European Partnership for Qualitative Research Training (Social Anthropology)

Marie Curie SocAnth exists in order to promote the development of Anthropological research and teaching in the former communist regions of central and eastern Europe.This programme builds research training in anthropology by linking trainers in New Member and Associated states with western institutions. Anthropology is unevenly developed across Europe - Social Anthropology was not taught in central/eastern Europe until 1989 and research training at postgraduate level is patchy. This programme targets students from new members and accession states, as well as others wishing to research in such countries. It will enable two intakes of Doctoral Fellows to move between three or more partner institutions in two, thirty month long training programmes. Some short term mobility will also be available for other doctoral students in Europe and beyond, whose research contributes to SocAnth"s goals. The training strengths and specialisations of the network will provide Fellows with a broad understanding of the discipline. The resulting, cohesive and closely knit network of European anthropologists will be committed to researching and teaching in their countries but thinking in regional, continental and global terms. Fellows will be engaged in a critical rethinking of Anthropological methods and goals to help sustain the impact of the discipline into the 21st Century. Fellows will generate in-depth qualitative research that is properly conducted on issues of ethnic relations, democratic public culture, conflict prevention, but also broader topics like cognition and learning, medical anthropology and cultural evolution. Special tracks in Visual Anthropology will also be available. SocAnth brings together five departments of anthropology from across the continent. Between us we cover pretty much the whole range of modern anthropology, from UCL"s "three field" approach, through Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology"s steadfast commitment to the comparative research program, CEU"s merging of sociological and anthropological methodologies and concerns, Goldsmith"s novel focus on visual anthropological research and Babes-Bolyai"s recent cultivation of a publicly oriented anthropology.The character of the research done in "SocAnth" will in part be determined by the scientists who apply for Fellowships, but these interdisciplinary activities and interests across the Partner Institutions suggests much of the work will transcend "pure" anthropology. The scientific representatives of each partner institution are: Michael Stewart (Coordinator), University College LondonAyse Caglar, Central European University, BudapestChris Hann, Günther Schlee, Keebet and Franz von Benda-Beckmann, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Marius Lazar, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, RomaniaFrances Pine, Goldsmith"s College, London