CoMoDe

We invite applications for our Visiting fellows programme (f/m/d) within the research project “Contentious Mobilities: Rethinking Mobility Transitions through a Decolonial Lens – CoMoDe”.

Applicants are welcome to apply for stays ranging from one to six months at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig (IfL). The fellowship scheme is administered by the IfL and financed by the Leibniz Association in the framework of its Junior Research Group programme.

Background

The IfL conducts basic research on the regional geography of Germany and Europe and communicates its research findings to a wider public. Under the heading “Geographies of the Regional”, the institute develops interdisciplinary perspectives on socio-spatial developments in a globalised society that is increasingly characterised by differences, diversity and complexity.
The CoMoDe project brings a novel lens to mobility transitions research by combining critical mobilities studies and post-Soviet decolonial thinking. CoMoDe opens up new pathways for devising policy instruments able to contribute to environmentally viable and socially inclusive mobility futures. The project conceptualises mobility transitions beyond technocratic fixes, and adopts a perspective sensitive to epistemic perceptions and power constellations, still unexplored in human geography and mobility studies. 

For further details see https://comode.leibniz-ifl-projekte.de/ and https://leibniz-ifl.de/forschung/projekt/contentious-mobilities-rethinking-mobility-transitions-through-a-decolonial-lens-comode

The Fellowship Scheme

The fellowship scheme has been set up with the aim to reach out to wider publics, to support knowledge mobility in an emerging field, to strengthen the ties between interested academic and non-academic institutions, to stimulate knowledge production and transfer, and to create durable networks for making a positive impact for socially just mobility systems and cultures.

Academic and non-academic candidates are encouraged to apply for the fellowship scheme. No regional or disciplinary restrictions apply. Fellowship durations may vary from one to six months, depending on the ambition and scope of the individual projects. The fellows receive a 1.440 € monthly stipend intended to cover travel and accommodation expenses in Leipzig.

The fellows will be provided with an own working desk and have access to the institutional library, the geographical archive, and other facilities. The hosting institution will provide support for visa procurement, accommodation, etc.

The fellowships are explicitly output-oriented, i.e. should be developed with a precise goal in mind: joint publications, project applications, workshops, outreach products, exhibitions etc. Other innovative formats are welcome. These should align to the overall purpose of the CoMoDe project, and make proof of the applicants’ active engagement with individual and project-wide cooperation opportunities. Applicants are furthermore expected to actively participate in events at the hosting institution, and to deliver at least one public presentation in institute colloquia or a similar platform. Fellows are encouraged to organise workshops, develop research projects, contribute to teaching or engage in other activities that are in line with the aims of the project and the hosting institutions programmes.

Your Application

The IfL advocates professional equality for all genders. We value diversity and welcome all applications – regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic or social origin, religion, disability, age and sexual orientation. Severely disabled applicants are given preference in case of equal suitability.

Please send your application package as a single pdf document via e-mail with the keyword: “CoMoDe fellowship” to: l_pozharliev(at)leibniz-ifl.de

In order to apply, please submit an up to date curriculum vitae in 1-2 pages and a research and activity plan of not more than 1.500 words. This should lay down how your past and planned activities relate both to the CoMoDe project, and shall include a detailed outline of the projected final output in terms of joint publications, events, follow-up applications etc., as well as outline the planned activities during the fellowship and set the time schedule for carrying out those tasks. The fellowship is meant to take place in presence at the IfL. By submitting the application, you consent to the processing of your personal data for the purpose of the application procedure.

How we protect your data

Contact

Dr. Lyubomir Pozharliev 
+49 341 600 55-260
l_pozharliev(at)leibniz-ifl.de

Application Deadline

7 February 2025

Following a notification within a month after this deadline, fellowships can be started from March 2025 onwards. This is the last call for proposals before the project ends at the end of 2025.

Download Call as PDF file

The Bulgarian Sociologičeski Problemi Journal recently published their final issue of 2024, with the overarching topic being “From one Language into another”: Social Problems Seen Through the Eyes of Bulgarian Scholars in Foreign Countries (Issue Editors: Raia Apostolova, Neda Deneva). CoMoDe’s own Lyubomir Pozharliev contributed an intriguing article to the edition with the title Decolonial Insights into Public Transport in Sofia: “Eastern” Trolleybuses Vs. “Western” E-Buses.

Abstract: The battery industry, i.e. battery-powered electric cars and buses, has been on the rise for the past decade or so. Several municipalities in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and elsewhere in the world are promoting and advertising their progressiveness by being ready to introduce (or have already introduced) the new battery-electric buses wherever and whenever possible. On the other hand, trolleybus technology is still widespread in post-socialist countries and offers an electric alternative to the battery-powered bus. This paper attempts to address the introduction of the new technology from the per- spective of the older technology – the trolleybus one. Based on interviews with local experts and data from the Bulgarian capital, the paper will explore the potential of the decolonial perspective in addressing public transport developments in a post-socialist, Eastern European context.

The full article in Bulgarian, as part of Issue 2/56 in Sociologičeski Problemi Journal, can be accessed here (no free access).

Published by the Berliner Gazette on the 11th of November 2024

In “Governing ‘Green’ Public Infrastructure: The Trolleybus Case in Bishkek,” Bermet Borubaeva and Egor Muleev take us on a ride through the tangled wires of Bishkek’s trolleybus saga—a tale of sustainability, bureaucracy, and a city at a crossroads. At the heart of the drama is Bishkek’s trolleybus system, the capital’s only electric public transport with enough capacity to avoid daily gridlock, yet it’s on the brink of extinction. City Hall, nudged by foreign consultants and seduced by shiny new e-buses, wants to ditch the old for the new—even though the old is green, functional, and beloved by the people. What follows is a classic case of public infrastructure caught in the gears of bureaucracy, where short-term decisions and backroom deals hold more weight than long-term planning.

The article further explores the role of local governance, workers’ struggles, and grassroots resistance in shaping the future of public infrastructure, using the trolleybus as a case study for broader issues in urban mobility and democratic accountability.

Read the whole article here.