Attracting international scientific talent: Professor Isabel Wünsche appointed as Humboldt Scout
July 13, 2021
Using the networks of the scouts to recruit excellent junior researchers from abroad for joint research projects in Germany – that is the idea behind the Henriette Herz Scouting Program of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Dr. Isabel Wünsche, Professor of Art and Art History at Jacobs University Bremen, has been appointed as one of these talent recruiters.
Wünsche can nominate three young researchers, who will come to Bremen at intervals of about half a year and conduct research at Jacobs University on a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The fellows will be involved in the Russian Art and Culture Group founded by Wünsche in 2014, which focuses on Russian art and culture from the late 18th century to the present.
"The Henriette Herz Scouting Program is a wonderful way to promote junior researchers. It is particularly important for young talents who would otherwise have fewer opportunities, such as young female scholars from Central and Eastern Europe," said Wünsche, who herself has benefited greatly from international cooperation in her own career. She grew up in Dresden, studied in Berlin, Moscow, Los Angeles and Heidelberg, and worked in California for a long time. Most recently, she conducted research on Bauhaus influences in Australia.
The art historian is one of 23 scouts selected by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in the second round of a competitive process. The aim is to enable successful researchers to activate highly sought-after international researchers from abroad who have not previously worked in Germany for joint research projects. The program is aimed in particular at young female researchers. It is named after the writer Henriette Julie Herz, who ran one of the most famous literary salons of the early Romantic period in Berlin from 1785.