The graduate school Global Intellectual History explores intellectual reactions to processes of entanglement from the 18th to 20th century. It is interested specifically in the study of transregional and cross-cultural transfers of concepts and ideas in their social, cultural and political contexts. It combines approaches from global and intellectual history with the deep knowledge of languages and cultures provided by area studies programs.

The graduate school is funded by the German Research Council (DFG) and jointly run by Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Partner institutions cooperate through the Global History Collaborative and include Princeton University, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and the University of Tokyo.

The language of instruction is English.

The (non-exclusive) research foci covered by the Graduate School include:

The graduate school brings together faculty from both universities specializing in a diverse range of areas, languages and periods. It offers financial support for archival research and intensive training and supervision. Doctoral candidates and postdoctoral fellows take part in activities such as seminars on the methodology of global and intellectual history, workshops with distinguished visiting scholars, summer schools, and courses and workshops in the field of transferable skills.