The Max Planck–NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding (CBCW) is seeking to appoint two Research Fellows for four years, with employment contract, based at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG).

This position is intended for a scholar whose research aligns with the CBCW’s focus on biological, cultural, and epistemic diversity. The postdoctoral scholar will be based in Berlin, report to the Co-Deputy Director of the CBCW at the MPIWG, and work in close exchange with the CBCW team in Singapore (time difference: 6-7 hours). We especially welcome applications from scholars who are interested in multidisciplinary collaboration and practice-based knowledge.

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The Max Planck–NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding (CBCW) is seeking to appoint one Research Fellow (Curatorial Research and Practice) for a two-year term (renewable), based at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore.

As the CBCW functions as a research centre where curatorial and artistic research methods, legal inquiry, and diverse knowledge traditions converge to explore new forms of collaboration and stewardship of biocultural worlds, applications from candidates whose research interests align with CBCW’s concerns are welcomed. The fellows will be based in Singapore, report to the Co-Deputy Director of the CBCW at NTU CCA SIngapore, and work in close exchange with the CBCW team in Berlin (time difference: 6-7 hours).

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The Max Planck–NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding is pleased to announce the seed projects selected for the Centre’s call for proposals!

The seven projects are:

1. Turtle Radio: A Translocal Platform for Resonances Across the Indian Ocean
   by Chanelle Adams, Postdoctoral Scholar, Reclaiming Turtles All the Way Down Working Group, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Germany
2. Calling Sharks, Rewriting Laws from the Landscape
   by Jonathan Galka, Assistant Professor, History of Science, KTH Stockholm Division of History and Philosophy & Centre of Excellence for Anthropocene History, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
3. Thinking and Being Like a Honeybee: Biocultural Wordling of Humans and Honeybee
   by Helina Jolly, Assistant Professor, University of Vermont, USA
4. Worlding With Boreendo, Through Boreendo Biocultural Entanglements Within Thari Cosmovisions
   by Hira Rasool, Independent Researcher, Germany
5. Forest Foods of Jharkhand: Documenting food and medicinal knowledge with indigenous communities
   by Jyoti Shukla, Cultural Researcher and Founder of Indigeneity, India
6. Mapping Biocultural Assemblages: Vernacular Building and Ecological Knowledge in the Orang Seletar Archive
   by Feifei Zhou, Founder, terriStories studio
7. When AI Meets Ancient Knowledge: Protecting Traditional Medicine IP and Governing Benefit-Sharing in the Age of Computational Drug Discovery
   by Michael Stanley Baker, Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological Technology, Singapore

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Launched on 20 April 2026, the Max Planck-NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding (CBCW) is a new joint initiative of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, Germany, and the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art in Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore). Planned to run from 2026 to 2031, with the option of a five-year extension, the Center brings together researchers, artists, curators, legal scholars, and knowledge-holding communities to explore how biological diversity and cultural life are profoundly entangled, how this entanglement shapes planetary futures, and what forms of knowledge are needed to respond to these realities.

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