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How to Apply

Dear Applicants, The IPPAE program is a Development-Related Postgraduate Courses (EPOS) degree programme financed by the DAAD. The DAAD website lists all documents required for the application process. Before sending your application, please read this page carefully. Please make sure that you meet all the admission requirements and prepare all the required documents.

The application period for the 2024 intake is now closed! The application period for the 2025 intake will start on 30th April 2024.

 

Required Documents

 

The DAAD-website explaining which documents have to be submitted for an application to a scholarship for an EPOS degree programme can be found here.

Specific information about the IPPAE program can befound here.

Please make sure that you meet all the admission requirements and prepare all the required documents according to the checklist. The checklist must be signed and handed in with all the required documents. With your signature, you confirm that your application documents are correct, up-to-date, and complete and changes will immediately be reported to the DAAD. The signatures in the green DAAD form as well as under the CV and the letter of motivation can therefore be omitted. Kindly note that we will consider neither late nor incomplete applications nor applications sent via e-mail.

Like role in the selection process. (Structure of the proposal: introduction, problem statement, objectives, state of the art, study area, methods of data collection and analysis, expected results, references).

Like all PhD programs, the IPPAE program has university-specific requirements. These include a well-structured and finalized research proposal of 5-8 pages (font size not more than 12, line spacing not more than 1.15) outlining the problem you aim to tackle with your research, your specific proposed research focus, the scientific and methodological perspective with which you will conduct the research, the methods you aim to use and the data you plan to collect. This proposal will be used to identify appropriate PhD supervisors and its scientific quality plays an important role in the selection process. (Structure of the proposal: introduction, problem statement, objectives, state of the art, study area, methods of data collection and analysis, expected results, references).

 

Application Procedure and Deadline

 

Interested and qualified candidates should send their application through the IPPAE application form. (The IPPAE Application Form is available between the 30th of April and the 31st of October every year).

 

The application documents should be uploaded in the application form in two (optionally three) files only:  

  1. The first PDF-file should include the application documents listed on the checklist. (Please make sure to merge them into one single file, using for example the "combine" function in Acrobat or a free online tool.)
  2. The second PDF-file should be your research proposal only.
  3. The third PDF-file should be your Master thesis, in case you use it as a language proof (optional). Equivalent to the language proof requirement of DAAD, we also accept a statement from your education institution certifying the language of instruction used in the education program and a copy of your MSc thesis (PDF-file) in case you have successfully done your education (MSc program) in English at a recognized University in the EU or in one of the following English-speaking countries (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United States of America; from the Caribbean: Antiqua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevi, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and from South America: Belize, Guyana). This statement and your Master thesis should therefore be handed in as a third PDF-file.

 

Please do not compress your files.

 

Earlier applications are encouraged to facilitate the screening of the applications. Kindly note that we will consider neither late nor incomplete applications that have been sent through e-mail.

 

If it is not possible for you at all to send the application online you may send the documents by post. The deadline for applications via post is the same as for applications through our online form.

 

If you send your application per post, please also send us an e-mail with your proposal as a PDF-file and send it to the address below:

 

Justus Liebig University of Giessen

IPPAE (International PhD Programm for Agricultural Economics Bioeconomy and Sustainable Food Systems)

Professorship for Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy

Sandra Drebes

Senckenbergstr. 3 

35390 Giessen

Germany

 

Dissertation topic and proposal

As part of the application process, you should put together a scientific research proposal (problem statement, hypotheses, methodology, expected results) which will be scrutinized by the host university and the DAAD selection committee. The scientific quality of the proposal is determinant in the selection process. Thereby, we consider it highly important that you respect the principles of good scientific practice in your proposal. Note that all proposals and motivation letters will be checked for plagiarism and applications involving suspect submissions may be denied.

We recommend you to pick a topic which appears to match the research foci of the host institution and/or of specific potential supervisors. You do not need to contact a potential supervisor prior to applying: we will look for a suitable supervisor for the candidate during the selection process. The chairs collaborating with the IPPAE in Giessen are listed below (list is not binding). We recommend that you study their websites and publication lists and indicate in your proposal in which group or professorship you locate your proposal. The research proposals submitted during the application process are not binding nor considered as final. We might, in cases, suggest you to work on a different topic than indicated in your proposal.

If and when DAAD awards you a scholarship and you joined the host institution in Germany, you will finalize the dissertation topic jointly with the assigned supervisor at the host institution: