Holberg Prize PhD Masterclass 2026: Bodies, Gender, Psyche, Movement
Ph.D. -course
- ECTS credits
- 5
- Teaching semesters Spring
- Course code
- HOL900
- Number of semesters
- 1
- Teaching language
- English
- Resources
- Schedule
Course description
Objectives and Content
In connection with the Holberg Week 2026 and as part of the academic events related to 2026 Holberg Prize Laureate Lyndal Roper, we invite applications from all Ph.D. students of Anthropology and of related social science and humanities disciplines to take part in a Masterclass. Applicants, who have to be based at Nordic Universities, will be selected by the pool of applicants by Academic Director of the Holberg Prize, prof. Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, in collaboration with the Secretariat.
Description of Masterclass theme
How do we include physical experience, real bodies, in our understanding of human life? Where do phenomena like dreams fit in? What does gender mean today?
How do we get beyond discourse about 'the body' - after all, there is no such thing as THE body - and what opens up if we no longer assume gender is binary? AI of course doesn’t have a body. How can we enrich our account of human agency by thinking about emotions, including religious ones, and the unconscious? And how does our thinking change when we move?
Learning Outcomes
- participate in an on-stage, high-profile discussion with fellow PhD students and the 2026 Holberg Prize Laureate
- summarise and popularise her/his research for a large audience
- demonstrate an independent overview of key notions and insights provided by the course literature
- receive and provide constructive criticism of other positions and statements during the Masterclass
ECTS Credits
Level of Study
Semester of Instruction
Spring
2 May - 4 June
The application deadline is 17 April 2026 and the call has been disseminated widely.
Apply for the Masterclass by completing the application form below. We ask that you submit a letter of motivation (no more than 3,500 characters), your CV and contact information.
Please register by using this form: Application for the 2026 Holberg Masterclass
Decisions to all applicants about course admittance is given within 2 May 2026.
Place of Instruction
Required Previous Knowledge
Recommended Previous Knowledge
Credit Reduction due to Course Overlap
Access to the Course
The Holberg Prize offers scholarships for five PhD candidates in the Nordic countries to participate in the Masterclass.
The candidates must be enrolled in a Ph.D. programme at a Nordic university and has to be an active PhD student at the time of the Masterclass.
Teaching and learning methods
- Individual studies of the curriculum and pre-event preparation.
- Participation in the Masterclass as detailed above.
Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
Drawing also on their own work, participants are asked to prepare a five-minute presentation related to the main topic of the Masterclass. In addition to knowledge of the texts below, participants are also asked to prepare questions for Professor Roper in advance. The discussion will be held in English.
The total amount of workload is stipulated to be four weeks. This includes 3 days of participation to above-mentioned academic events in Bergen and preparatory work in relation reading the curriculum and preparing for the Masterclass.
Forms of Assessment
Grading Scale
Assessment Semester
Reading List
Lyndal Roper, Emotions in the German Peasants’ War
Lyndal Roper, Turbulence and the German Peasants’ War
Lyndal Roper, ‘The Stout Doctor’/Der feiste Doktor
Lyndal Roper, Oedipus and the Devil, Introduction
Lyndal Roper, Living I was your plague, ch. Luther the Antisemite or Luther and Dreams
TBC