Each year, the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac offers doctoral scholarships and postdoctoral contracts to help develop original and innovative research projects.
The disciplines concerned are: anthropology, archaeology, ethnomusicology, history, history of the arts and sociology. Among the privileged research areas are in particular: arts, techniques, cultures and material and immaterial heritages outside Europe, museum institutions and their collections.
The priority research areas of the Department of Research and Teaching are as follows:
- Diversity of aesthetics and forms of creativity
- Museums, heritage, cultures and identities
- Colonial legacies: reappropriations, claims, sharing
The presentation of the priority research areas can be downloaded here.
Candidates will have to specify how their project will fit into the environment of the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (collections, archives, media library, scientific community).
Candidates must have an academic level, written and oral, in French and English. No nationality condition is required.
Doctoral scholarships
Four doctoral scholarships are intended to support doctoral students registered at least in their third year for the academic year 2025-2026 , in a French or foreign university. These scholarships are an aid for the writing of the end of a thesis and do not constitute funding for field or archival research. Projects falling within one of the priority research axes of the Department of Research and Teaching will be considered with particular attention.
Doctoral scholarships are awarded for a non-renewable period of 12 months , from September 1 to August 31. In 2025, they will be worth a monthly amount of 1,400 euros net . They are awarded after evaluation of the applications by the Selection Committee of the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.
Postdoctoral contracts
This year, the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac is offering three postdoctoral contracts to young doctors to develop their work. The research projects are expected to be part of one of the priority research areas of the Research and Teaching Department. Successful candidates are expected to participate in the museum’s activities, as well as to make an effective contribution to the collective work around the priority research areas.
The winners will be able to benefit from a funded mission lasting a maximum of 30 days per year for field research (outside mainland France) or archives.
These postdoctoral contracts are awarded for a period of 24 months , non-renewable, from September 1 to August 31 ; in 2025 they will be worth a monthly amount of €2,547 gross (€30,564 annually) in the form of a full-time fixed-term contract .
They are awarded after evaluation of the files and hearing of the candidates selected by the Selection Committee of the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.
Candidates can apply for this contract up to three years after defending their thesis (in accordance with article L412-4 of the Research Code establishing a new regime for postdoctoral contracts), i.e. for theses defended since September 1, 2022. The thesis defense must take place before taking up the position.
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The winners will be welcomed within the Department of Research and Teaching. Their presence on the museum site is required (there is no part-time option).
During the year, the selected doctoral and postdoctoral students will present, as part of the internal seminar of the Department of Research and Teaching, the progress of their work, in the form of a thesis chapter for doctoral students, and an article intended to be submitted for publication for postdoctoral students. Participation of the winners in this seminar is mandatory.
