Barbara Huber Scholarship
Max Planck Institute launches new Scholarship Program
Outstanding academics from foreign research institutions can now apply for the new Barbara Huber Research Fellowship. Funding is available for particularly innovative research projects that contribute significantly to scientific progress in the fields of criminology, public law, and criminal law by unlocking new perspectives, questions, and findings. One Barbara Huber Research Fellowship is awarded per year and academic department. The duration of the fellowship is usually two to a maximum of six months.
Barbara Huber (1935–2018) was an outstanding legal scholar and recognized specialist in English law and the broader common law legal system. After studying in Freiburg, Munich, and Berlin, she wrote her doctoral thesis on the criminalization of attempt in German and American law. Immediately afterwards, in 1962, she commenced employment at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law. She continued to work there as a researcher for many years after her retirement in 2000.
Barbara Huber was, on the one hand, the ideal person to take on the role of “country desk” officer. She carried out numerous large-scale comparative law projects with renowned international colleagues (see, for example, the book "Criminal Procedure in Europe", 2008, published together with Richard Vogler), was responsible for the foreign review section of the Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft (ZStW), and maintained wide-ranging contacts on behalf of the Max Planck Institute.
On the other hand, she created an extensive body of academic work of her own, independently developing and investigating topics in monographs (e.g., on homicide offenses in Nigeria) as well as numerous academic articles. From today's perspective, a career as a professor and director at a Max Planck Institute would have been obvious, but in 1962 the starting position for female academics was different. We are delighted to be able to honor the life and work of Barbara Huber through this scholarship.