Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Visiting Chair and Postdoctoral Program
The DAAD supports the Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Visiting Chair and Postdoctoral Program with funds from the German Foreign Office (AA).
Funding is available for a visiting chair and two postdoctoral positions at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), as well as for program-related events and publications.
The overarching aim of this program is to deepen transatlantic relations by strengthening the Kissinger Center – and in it, the German/European perspective – in conducting research, providing teaching, and to inform and engage a wider audience in debates concerning the transatlantic relationship, international security, and the role of Germany and Europe in the future world order.
During 2016 discussions took place between representatives of the Johns Hopkins University and the German Federal Foreign Office at which both parties stressed the importance of sustaining and strengthening the close friendship between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany by developing and furthering strong academic ties and building on their already longstanding relationship.
To increase awareness of this friendship and co-operation, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the DAAD agreed to enter into a project partnership. In 2018 the program “The Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Professorship and accompanying activities” was established. At the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, it ran under the name “The United States, Europe, and World Order Program”.
The inaugural event took place on October 3, 2018.
About Johns Hopkins SAIS
A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today’s critical issues. For 80 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school’s interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world today.
About the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs
Founded in 2016, the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at SAIS in Washington, D.C., brings together internationally renowned scholars from the fields of foreign policy and international security. Current research topics of the centre include the return of great power politics, China and the influence of new threats such as climate change, artificial intelligence and cyber warfare on international relations.
Press Releases
New Helmut Schmidt Professor at Johns Hopkins University (September 12, 2023)
DAAD and Johns Hopkins SAIS Announce Five Postdoctoral Fellows (September 4, 2018)
DAAD and Johns Hopkins SAIS Announce Kristina Spohr as Inaugural Helmut Schmidt Professor (June 8, 2018)
Outcomes to be achieved by the program
1. The Kissinger Center is strengthened in providing a transatlantic perspective on global affairs and offering reflections on Europe’s/Germany’s place in the world order.
2. Publications on transatlantic and global topics related to Europe’s/Germany’s place in the world order by the Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Visiting Chair and postdoctoral fellows are reference points in discussions on transatlantic perspectives on global affairs in German and U.S. academia and the Think Tank community.
3. Events are referenced in the transatlantic dialogue and debates related to Europe’s/Germany’s place in the world-order.
4. (New) networks between German/European/U.S. (junior) researchers and Think Tanks in the field of transatlantic studies and discussion related to Europe’s/Germany’s place in the world order are established/strengthened.
5. Academic (teaching) careers of program participants are enhanced. Postdoctoal fellows are better qualified for the job market/an academic career.
The Position
The Helmut Schmidt Professor is a distinguished scholar in strategic studies and diplomatic history and conducts research that is innovative and policy-relevant. The scholar has a research focus on Germany and proven expertise concerning Germany’s international relations with Europe and the world, in particular its transatlantic relations.
The Helmut Schmidt Professor partners with faculty and staff within SAIS to lead a research group comprising several postdoctoral students and to build a research program exploring the ways transatlantic cooperation can tackle geostrategic global challenges, to devise a curriculum to educate and train future generations of leaders, and to conduct an active program to engage U.S., European and global policy professionals in their work.
The scholar should be affiliated with a German university or research institution and be at the full-professor level (or at the associate professor level, if a promising younger candidate).
Current Chairholder
Marina Henke is Professor of International Relations at the Hertie School in Berlin (Germany) and the Director of the Hertie Centre for International Security. She researches and publishes on grand strategy, nuclear security and European security and defence policy. In July 2023, she took over as the new Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS.
Interview with Marina Henke on strengthening Germany as a partner of the U.S.A. (DAAD Journal, February 09, 2024)
Previous Chairholders
Andreas Rödder, who holds the chair for Modern and Contemporary History at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, was the Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Visiting Professor from 2020 to 2023. His main fields of interests cover the history of Victorian England, German history and international politics in the 20th century, in particular the history of 1989/90 and contemporary history after 1990.
Publication funded through the program:
- Paradigm Lost? The European Union and the Challenges of a New World. Daniel S. Hamilton, Gregor Kirchhof, and Andreas Rödder, Editors. Washington, Brookings, 2021
Kristina Spohr is Professor at the Department of International History at the London School of Economics. She was the inaugural Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Visiting Professor (2018-2020). She is a specialist in the International History of Germany since 1945 and interested in questions of World Order, Diplomacy & Strategy and the practice of Applied History.
Publications funded through the program:
- The Arctic and World Order. Kristina Spohr and Daniel S. Hamilton, Editors. Jason C. Moyer, Associate Editor. Washington, Brookings, 2020
- Exiting the Cold War, Entering a New World. Daniel S. Hamilton and Kristina Spohr, Editors. Washington, Brookings, 2019
- Open Door: NATO and Euro-Atlantic Security After the Cold War. Daniel S. Hamilton and Kristina Spohr, Editors. Washington, Brookings, 2019
Interview with Kristina Spohr "Focusing on the world as a whole" (DAAD Letter 2019-2)
DAAD Postdoctoral Fellows are closely integrated into the SAIS academic community and affiliated with the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs.
Research and related activities focus on “the roles of the United States and Germany at a crucial moment in world history.” DAAD Postdoctoral Fellows focus on this subject during a regular series of high-level seminars, peer review sessions, and opportunities for direct engagement with senior foreign policy practitioners and leading scholars of statecraft and world order. Each Fellow is expected to complete a research paper related to the theme during the period of residence in addition to continuing to work on their own research projects.
The Fellows work with the Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Visiting Professor and the Kissinger Center on two new initiatives: a German-US conference on issues of international security, historically informed statecraft and strategy and/or transatlantic relations taking place in Germany and a summer workshop on grand strategy and international security for early career academics and policymakers in Washington, D.C.
View the call for 2025/26 and find out more about the DAAD Postdoctoral Fellowships.
Please note that this program is part of DAAD project funding. Therefore, postdocs are selected and employed by Johns Hopkins University.
Testimonials
My supervisors [...] were incredibly supportive, going out of their way to offer ideas on how to discover valuable archival sources and to put me in touch with former policymakers. (Liviu Horovitz)
My studies at SAIS – made possible thanks to DAAD – created a bridge to professional placement. (Iulia-Sabina Joja)
We discussed foreign policy issues both with academics as well as with former foreign policy practioners in an informal setting and a relaxed atmosphere. (Stephan Kieninger)
I am forever grateful for this enriching and insightful experience in DC that helped me develop new skills in international relations, global policy and new power balance debate. (Shushanik Minasyan-Ostermann)
Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a sheer endless number of seminars, roundtables, and public talks about political, social, and economic affairs. This serves as a tremendous source of inspiration and provides ample networking opportunities. (Elias Götz)
What makes Johns Hopkins SAIS a unique host institution is that fellows can take advantage of the school's close connections to the D.C. think tank and policy community. This is invaluable not only for policy-oriented researchers, but also for anyone seeking to conduct interviews with U.S. policymakers. (Frank A. Stengel)
The HSDP program is a catalyst for enhancing transatlantic scientific collaboration by fostering cooperative research initiatives involving scholars on both sides of the Atlantic. (Cornelia Baciu)
This experience has been exceptionally transformative, impacting not only my professional growth but also my personal development in significant ways. As an economist with a specialization in the complex realm of conflict-related topics, this fellowship has proven to be truly groundbreaking. The opportunity to collaborate closely with experts in political science and history has provided me with a novel and enriching outlook. (Veronika Müller)
"Disunity in Diversity? Europe and Grand Strategy in a Time of Global Upheaval", Berlin, May 29 to 31, 2024
The conference was jointly organized by the Kissinger Center of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Center for International Security at the Hertie School. It brought together renowned experts from Europe and the United States. Together they discussed current security policy issues and addressed, among other things, the history of the EU, the challenges of forming a European identity, the effects of internal social dynamics of the member states on the community, the accusation of political weakness of leadership, the relationship of the EU to NATO, and the question of the future of the European Union.
Panel discussion on the topic "Competing visions of the EU going forward?"
Article on the conference "Auf der Suche nach einer gemeinsamen Vision" (DAAD Journal, 18.06.2024)
“The Failure of the Post-Cold War Global Order”, Mainz, May 31 – June 3, 2023
The conference brought together thirty world leading specialists from history and political science to discuss why the post-Cold War order failed, whether this failure could have been avoided, and what can be learned from this history for present and future international politics. The conference was jointly organized by the Kissinger Center and the Gutenberg International Conference Center at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Section P33 - Project Funding for German Language Projects and Research Mobility (PPP)
Kristin Herz
Senior Desk Officer
Tel.: +49 (0) 228 882-8490
E-Mail: herz[at]daad.de
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