University of Zurich – Peace Research Fellowship 2026

The Peace Research Fellowship offers early-career scholars the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research on long-term peace, violence reduction, and institutional development, embedded within a community of peace and conflict researchers in Switzerland. The fellowship is designed as a short, intensive research visit focused on exchange and network-building, with the potential of longer-term collaboration.

The Peace Research Fellowship is part of the consolidator project Decades of Peace, based at the University of Zurich. With this project, we seek to understand the institutional drivers of sustained violence reduction.

What we offer:

• A fully funded residential stay at the Department of Political Science (including shared office space), covering costs for travel and accommodation, for two weeks in the second half of August 2026 (extendable with own funding).

• Dedicated time for discussion to help the fellows make their own research ready for publication and to develop new collaborative research ideas with the Decades of Peace team.

• Participation in a two-day workshop on institutions and violence with external guests and peace and conflict researchers based in Switzerland (August 2026). Fellows present their research in the workshop and receive feedback from senior scholars in the field.

• Integration in informal activities at the Department of Political Science.

Who we are looking for:

• Early-career researchers (particularly suited for advanced PhD students and postdocs) from any country with a background in political science and expertise in peace and conflict studies.

• Interested in collaborating with the Decades of Peace team, with a view to developing joint research beyond the stay in Zurich.

• We aim to select a small number of fellows with demonstrated research quality, thematic fit with the Decades of Peace research agenda, and clear interest in collaborative research.

Applications should include:

• short motivation letter (maximally one page)

• curriculum vitae (including publications and working papers)

• one writing sample (for example, a published article, thesis chapter, or advanced draft).

Applications should be submitted as one combined PDF file to Laura Zúñiga Ordóñez: laura.zuniga@ipz.uzh.ch

Deadline for applications: March 20, 2026

Notification about outcome: April 2026

For questions or inquiries, please contact Prof. Dr. Enzo Nussio: enzo.nussio@ipz.uzh.ch

The University of Zurich is committed to fostering an inclusive and intellectually open research environment and encourages applications from scholars from diverse backgrounds and regions.