Qualification

The research training group's (RTG) qualification program is designed to help early career researchers develop five fundamental sets of competences and skills:

1. a theory-guided understanding of enmity as a processual and ambivalent category, based on existing literature and independent research;
2. a deep understanding of transcultural processes of attraction and rejection, with a focus on Europe, Asia, and the Middle East;
3. a highly developed capability to engage in transdisciplinary exchange between different research fields spanning the humanities and social sciences;
4. a sensitivity for historical depth; skills in knowledge exchange and science communication.

The program combines a strictly limited number of mandatory courses and workshops with a broad range of elective and voluntary activities. This allows students to create a highly individualized curriculum guaranteeing that a maximum amount of time can be devoted to dissertation research and writing.

RTG Ambivalent Enmity prepares its early career researchers to complete their doctoral projects within a four-year framework. Coursework combines three types of mandatory activities—reading classes, colloquia, and retreats—with elective elements, including panel discussions, writing workshops, field visits, guest lectures, and co-creation sessions to encourage transdisciplinary discourse. The tailormade curriculum (for a model, see Fig. 2) will help students achieve disciplinary as well as transdisciplinary competences, train them in relevant research methods, and provide them with complementary skills, including those suited to share academic knowledge with the broader public.

Doctoral researchers are encouraged to select a Thesis Advisory Committee formed by three mentors, two from among Ambivalent Enmity faculty, the third an affiliated scholar from Heidelberg or an external partner institution. Personal contact and face-to-face communication are hallmarks of the group. Intensive personal mentoring will be complemented by meetings in larger groups dedicated to presentations and debate: an annual retreat, informal workshops fostering exchange and cooperation across disciplinary divides. Direct exchanges with cultural and political institutions will build bridges beyond academia and serve as potential entryways into the broader job market for academics.

Regular meetings between candidates, supervisors, and the Thesis Advisory Committee as well as informal encounters with other scholars within and outside Ambivalent Enmity will help to monitor individual progress and to identify potential problems. Three pre-defined milestones serve the same purpose: a research plan (first milestone), a first draft chapter (second milestone), and a second draft chapter (third milestone). The first milestone must be met at the beginning of the second semester, the second at the end of the fifth semester, and the third at the beginning of the seventh semester. (See Fig. 3)