Scholarship Database
Here you can find information on various kinds of DAAD funding for students, graduates and postdocs as well as on funding offered by other selected organisations.
Research Grants – One-Year Grants for Doctoral Candidates • DAAD
Objective
Who can apply?
What can be funded?
Duration of the funding
- 7 months to a maximum of 12 months; the length of the grant is decided by a selection committee and depends on the project in question and the applicant's work schedule.
- The grant is non-renewable.
Value
- Depending on academic level, monthly payments of
euros 861.- for graduates,
euros 1,200.- for doctoral candidates - Payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance cover
- Travel allowance, unless these expenses are covered by the home country or another source of funding
- One-off research allowance
- monthly rent subsidy
- monthly allowance for accompanying members of family
- In the case of a disability or chronic illness: subsidy for additional costs which result from the disability or chronic illness and are not covered by other funding providers: Further information
To enable grant holders to learn German in preparation for their stay in the country, DAAD offers the following services:
- Payment of course fees for an online language course after receipt of the Scholarship Award Letter
- if necessary: Language course (2, 4 or 6 months) before the start of the research stay in Germany; the DAAD decides whether to fund the grant holder's participation and for how long depending on language skills and project. If a language course scholarship is granted and the working language at the host institute is German, participation is compulsory. Due to the pandemic, German courses may take place online.
- Allowance for a personally chosen German language course during the grant period
- Reimbursement of the fees for the TestDaF or DSH test which is either taken in the home country after receipt of the Scholarship Award Letter or in Germany before the end of the funding period
Selection
Central selection criteria are:
- a convincing and well-planned research or training project
- academic achievements
In addition, in order to ensure equal opportunities, the selection committee may take into account special life circumstances, about which you can provide information in the application form.
For further information on the selection procedure, please refer to the Important Scholarship Information / Section E.
What requirements must be met?
- As a rule, you should not have graduated any longer than six years before the application deadline. If you have already started your doctorate, it also applies that the start of the doctorate should not be longer than 3 years ago..
- Your application cannot be considered, if you have been resident in Germany for longer than 15 months at the application deadline.
For applicants from the fields of human medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry, other regulations are applicable. Please refer to www.daad.de/extrainfo.
- Applicants from third countries or German applicants, who live in a foreign country, are asked to get in touch with the responsible branch office or section within the DAAD before they hand in an application to discuss possible special application requirements.
- The scholarship should start with the winter semester (October); an earlier/later beginning is only accepted in very exceptional cases and should be discussed with the responsible branch office respectively section within the DAAD before submitting the application.
Language skills
- The required language level depends on the applicant's study plans and subject: In the arts, social sciences and in law, at least a good knowledge of German is usually expected. For the natural sciences and engineering, proof of good English language skills may also be accepted if English is spoken at the host institute.
- Good German language skills – especially for researchers taking arts subjects – are usually a requirement for a research project in Germany. Exceptions are possible if research grant holders are participating in a programme which is taught in English.
Application documents
Documents to be uploaded to the DAAD portal
- Online application form
- Full curriculum vitae in tabular form (max. 3 pages)
- List of publications (max. 10 pages), if applicable
- A proposal, prepared and formulated by yourself, as well as a description of previous research work (max. 10 pages in total). A proposal is an extensive and detailed description of the research project which has been discussed with the academic adviser. Please also read our Important Scholarship Information / section B, point 2.
- Schedule of planned research work
- Letter confirming supervision by an academic adviser in Germany, which refers to the applicant's proposal and confirms that the host institute will provide a workplace
- University degree certificate indicating final grade(s): the certificate must be subsequently submitted before the grant-supported research begins if it is not available at the time of application.
- Other documents which support your application (example: certificates of employment, proof of practical training/internships or social commitment etc. )
- German or English translations of documents submitted in the national language (to be uploaded with the corresponding documents)
- All university certificates on all annual examinations with individual grade(s), incl. explanation of grading system.
- An up-to-date German language certificate (exception see "language skills")
- Proof of admission to a doctoral programme at the home university insofar as the applicant intends to take a doctoral degree there
In these cases, the absence of a language certificate does not lead to a formal rejection of your scholarship application by the DAAD. However, submitted language certificates are included in the assessment. If you acquire language certificates after the application deadline, please submit them later.
Please note that you will still need proof of language proficiency in order to apply for a place at a German higher education institution and thus to be able to take up the scholarship.
To be submitted by post
One recent reference from a university teacher which provides information about your qualifications (hand-signed, no digital or scanned signature). Please regard the instructions given on the tab “Submitting an application“.
Please note that the access to the application portal only appears while the current application period is running. After the application deadline has expired, the portal for this programme is not available until the next application period.
The access to the DAAD portal generally opens about 6 weeks before the application deadline at the latest.
Application deadline
17.01.2022
For funding periods starting in the upcoming wintersemester 2022/23.
Application location
German Academic Exchange Service
9 Gower Street
WC1E 6HB London
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 (20)/7831-9511
E-Mail.: scholarships.london@daad.de
WWW.: http://www.daad.org.uk
Please note
- Your application is only valid if you submit all the required documents to the DAAD portal on time.
- For submitting references by post, the postmark date serves as proof that they have been dispatched on time.
- (If further documents are to be submitted by post, please send them as soon as possible.)
- The DAAD portal closes at 24.00 hrs. (CET or CEST) on the last application day.
- Incomplete applications cannot be considered. You are responsible for ensuring that your applications are complete.
- The application documents remain with the DAAD. Your personal data is saved by the DAAD in accordance with the Federal Data Protection Act and with the EU Data Protection Regulation insofar as this data is needed to process the application.
Information and advisory centres
German Academic Exchange Service
9 Gower Street
WC1E 6HB London
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 (20)/7831-9511
E-Mail.: scholarships.london@daad.de
WWW.: http://www.daad.org.uk
After the selection process:
DAAD - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
German Academic Exchange Service
Section ST24 - Western, Northern and Southern Europe
Mr. Luca Richardt
Phone: +49 (228) 882-241
Mail: richardt@daad.de
More detailed information
- DAAD website section "PhD studies and research"
- Website ”Research in Germany”
- Website ”GERiT – German Research Institutions"
- DAAD website ”Important information for DAAD scholarship applicants”
Further information
Please note:
As the DAAD Portal is not fully compatible with mobile devices please use a desktop or laptop computer to submit your application. Technical requirements
General information on the application via DAAD portal
This is what you have to do:
1. Register in the DAAD portal (Read notes about registering in the portal >>)
2. Request references
The form, which has to be completed by a referee, has to be generated in the DAAD portal in the section "Request reference" after registration and downloaded. Please send the form by e-mail to your referee and ask for the completed reference form to be returned to you in a sealed envelope. In each case, please provide your referee with the application address thus enabling him/her to send the recommendation letter there direct.
Please note that the form for completion by a referee can only be generated during the application period (from about 6 weeks before the application deadline).
Please generate one form for each referee.
The reference is confidential and may not be viewed by the applicant!
3. Applying online in the DAAD portal (Read notes on applying in the portal >>)
- Download and complete the online application form
- Prepare application documents
- If necessary, translate documents (unless they are already in German or English).
- Scan paper documents (except references) and save in PDF format. Please note that you can only upload PDF files to the portal.
- Upload the completed application form and the other application documents to the portal in PDF format. Translations, if applicable, should be uploaded together with the document issued in the original language.
- Submit the uploaded application documents online.
4. Sending application documents by post
References must be sent in the unopened envelope to the application location.
Information for applicants from non-EU countries:
Please remember to specify the exact contents of your postal consignment in the documents for the customs authorities, e.g. "Application for a scholarship with application documents, a reference and a DVD with work samples (no commercial goods, no merchandise value, no insurable value)".
Please note:
If you have any technical questions or problems your local information and advice centres could not help you with, please do not hesitate to contact our technical Portal hotline: +49 (0228) 882-8888 or via e-mail portal@daad.de, open every weekday from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm and from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm (CET).
Please consider this when you are planning your application.
The Portal is currently closed for this programme. Please look up Application Procedure to find the relevant application deadline.