Karl Kaser Prize for Historical Anthropology in South-Eastern Europe (deadline 31 March 2026)

The Centre for the Study of Balkan Societies and Cultures CSBSC awards the Karl-Kaser-Prize for Historical Anthropology in Southeastern Europe (dissertation level and higher). The prize is awarded to young researchers (maximum age: 35 years) for outstanding achievements in the above-mentioned field.

Prize money: 3,000 €

The prize is awarded for a doctoral thesis (the approval of the dissertation must have taken place after January 1st, 2023) or a published monograph or at least three published research contributions, which are (a) thematically related, (b) have been subjected to a peer-review process and (c) are at least 70 pages long (Times New Roman 12p, 1.5).

In order to qualify as historical-anthropological research, works need to combine historical and anthropological approaches on a thematic and methodological level by:

• studying historical realities of life, experience, and everyday life, under the perspective of the agents under study;
• elaborating on subjects that deal with forms of human coexistence (family, kinship and community formations on a local and regional level) or fundamental experiences (gender, sexual orientation, body, health, childhood, old age, death, violence, etc.) or historically relevant conceptions of this world and the hereafter in cultural anthropological contexts;
• applying inter- or transdisciplinary approaches that are anthropologically oriented in a historical, cultural, or social sense;
• combining historical methods (archival research) with ethnographic methods (field research).

The work/s can be submitted in German, English, French, or in any language spoken in Southeastern Europe.

Please submit the following documents for the application:

– short curriculum vitae, including a description of scientific activities/research;

– list of publications (if applicable);

– electronic version of the non-printed doctoral thesis or the published research

paper(s)/monograph;

– an informative five-page abstract of the submitted work/s in English.

The applicant should not have already received another prize at the time of submission.

Applications should be sent by e-mail to: suedost@uni-graz.at

Application deadline: March 31st, 2026

The prize winner will be informed in written form by the prize committee in early October 2026.

The award ceremony will take place on November 27th, 2026, at the University of Graz.

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