The Rathgen Research Laboratory is the leading institution for conservation science, art technology and archaeometry at the National Museums in Berlin. It carries out investigations on a broad variety of materials within the museum environment and focuses its research on scientific issues concerning the care of monuments and archaeological sites.
It carries forward the tradition of the world’s oldest scientific museum laboratory, the Chemical Laboratory of the Royal Museums in Berlin, which was founded on April 1st, 1888 and bears the name of its first director, Friedrich Rathgen.
It is the mission of the Friends of Rathgen (Förderkreis des Rathgen-Forschungslabors e.V., www.rathgen-foerderkreis.de/) to support the work of the Rathgen Research Laboratory in various ways, among others by supporting research projects of young professionals in heritage science.
To this end, the Rathgen Heritage Science Scholarships have been established in 2009 and are awarded annually. The Rathgen Heritage Science Scholarship enables young professionals to undertake a project at the laboratory within a 1-3 month duration. The topic is proposed by the applicant. Successful applicants will receive a scholarship for Post-Graduate Scholarship of EUR 900 month and Post-doc Scholarship EUR 1,200 per month.
The topic of the research project can be proposed freely by the applicant or chosen from the following three proposed topics, if the applicant has the required previous knowledge:
- Study the gold alloy of rings and jewelry by micro-X-ray fluorescence analysis.
- Optimization of the Quantification routines for studying archaeological glasses by means of portable X-ray fluorescence analysis
- Development of a method for the removal of shell lacquer on ceramics without discoloring the objects through the solving of the lacquer.
- Analyses of medieval silk dyestuff and mordant from different origins by means of HPLC and XRF
The application consists of:
- 1-2 pages explaining the research proposal, the required resources and the envisaged time frame, including preliminary work accomplished and short bibliography
- CV including list of publications
- 2 reference letters of support
Deadline for 2018 applications is February 23, 2018.
Please submit your application electronically to: rf@smb.spk-berlin.de, or by mail to:
Rathgen-Forschungslabor
– Scholarship –
Schlossstrasse 1 A
14059 Berlin, Germany