Call for the Human Past SCAS Fellowships 2027-28 is open


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The Human Past SCAS Residential Fellowship Programme is an initiative by the Center for the Human Past, administered by the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS).

The fellowships are designed to foster a collaborative environment where early-stage (postdoctoral-level) and established scholars can converge across a wide range of disciplines, such as archaeology, population genetics, and historical linguistics. These fields collectively explore the shared history of the world’s populations over the past 10,000 years, a period marked by the advent of agrarian food production, population growth and linguistic changes, as well as the emergence of early civilisations.

The fellowship aims to attract both junior and senior researchers interested in the human past and combining methods and materials from different disciplines. Research on three major migration events: Indo-European, Bantu, and Austronesian expansions, is the primary focus of the Centre.
We invite scholars interested in exploring archaeological evidence, linguistic changes, or genetic factors associated with these archaeological and linguistic expansions.

For more information, go to the SCAS website:

Our earlier & current fellowship projects:


  • UU researcher profile: Harald Hammarström documents languages on the verge of extinction

    UU researcher profile: Harald Hammarström documents languages on the verge of extinction

    A professor of linguistics with a Master’s in computer science and a PhD in computational linguistics, Harald goes an extra mile to document the languages that head towards extinction. “Throughout time, smaller languages have always been swallowed up by larger ones. But now, with globalisation, this is happening at an incredibly accelerated pace.” Language has…

  • Carina Schlebusch’s current research—in a nutshell

    Carina Schlebusch’s current research—in a nutshell

    Carina Schlebusch is combining archaeology, genetics and biochemistry with the aim of discovering how human genes have adapted to changing lifestyles over thousands of years. Prehistoric DNA from skeletal remains in Africa can provide answers to questions about diet, disease and survival, and perhaps even offer clues about humanity’s future health. The goal now is…

  • Meet Lydia Furness, our new postdoctoral researcher in interdisciplinary genetics

    Meet Lydia Furness, our new postdoctoral researcher in interdisciplinary genetics

    “My research background lies at the intersection of archaeology, evolutionary anthropology, and biomolecular science. I trained initially as an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool, specialising in archaeological science and early human evolution, which provided a strong foundation in archaeological practice, material analysis, and the ethical dimensions of working with human remains and cultural heritage.”…