The Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) has announced the call for applications for the 2028 Georg Arnhold Senior Fellowship for Education for Sustainable Peace. The opportunity is designed for highly accomplished scholars and practitioners who wish to undertake an advanced research or practice-related project in peace education.
The fellowship includes a research stay of up to six months at the GEI in Brunswick, Germany. The selected candidate will receive a monthly stipend of €3,300, return economy airfare to Germany, access to specialist educational-media resources, academic mentoring, and support with administrative and publication-related matters.
The application deadline is 2 November 2026. The successful candidate may begin the fellowship in January 2028 at the earliest.
The opportunity is administered by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | Georg Eckert Institute, while the announcement has also been shared by the Global Campaign for Peace Education.
Georg Arnhold Senior Fellowship 2028: Key Facts
| Detail | Information | |
|---|---|---|
| Programme | Georg Arnhold Senior Fellowship 2028 | |
| Host institution | Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | |
| Location | Brunswick, Germany | |
| Research area | Education for sustainable peace | |
| Main focus | Educational media and curricula at secondary-school level | |
| Duration | Normally six months | |
| Shorter duration | Possible in exceptional cases, with a minimum of three months | |
| Monthly stipend | €3,300 | |
| Travel support | Return economy airfare to Germany | |
| Working language | English | |
| Earliest start date | January 2028 | |
| Application deadline | 2 November 2026 | |
| Application method | Online application form |
About the Georg Arnhold Program
The Georg Arnhold Program promotes research and practice related to education for sustainable peace. It is operated by the GEI in Brunswick, Germany, an institute that researches the production, content, and use of educational media within their social, political, economic, cultural, and historical contexts.
The program was established in 2013 by American benefactor Henry H. Arnhold in honour of his grandfather, Georg Arnhold, who was a German banker, patron of the arts, and committed pacifist.
The program has three principal objectives:
- To connect academic research with practical peace-education work.
- To encourage decolonial approaches to peace-education research and practice.
- To make research findings and practical experiences freely available through open-access publications.
The fellowship is particularly relevant to projects that examine how education can contribute to peacebuilding, reconciliation, social justice, conflict prevention, and sustainable development.
Main Focus of the Fellowship
The 2028 fellowship focuses on education for sustainable peace, particularly educational media and curricula used at the secondary-school level. Educational media may include:
- School textbooks
- Curriculum frameworks
- Teacher-training materials
- Digital educational resources
- Online learning tools
- Educational games
- Virtual-reality learning resources
- Creative pedagogical approaches
- Other forms of learning and teaching media
Applicants are expected to explain how their proposed project responds to the objectives of the Georg Arnhold Program. Projects may examine the contribution of educational media to peace and reconciliation, or investigate how textbooks and curricula can reproduce inequality, exclusion, stereotypes, or conflict.
The wider program also places importance on post-conflict and transitional societies, grassroots approaches, long-term peacebuilding, and the development of educational practices that can be adapted to different regional contexts.
Possible Project Directions
The call does not prescribe a fixed list of research topics. However, suitable applicants may consider projects related to:
- Peace-oriented curriculum development
- Conflict-sensitive education
- Textbook narratives and historical reconciliation
- Decolonising school curricula
- Educational media in post-conflict societies
- Digital tools for peace education
- Teacher education for inclusive classrooms
- Education, identity, inequality, and social cohesion
- The role of games and virtual reality in peace learning
- Comparative studies of educational media in different regions
- Educational responses to displacement and forced migration
- Curriculum reforms supporting human rights and democratic citizenship
- Open-access educational materials for peacebuilding
- Community-based and grassroots peace-education initiatives
These examples are intended to demonstrate possible areas of alignment. Applicants should develop an original project based on their own academic or professional expertise.
Financial Support and Fellowship Benefits
The selected Senior Fellow will receive a monthly stipend of €3,300 for a normal six-month fellowship period. At the published rate, six months would equal €19,800 in total stipend support, subject to the applicant’s personal tax position and other applicable costs.
The fellowship also includes:
- Return economy airfare to Germany
- Administrative assistance from program coordinators
- Support related to publication work
- Access to the GEI’s international library of educational media
- Access to school textbooks, curricula, and digital educational resources
- Discussions and mentoring with GEI experts
- Opportunities to present research at GEI research colloquia
- Access to “The Basement,” the GEI’s experimental digital media laboratory
- Contact with researchers and practitioners working in peace education and educational-media research
- Possible coverage of open-access fees for direct project outputs
“The Basement” may be particularly useful for projects involving games-based learning, virtual reality, robotics, digital media, or creative pedagogies.
Applicants should carefully prepare their financial plans. The official call specifically states that candidates are responsible for arranging their passport, visa where required, health insurance, and liability insurance. Accommodation, meals, local transportation, and other personal expenses are not separately listed as covered benefits in the call, so applicants should not assume that all living costs will automatically be paid.
Responsibilities of the Selected Fellow
The successful candidate will be expected to complete a substantial project in the area of education for sustainable peace. The project should preferably focus on educational media, curriculum development, or related peace-education practice.
The Fellow will also be expected to:
- Contribute to the intellectual and conceptual design of the annual Georg Arnhold Program conference in collaboration with the program coordinator.
- Present the project at a GEI research colloquium.
- Spend the fellowship period at the GEI in Brunswick, Germany.
- Participate in the daily academic and professional life of the institute.
- Work primarily in English.
- Complete and publish the project outcomes no later than one year after the fellowship ends.
Preferred forms of final output include:
- Policy papers
- Educational materials
- Research papers
- Curriculum resources
- Practice-oriented publications
- A substantial academic or professional publication
The fellowship is therefore not simply a funded period for private study. Applicants should demonstrate how their work will produce a useful and publishable contribution to peace education.
Application Requirements and Preparation
The initial application is submitted online. Applicants will be asked to describe their proposed project through guiding questions covering:
- The main objectives of the project
- The research or practice gap
- The theoretical framework
- The methodological framework
- The expected outcomes
- The relationship of the project to peace education
- The project’s connection with the objectives of the Georg Arnhold Program
Applicants are advised to prepare both short and longer descriptions of their proposed project before starting the online form.
The official application form contains 22 questions and is available through the GEI online application portal.
Candidates who reach the final stage will be asked to submit:
- A short curriculum vitae
- A list of publications
- A detailed project proposal
- References
- Evidence of impact in peace education
The full proposal must not exceed 25 pages, including references and evidence of impact. Evidence of impact may include highly cited publications, project websites, documented success stories, policy influence, educational implementation, or other verifiable achievements.
Selection Procedure
The selection process consists of several stages.
1. Online application
Applicants submit the initial online form and provide information about their background and proposed project.
2. GEI pre-selection
Academic experts at the GEI will review eligible candidates and suitable projects through a multi-stage internal process. Up to 10 applications may be forwarded to the Academic Advisory Board of the Georg Arnhold Program.
3. Shortlisting by the Academic Advisory Board
The Academic Advisory Board will select the three strongest candidates for the final stage.
4. Submission of full proposals
The three shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit a full application by email. This will include a short CV, publication list, detailed proposal, references, and evidence of impact. The proposal must be no longer than 25 pages.
5. Online interview and final selection
Each shortlisted candidate will participate in an online interview with the Academic Advisory Board. One candidate will ultimately be selected for the 2028 fellowship.
The main selection criteria are:
- The candidate’s expertise and experience
- Innovation in research or professional practice
- The quality of the proposed project
- The quality and usefulness of the proposed output
- Alignment with the objectives of the Georg Arnhold Program
- The candidate’s motivation to benefit specifically from a stay at the GEI
Mandatory AI-Use Disclosure Policy
The GEI requires applicants to disclose any use of artificial-intelligence tools during the research, writing, and application process.
Applicants must be prepared to disclose:
- The name of every AI tool used
- The tool’s proprietor
- The software version
- The prompts used
- The dates on which the tools were used
- Any prompt-engineering tools employed
- The purpose and scope of the AI assistance
Use of AI during research design must be documented in the methodology section. AI use for brainstorming, research assistance, translation, text generation, or other purposes must be explained separately in the application.
AI-generated material must not be presented as original research. Applicants are also expected to use AI systems in ways that allow the results to be checked and verified by themselves and by other researchers.
Where an application has joint authors, the authors must clearly explain the scope and type of AI use. Responsibility for the application remains with the applicants.
Applicants should therefore maintain an AI-use record from the beginning of the preparation process. Concealing AI assistance could create a serious compliance problem.
International Scope and Location
The fellowship is intended to address education for sustainable peace in all regions of the world. The call does not identify a specific nationality, citizenship, race, ethnicity, or continent restriction.
The selected Fellow must be able to undertake an in-person research stay at the GEI in Brunswick, Germany. Applicants are responsible for obtaining any required visa and arranging the required insurance.
The earliest possible start date is January 2028. The final fellowship dates and duration will be agreed with the host institution.
Post-Fellowship Network
The official application information states that Fellows receive unlimited membership in the Georg Arnhold Network after completing the fellowship. Alumni may remain connected through program activities and may occasionally be invited to support the wider program, such as through peer review or dissemination of future calls.
This provides an opportunity to continue professional relationships with researchers, educators, policy specialists, and peacebuilding practitioners beyond the formal fellowship period.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should follow these steps:
- Review the official fellowship information carefully.
- Confirm that their professional or academic background is relevant to peace education.
- Develop a focused project connected to education for sustainable peace.
- Explain the project’s theoretical and methodological approach.
- Show how the project addresses a genuine research or practice gap.
- Demonstrate alignment with educational media, curricula, peacebuilding, or related areas.
- Prepare short and extended project descriptions.
- Review the GEI’s AI-use policy before using the application form.
- Prepare evidence of publications, professional achievements, and practical impact.
- Submit the online application before 2 November 2026.
Applications should be submitted through the official online application form.
For questions about the application process or project content, applicants may contact:
Katharina Baier
Georg Arnhold Program
Email: arnhold@gei.de
Telephone: +49 (0)531 59099-226
Important Deadline
The deadline to submit an application for the Georg Arnhold Senior Fellowship 2028 is:
2 November 2026
The official page does not state a specific submission time or time zone. Applicants should submit well before the deadline to avoid technical or documentation problems.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Georg Arnhold Senior Fellowship?
It is an advanced opportunity for experienced peace-education scholars and practitioners to complete a research or practice-related project at the Georg Eckert Institute in Germany.
How long is the fellowship?
The normal period is six months. In exceptional cases, a shorter period may be arranged, but the minimum period is three months.
Can practitioners apply without a PhD?
Yes. Practitioner applicants do not have to hold a PhD if they can demonstrate at least five years of advanced professional achievement in peace education or a closely related field.
Is the fellowship fully funded?
The fellowship provides a monthly stipend, return economy airfare, and administrative and publication support. Applicants must arrange their own passport, visa, health insurance, and liability insurance. Other living costs are not separately detailed in the official call.
Is the opportunity open to international applicants?
The call is international in scope and refers to all regions of the world. It does not state a specific nationality or citizenship restriction.
What language is used during the fellowship?
English is the working language of the fellowship and the host institute.
Can applicants use artificial intelligence?
AI use is not prohibited, but it must be fully disclosed. AI-generated content must not be presented as original research.
What happens after the project is completed?
Project outcomes should be published no later than one year after the fellowship ends. Preferred outputs include policy papers, educational materials, research papers, or a larger publication.
Conclusion
The Georg Arnhold Senior Fellowship 2028 offers an important platform for experienced peace-education researchers and practitioners to develop work with international relevance. Its combination of financial support, access to educational-media collections, expert mentoring, research facilities, and global networking makes it particularly suitable for applicants working on curricula, textbooks, digital learning, conflict-sensitive education, reconciliation, or decolonial approaches to peacebuilding.
Strong applicants should present a clearly defined project, demonstrate meaningful academic or professional impact, show practical relevance, and explain why the GEI is the right environment for their work. Those interested in applying should begin preparing their project descriptions and supporting evidence well before the 2 November 2026 deadline.
For more global opportunities, visit Opportunities for Youth.
