Appel à candidatures - Bourse BnF - GPR PSL "Les fabriques de l'antique"

With the support of the GPR PSL ‘Les fabriques de l'antique’ (FAn; Paris Sciences et Lettres University)

The BnF is offering a research grant funded by the Grand Programme de Recherche ‘Les fabriques de l'antique’ (FAn; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres) for the 2026-2027 academic year. Anyone with a PhD is eligible.

The project must focus on a corpus held at the BnF for the purpose of studying and promoting its collections, with priority given to those that are unpublished, little known or insufficiently described. Its implementation is intended to strengthen scientific interactions between the BnF and the ‘Les fabriques de l'antique’ programme.

The BnF holds a wide variety of collections and documents across several of its departments, which can be studied within the thematic scope of the ‘Les fabriques de l'antique’ programme, and more specifically within one of its three areas of research described below.

Candidates are free to propose their own topics or choose from those suggested below as examples. In all cases, they are advised to contact the department concerned by their project in advance to check its feasibility.

• In the Department of Coins, Medals and Antiques: archives and objects (antiques, coins, medals), whose history dates back to the King's Cabinet, for example, ancient and modern collections in the Cabinet of Louis XIV (Joseph Pellerin [1684-1782] and his numismatic collection, the Comte de Caylus [1692-1765] and his archaeological collection); artefacts from the excavations of Carthage by Ernest Babelon and Salomon Reinach.
• In the Manuscripts Department: Persian, Southeast Asian and Ethiopian manuscripts; a large Greek magical papyrus, which notably illustrates the state of Old Coptic; administrative archives, travellers' manuscripts, orientalists' notes and writers' drafts.
• In the Philosophy, History and Human Sciences Department: canonisation collection (reference numbers H 601-1396), resulting from the transfer of part of the papal archives to Paris under Napoleon; letter J (‘ancient history’), with collections that are almost exhaustive in terms of printed material produced in France since the 16th century; collection of textbooks, particularly those from the Third Republic; collection of 'ephemera treated as collections' (prospectuses, tourist brochures, political, religious or ideological propaganda documents) covering a period from the Second Empire to the present day.
• In the Literature and Art Department: rare languages of the Slavic region (16th-21st centuries) ; dictionaries and textbooks for teaching Greek.
• In the Maps and Plans Department: cartography of the Black Sea and the Straits in the 18th and 19th centuries; Suzanne Karpèles collection (1890-1968).
• In the Prints and Photography Department: architecture (H), topography (V) and antiquities (G) ; 19th-century photography: Latin American photography (prints by Mexican, Argentine, Chilean, Venezuelan, Peruvian and Brazilian photographers).

A valorisation operation is expected in the long term, i.e. before the end of 2027. This may take the form of a conference, a presentation at a round table or an article in the BnF's research notebooks.

A scientific publication is also expected.

The successful candidate will have the status of associate researcher at the BnF. He or she will receive supervision for his or her research in one of the BnF's departments, but will also actively contribute to the activities of the ‘Les fabriques de l'antique’ programme (symposiums, study days, etc.). The scholarship awarded will be €15,000 for the year 2026-2027.

• BnF : cecile.colonna@bnf.fr
• FAn : contact@fab-antique.fr

The application file shall consist of a single .pdf file, bearing the candidate's surname and first name, in the format ‘SURNAME_first name_aacbnf2026_FAn 2026’, and containing the following documents in this order:

• A curriculum vitae
• A four-page research proposal describing the work planned on the BnF collections, specifying the collections involved and highlighting the relevance of the proposed subject and issues to one of the three areas of focus of the ‘Les fabriques de l'antique’ programme 
• A letter of recommendation from a specialist (university professor or equivalent, French or foreign), with an opinion on the proposed project
• Proof of successful completion of a doctoral degree; failing that, proof of authorisation to defend the thesis, indicating the date of the defence (in this case, proof of successful completion will be sent as soon as it is obtained, for regularisation purposes)