Walter Benjamin Kolleg

Young Scholars

Since 2020, the WBKolleg has awarded the annual "Young Scholars" prize to excellent young researchers from Switzerland and abroad who successfully work across disciplines and communicate their research to a broad public in a vivid manner. Worth 1,500 SFr, the award aims to identify and promote young talents by increasing their visibility, opening up networking opportunities and providing impetus for scientific and intellectual development. At the same time, young researchers of the Kolleg benefit from the exchange with the scholars.

The prize is awarded on the occasion of a public event in a Bernese cultural institution. The presentation is flexible in terms of topic, format and location, so that new opportunities for cooperation arise time and again. In addition, visitors to municipal cultural institutions gain insights into current research in the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences.

In case of any questions please contact the office manager Dr. Ariane Lorke.

Recent laureates

2023

Dr. Philipp Krauer

Philipp Krauer received his doctorate from ETH Zurich in 2021 with a thesis on Swiss mercenaries in the Dutch colonial army (1848-1914). His research interests include global, colonial and knowledge history. He holds a Master's degree in History and Philosophy of Knowledge from ETH Zurich and a Bachelor's degree in History and German Language and Literature from the University of Zurich. Since 2021 he has been working as an archivist at the Staatsarchiv of the Canton of Schwyz. He is also co-founder of the public history project «zh-kolonial.ch».

The award ceremony will take place on 10 November at 6 pm at the Bernisches Historisches Museum. All interested parties are cordially invited, no registration necessary.

2022

Dr. Leandra Bias

Leandra Bias researches at the intersection of Political Science and Gender Studies with a focus on Russia. She did her DPhil in Politics at Oxford and recently joined the Institute for Political Science as postdoc and Co-PI of the Horizon Europe project UNTWIST. The prize ceremony will take place in the early spring term at a cultural institution in Bern. Check back in December for more details.

More about Leandra Bias

2021

Dr. Chonja Lee

As a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Art History at the University of Bern, she is conducting research on Political Patterns. European Printed Cotton Textiles for West Africa in the 18th and early 19th Century and a New History of Style.
In the fall semester, the award ceremony will take place in two nearby Bernese cultural institutions. More information will follow here at the beginning of fall term.

More about Chonja Lee

2020

Prof. Dr. Jan-Friedrich Missfelder

As SNSF Grant Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Basel, he directs the research project Power of the Voice. Media of Vocality in the Early Modern Period.
Unfortunately, the award ceremony had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

More about Jan-Friedrich Missfelder