Research Grants for Doctoral Candidates, Young Academics and Scientists
Objective
Research grants provide young foreign academics and scientists with an opportunity to carry out a research project or a course of continuing education and training at a German higher education institution or non-university research institute.
Research grants can be used to carry out
- research projects at a German higher education institution for the purpose of gaining a doctorate either in Germany or in your home country. We would particularly refer to the structured doctoral study programs, such as Research Training Groups or Doctoral Research Groups, International Postgraduate Programs, Graduate Schools, Max Planck Research Schools, etc. Please visit the following website for further information: http://www.daad.de/ipp .
- research projects or continuing education and training, but without aiming for a formal degree/qualification.
Duration
The length of the grant is set by the grant committee at the selection session. Depending on the project in question and on the applicant's work schedule, grants can be paid generally for between one and ten months, in the case of full doctoral programs in Germany for up to three years, and in exceptions for up to a maximum of four years.
Support can only be provided for the completion of a full doctoral program in Germany when special support policy reasons exist. Such reasons include, for example, the lack of comparable research or academic supervision opportunities in the home country or when the doctoral topic requires several years of research in Germany.
Support for full doctoral programs in Germany is based on a program length of three years; if foreign graduates first have to qualify for admission to a doctoral program, then grants can be awarded for a period of four years. Even when support has been awarded for a full doctoral program, that award will initially be limited to a maximum of one year. Extensions then depend on whether or not the evaluation finds the previous award period to have been successfully completed.
Value
Depending on the award holder's academic level, the DAAD will pay a monthly award of 750 euros (graduates holding a first degree) or 1,000 euros (doctoral candidates). As a rule, the scholarship additionally includes certain payments towards health insurance cover in Germany . Furthermore, the DAAD generally will pay an appropriate flat-rate travel allowance, unless these costs are covered by the home country or by another funding source.
Award holders completing a stay of more than six months receive a study and research allowance plus, where appropriate, a rent subsidy and family allowance. Funding for attendance of a language course is decided on a case-by-case basis (cf. Requirements).
Requirements
Applications for DAAD research grants are open to excellently-qualified university graduates who hold a (research) Master's or Honours' degree at the time they commence the grant-supported research and, in exceptional cases, graduates holding a Bachelor's degree or already holding a doctorate/PhD (post-docs).
It is required that doctoral candidates wishing to take a doctorate/PhD in their home country will already have been admitted to an appropriate course at their home university.
The application papers must generally include written confirmation of academic supervision by a professor in Germany and expressly refer to the applicant's project, thereby confirming that the host institute will provide a workplace. If the applicant is planning to complete a doctorate at the German host university, the letter of confirmation must come from the academic supervisor (Doktorvater/Doktormutter) for the applicant's doctoral program/thesis.
Applicants who intend to gain their doctorate within the scope of a structured doctoral study program are required to present a letter of admission from their study program or at least proof that they are being considered for admission.
Besides previous study achievements, the most important selection criterion is a convincing and well-planned research or continuing education and training project to be completed during the stay in Germany and which has been coordinated and agreed with an academic supervisor at the chosen German host institute.
German language skills are generally required, although the required level also depends on the applicant's project and topic, as well as on the available opportunities for learning German in the applicant's home country. In the natural sciences and in engineering disciplines, in particular, and when English is spoken at the host institute, proof of good English language skills may also be accepted (resp. being Australian from childhood on). The DAAD decides on a case-by-case basis whether the applicant can attend a German language course before beginning the research grant (free of charge for the award holder). This option is only available for research grants lasting more than six months.
At the time of application, generally no more than six years should have passed since the graduate gained the last degree; in the case of doctoral students, no more than three years should have passed since starting the doctoral process; and in the case of postdocs, no more than four years should have passed since gaining the doctorate. Depending on the country of origin of applicants, for example, special conditions prevailing in the home country education system, etc., exceptions are possible.
Applicants, who have been resident in Germany for longer than one year at the time of application, cannot be considered.
Special note for medical students: Please click here for
specific requirements!
Application papers
Detailed information on the application papers which need to be submitted can be found on the Application Form for "Research Grants and Study Scholarships" ("Antrag auf ein Forschungs-/Studienstipendium"), which can be obtained here.
Application address and deadlines (Date of receipt at the DAAD Information Centre Sydney):
• 30 September for a research stay longer than six months (for stays to run from
October of the following year)
• 30 September (for stays to run from
February of the following year) and
• 31 March (for stays to run from
August of the same year) for short term research stays up to six months
Please submit applications to the DAAD Information Centre in Sydney:
Dr. Andreas Jaeger
Director of the DAAD Information Centre
c/o Goethe-Institut Sydney
90 Ocean Street, Woollahra, NSW 2025, Australia
t (+61-2) 8356 8333
f (+61-2) 8356 8314
e daad.australia@gmail.com
Late or incomplete applications cannot be considered; applications for "special consideration" cannot be accepted, sorry.
