – December 2026
Senior Fellow
FRIAS Project Group: Dialogicity. Open-Ended Inquiry through Dialogue in the Premodern World
October 2026 – December 2027
Dr. Dimitris Soudias
Ghent University
Political Sociology
Early Career Fellow
October 2026 – February 2027
The Solutionist Spirit of Social Entrepreneurship
Prof. Dr. Paulina Starski
University of Freiburg
European and International Law
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Prof. Dr. Iris Stewart-Frey
Santa Clara University
Environmental Sciences
Senior Fellow
April 2027 – May 2027
July 2027 – August 2027
How does the rapid rise in data centers for generative AI impact water resources in water-scarce and socio-economically vulnerable regions of California and Europe?
Prof. Dr.-Ing Alexander Stolz
University of Freiburg
Sustainable Systems Engineering/Resilience of Technical Systems
Senior Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Hybrid Threats
Dr. Xiaohong Tan
Independent Urban Researcher and Planner
Urban Studies
Early Career Fellow
October 2026 – May 2027
Urban Gardening as “a Way Out”: Negotiating Conflict, Cooperation, and Socio-Ecological Transformation under State-Led Urbanism in China and Beyond.
Dr. Max Trommsdorff
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems
Economics, Agrivoltaics
Early Career Fellow
October 2025 – March 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Joana van de Löcht
University of Münster
German Literature
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Dr. Maria Weber
University of Freiburg
Late Medieval and Early Modern History
Early Career Fellow
October 2026 – December 2027
FRIAS Project Group: Dialogicity: Open-Ended Inquiry through Dialogue in the Premodern World
Prof. Dr. Peter Woias
University of Freiburg
Microsystems Engineering
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: GreenPulse. Energy-autonomous mobile sensor system with edge computing for real-time urban environmental monitoring and prediction
Dr. Kflay Gebrehiwot Yaynemsa
Samara University
Plant Biology, Biodiversity Management
Early Career Fellow
November 2026 – June 2027
Climate Resilient Green Economy and Green Legacy Initiative: A Political Ecology of Ethiopia’s Mass Plantations.
Dr.-Ing Wanli Yu
University of Freiburg
Internet of things (IoT), sensor networks, edge computing, embedded artificial intelligence
Early Career Fellow
October 2025 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: GreenPulse. Energy-autonomous mobile sensor system with edge computing for real-time urban environmental monitoring and prediction
Events
We warmly invite our Fellows to the following events, which are an integral part of the Fellowship program at FRIAS. Guests are also welcome to join the colloquium. Please register at events@frias.uni-freiburg.de.
Academic Life
