DAAD research grants provide foreign doctoral candidates and young academics and scientists with an opportunity to carry out research and continue their education in Germany. There are funding programmes for various qualification phases and stages in a career. The grants also promote the exchange of experience and networking amongst colleagues.

The primary aim of this programme is to promote research projects within the context of doctoral programmes.

Who can apply?

Excellently-qualified doctoral candidates and young academics and scientists who have completed a Master's degree or Diplom, or in exceptional cases a Bachelor's degree at the latest by the time they begin their grant-supported research.

What can be funded?

A research project or course of continuing education at a state or state-recognised institution of higher education in Germany or a non-university research institute, which is being carried out in coordination with an academic adviser in Germany.

Duration of the funding

  • 7 months to usually 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 850.- 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
Under certain circumstances, grant holders may receive the following additional benefits:
  • monthly rent subsidy
  • monthly allowance for accompanying members of family
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 the online language course "Deutsch-Uni Online (DUO)" (www.deutsch-uni.com) for six months after receipt of the Scholarship Award Letter
  • if necessary: Language course (2, 4 or 6 months) before the start of the research stay; 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.
  • Allowance for a personally chosen German language course during the grant period
  • Reimbursement of the fees for the TestDaF 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
  • As an alternative to the TestDaF for scholarship holders who have taken a language course beforehand: the fee for a DSH examination taken during the scholarship period may be reimbursed.

Selection

An independent selection committee consisting of specialist scientists reviews applications.
The most important selection criteria:
  • a convincing and well-planned research project or course of continuing education
  • academic achievements
Additional documents that prove academic suitability or provide information about extracurricular activities will also be considered in the assessment.

What requirements must be met?

  • 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.
  • As a rule, applicants should not have graduated any longer than six years before the application deadline. Doctoral candidates should not have started their doctoral degree any longer than three years previously.
  • Applicants who have been resident in Germany for longer than 15 months at the application deadline cannot be considered.
Note:
For applicants from the fields of human medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry, other regulations are applicable. Please refer to the leaflet "Additional information on DAAD Research Grants for applicants from medical fields" (www.daad.de/extrainfo).

Language skills

  • Good German language skills – especially for students taking arts subjects – are usually a requirement for studying in Germany. Exceptions are possible if scholarship holders are participating in programme which is taught in English.
  • If so the applicant must add a confirmation letter from his/her German supervisor that good English skills are sufficient to his/her application. If the applicant is not an English native speaker he/she must add a proof of good English language skills to his/her application.
The application procedure occurs online through the DAAD portal.

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 documents

Certificates, proof of credits, certifications and translations may be scanned in non-certified form and uploaded to the DAAD portal. The DAAD reserves the right to request certified copies of the 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
  • Extensive and detailed description of the research proposal which has been discussed with the academic adviser and a description of previous research work (max. 10 pages)
  • 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 placements, etc. )
  • Proof of admission to a doctoral programme at the home university insofar as the applicant intends to take a doctoral degree there
  • an up-to-date German language certificate (exception see "language skills")
  • German or English translations of documents submitted in the national language
  • All university certificates on all annual examinations with individual grade(s), incl. explanation of grading system.

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“.

Application deadline

10.01.2020

Application location

Branch Office London
German Academic Exchange Service
1 Southampton Place
WC1A 2DA London
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 (20)/7831-9511
E-Mail.: info@daad.org.uk
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. Central European Time (CET) on the last application day.
  • Incomplete applications cannot be considered. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their applications are complete.
  • The application documents remain with the DAAD. Data relating to applicants 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

Branch Office London
German Academic Exchange Service
1 Southampton Place
WC1A 2DA London
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 (20)/7831-9511
E-Mail.: info@daad.org.uk
WWW.: http://www.daad.org.uk

contact person London branch office: Mr Zafer Sen (scholarships@daad.org.uk)



Information about Lektors working at British Universities are to be found at the homepage of the DAAD in London under the link www.daad.org.uk/en/11599/index.html.



For further useful information please visit the DAAD London's website (http://daad.org.uk/en/12900/index.html).



DAAD - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
German Academic Exchange Service
Section ST24 - Western, Northern and Southern Europe
Mrs Arzu Cetinkaya
Phone: +49 (228) 882-241
Mail: cetinkaya@daad.de

More detailed information

Weitere Informationen EN


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

You can access the DAAD portal by clicking "Application portal" at the end of the page. Here you will find an online application form in which you can enter your application data.

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.

Research Grants - One-Year Grants, 2020/21

To the application portal