Our EDP Network member Solveig Richter, Juniorprofessor for International Conflict Management at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, got accepted into the Heisenberg Programme by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The Heisenberg Programme aims to “enable outstanding researchers who meet all the requirements for appointment to a long-term professorship to prepare for a senior academic role while continuing their research work”. With the help of the grant, her project “Blended Legitimacy: Non-State Power Groups and Changing Political Orders in Post-Conflict Societies” will be supported for five years.

The Heisenberg Programme consists of either a scholarship or the financing of a full-term professorship for the grantees for five years. The selection is based on the scientific quality and originality of the respective research project as well as the suitability for an advanced qualification as a university lecturer, thus making the programme one of the most reputable and distinguished individual research grants in Germany.  We would like to congratulate Solveig on this great success!

In her project “Blended Legitimacy: Non-State Power Groups and Changing Political Orders in Post-Conflict Societies”, Solveig will explore how state authority is formed after peace treaties and how a legitimate political order is defined by different actors striving for power. The project will consist of comprehensive field research (e.g. in Kosovo, Mali, Colombia, and the Philippines), and aim to strengthen research networks in the Global South. The project proposal was developed in close collaboration with Prof. Thorsten Bonacker, and the renowned Centre for Conflict Studies at the Philipps-University Marburg.