Funding Advice

There are over 2000 scholarship providers in Germany. Apart from the 13 large and well-known “ Begabtenförderungswerke ”, these are primarily smaller organisations that are geared towards specific target groups. We can check some of them together during a counselling session – but due to the specificity of the target groups, it is also essential that you do your own research. You can use German language databases like stipendienlotse.de or ELFI for this purpose, but there are also English language databases available. International doctoral students in particular will find valuable information in the DAAD database - German nationals can use this database for information on funding for stays abroad. Other databases in English are e. g. scholarship portal or the European Funding Guide .

In addition to regular doctoral scholarships, which are generally designed to provide monthly grants for up to 3 years, there are also short-term, project-based and write-up scholarships. You can also apply for specific funding opportunities for archive and research trips in Germany and abroad.

This overview serves as a guide and covers the basic requirements for a research proposal ( Exposé ). When applying for scholarships, however, you should always read carefully and, if necessary, ask the funding institutions directly what requirements the respective proposal should fulfil. Sometimes the individual points are called differently and/or there are additional points that should be covered in the proposal.

Title page

(working) title of the project, name, date

Introduction

The introduction should give the reader a brief, precise impression of the project presented and familiarise them with the project. To achieve this, it is often advisable to place the project in a wider context. The introduction should be able to answer the following questions: What is the starting point of the project? In what larger context is the work embedded? What does the project contribute to the academic community, or how does it benefit the general public? Why is it necessary to deal with the aspects/questions/theories that you plan to address?

Hypotheses and objectives

In this part, the basic hypotheses and your research interest should be presented and explained. What phenomena/questions are to be investigated? What will your central argument be? And finally: What goals are to be achieved and what insights can be gained by examining your problem? It is often helpful to subdivide one/more main objectives into respective sub-objectives.

State of research

This part clarifies which researchers are already working on the topic or related topics. Which questions have already been raised by the scientific community? Which aspects that are necessary to clarify current questions have been neglected so far? What methods have researchers used so far to approach the topic and how, if applicable, should these methods be changed/improved?

Methods

This section explains how your stated objectives are to be achieved. What methods will you use to examine and explain the issues raised? Which concepts are fundamentally important for dealing with the topic and how can they be adapted, if necessary, to achieve the goals?

Own preliminary work

Here you clarify what preliminary work has already been done. Has a similar aspect already been dealt with in your masters’ thesis? Which reference works have been consulted so far? Have you already been in contact with other researchers? Has the topic/aspects of the topic already been presented in a paper at a conference?

Preliminary outline

Preliminary work plan
What research goals are to be achieved at what point in time/within which period of time? Even though changes will naturally occur in the course of the project, it is important, especially for grant applications, to estimate as precisely as possible which work steps are to be completed when and which (partial) milestone is to be achieved when.

Bibliography

If applicable, not only the works cited in the proposal should appear here, but also other literature relevant to the research topic.

To search for jobs at JLU, you can use the university’s job board . You can find academic jobs in general e. g. on academics.de or euraxess.de . You will find a broader spectrum of vacancies listed in the major weekly newspapers such as ZEIT , FAZ , or Süddeutsche , as well as on LinkedIn or online job portals such as WILA Arbeitsmarkt , absolventa.de or indeed.com .

PhD candidates in acute financial distress may be able to apply for short-term relief from a number of funds and organisations. We have compiled an overview for you on this page .

Employment of GCSC scholarship holders is limited to 12 hours per week in the HE sector and 5 hours in other positions. Furthermore, income from non-academic engagements is limited to €3.070 per year. Should your income exceed this amount, please inform Ann van de Veire for your scholarship to be adjusted accordingly.

Members employed with a workload of at least 10 hours a week are eligible for membership extensions of up to one year. As a reference point, the duration of extensions granted is calculated by multiplying weekly work hours with the total number of months of employment. A total of 360 (36 months * 10 hours) or higher results in a full extension; the duration of the extension is reduced linearly for smaller numbers.

Members who have held GCSC or other scholarships for at least 2/3 of their doctoral education cannot be granted extension on the grounds of employment. Please contact the GCSC team to see whether your membership can be extended. If you are both employed and a parent, you may apply for a combined extension. See our family support pages for more information.

For information and advice on acquiring third-party grants from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung, Thyssen-Stiftung or the DAAD please contact Prof Jörn Ahrens ( joern.ahrens ).