PD Dr. Jörg Sonntag

1997 - 2002 Studied Medieval History, Saxon Regional History and Protestant Theology in Dresden and Medieval and Modern History, Eastern Church History and Biblical Archaeology in Marburg
2002 Magister Artium, TU Dresden ("1.0 with honours")
2007 Doctorate/Phd studies in the subject of Medieval History, TU Dresden, (referees: Gert Melville, Klaus Schreiner, Beate Kellner) ("Summa cum laude")
11/2006 - 12/2008 Academic co-worker at the Collaborative Research Centres (SFB) 537 of the TU Dresden, Proj. C: "Institutional Structures of Religious Orders in the Middle Ages"
01/2009 - 09/2012 'Eigene Stelle' of the German Research Foundation (DFG) with the project "The medieval religiosity as inventor and mediator of social entertainment games between norm and deviance" (first at the Catholic University of Eichstätt, since 04/2010 at the FOVOG, TU Dresden), since 07/2012 sponsored by Stiftung Auxilium / Porticus
02/2011 - 08/2011 Acting Scientific Director of the Research Centre for Comparative History of Religious Orders (FOVOG)
09/2012 - 12/2012 George William Cottrell-Member at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton (USA)
01/2013 - 03/2025 Academic co-worker at the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig in the project: "Monasteries in the High Middle Ages: Innovation laboratories of European lifestyles and models of order", since 2021 head of research centre at the same institution
11/2014 - 12/2021 PI and spokesperson of the DFG network: "Imitation. Mechanisms of a cultural principle in the Middle Ages"
01/2021 Post-doctoral habilitation in the subject "Medieval History", TU Dresden, with the post-doctoral thesis "Deus ludens. Der spielende Gott als kulturgeschichtliches Phänomen des Mittelalters" (reviewers: Gert Melville, Eva Schlotheuber and Jean-Claude Schmitt)
Since 01/2021 Co-editor of the "Analecta Cisterciensia"
Since 06/2021 Member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Young Forum, speaker since 2025)
Since 04/2025 Interim-Professor for the History of the High and Late Middle Ages at Bielefeld University
Since 08/2025 Acceptance into the Heisenberg-Program of the German Research Foundation (DFG)

Other interim-professorships:
04/2022-09/2022 Interim-Professor (Professurvertretung) for Medieval History and Ancillary Historical Sciences (W2) at the University of Regensburg
10/2023-09/2024 Interim-Professor (Lehrstuhlvertretung) for Medieval History (W3) at the TU Dresden

Fellowships und Preise:
10/2004 Romkurs am Deutschen Historischen Institut Rom (Italien)
2007 Absolventenpreis der Philosophischen Fakultät der TU Dresden für die beste Promotion
02/2010 – 03/2010 Visiting Fellowship am Institute for Medieval Studies der University of Leeds (UK)
05/2011 – 06/2011 Visiting Fellowship in Madrid, Barcelona und Lleida auf Einladung der Consolidated Medieval Studies Research Group „Space, Power and Culture“ an der Universidad de Lleida (Spanien)
03/2012 Conventus-Fellowship/BOF-Grant an der Universiteit Gent (Belgien)
09/2012 – 12/2012 Granted Membership des Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton (USA) (George William Cottrell-Member) (siehe oben)
06/2016 Visiting Fellowship in Moskau (Russland) an der St.-Tichon-Universität, der Lomonossov-Universität und der Higher School of Economics, finanziert durch die St.-Tichon-Universität (PGSTU)
01/2017 Karl-Ferdinand-Werner-Fellowship am Deutschen Historischen Institut Paris (Frankreich)
03/2017 Visiting Fellowship an der Tel Aviv University (Israel), finanziert durch das Program for Religious Studies der TAU
07/2018 – 08/2018 Short-Term Visitorship am Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton (USA)
04/2023 Fellowship an der Tel Aviv University (Israel)
08/2025 Guest Fellow an der University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa)
11/2025 Visiting Fellowship am Divinity College der Yale University (zugesagt)