Funding

For PhD Students
Graduate stipends from the state (Landesgraduiertenstipendien)

State graduate stipends are awarded by some universities.

Requirements:

• exam grades above average
• your publication has to constitute a significant contribution to science
• length of funding is usually 2 years and can be extended to 3 years if warranted
• your university can provide you with further information

German research foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)

The DFG funds interdisciplinary graduate students who are involved in research. At the moment, about 300 graduate schools are established at universities and their institutions.

Requirements:

• age limit is 28 years
• excellent grades
• length of funding: 2 years, extendable to 3 years

Further information: www.dfg.de

German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD)

Amongst other things, the DAAD grants subventions for printing publication to its scholarship holders.

Requirements:

• Foreign graduates that are on a research stay in Germany
• German graduates who want to do research abroad

Further information: www.daad.de

German funding organizations for advancing highly talented students (Begabtenförderungswerke)

The 10 German Begabtenförderungswerke award stipends that are co-founded by public sources. Length of funding: 1 year, extendable by 1 or 2 years if warranted.

Requirements should be inquired from the respective institutions as they are very different.

•   Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (www.kas.de)
•   Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (www.fes.de)
•   Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung (www.fnst.de)
•   Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung (www.hss.de)
•   Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (www.boell.de)
•   Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (www.studienstiftung.de)
•   Cusanuswerk (www.cusanuswerk.de)
•   Evangelisches Studienwerk (www.evstudienwerk.de)
•   Hans-Böckler-Stiftung (www.boeckler.de)
•   Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft – Studienförderwerk Klaus Murmann (www.sdw.org)

Private foundations

You can find private foundations or research funding agencies at www.stiftungsindex.de and/or in the book „Geld fürs Studium und die Doktorarbeit" by Dieter Hermann and Angela Verse-Herman, Eichborn Verlag.

Tax benefits

The costs for your dissertation can under certain circumstances be claimed as extraordinary expenses or promotional costs with regards to tax regulations. Your tax consultant can advise you further on this.

For postdoctoral students

German research foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)

Areas of funding:

• research at universities
• research at publicly funded research institutions

Requirements:

• research has to be carried out in Germany
• all areas of science are covered
• completed scientific education

Supported are:

• stipends
• material costs
• research semesters
• symposia
• others

Further information: www.dfg.de

Promotion and support funds in science (Förderungs- und Beihilfefonds Wissenschaft)

The VG Wort science fund grants subventions to printing costs.

Requirements:

• first publication of scientific works that are too specialized to be published otherwise
• habilitations on special topics
• scientific monographs on special topics

The decision about funding your work is made by a committee of publishers and scientists.

Further information: www.vgwort.de