Doctoral Program  
Funding  

Funding

Depending on the student’s individual profile and interest funding will usually consist of a full scholarship (external or through Mind and Brain) or a research and/or teaching post with one of the faculty members.

Mind and Brain scholarships

It is not a prerequisite for a successful application that applicants bring their own funding to the program. However, students will not be able to start the program until sufficient funding (min. 1,000 Euro p.c.m.) has been secured for at least two years.

From 2011, the Berlin School of Mind and Brain can offer five scholarships. Currently, monthly scholarships are set at 1,050 Euro plus 100 Euro (for books, etc.) plus generous travel grant opportunities throughout (application after consultation with School and supervisors).

Humboldt-Universität webpage on funding opportunities

http://forschung.hu-berlin.de/research/young_scientists/standardseite

General information on funding

All applicants are encouraged to apply for external funding. If applicants have secured, or are in the process of securing, external funding (e.g. a scholarship, or a research position with one of their supervisors) they should inform the management of the School.

Berlin Funding for Graduates (Elsa-Neumann-Stipendium des Landes Berlin)

Goals

Pursuant to the Berlin state Act on the Promotion of Junior Achievement in Academic, Scientific and Artistic Fields (Gesetz zur Förderung des wissenschaftlichen und künstlerischen Nachwuchses), scholarships are awarded for doctoral students as well as for the completion of dissertations (in the final stages) that are being written at one of the universities in Berlin.

Conditions for Receipt of Aid

Applicants must be able to demonstrate performance that far exceeds the average, especially in their undergraduate degrees. There must be reason to expect that applicants’ academic projects will make a significant contribution to the body of research in the field. Applications must be accompanied by documentation of the student’s qualifications, a statement from his or her supervising professor, and a working plan that shows the reasons the student has chosen the particular topic, the status of preliminary work on the project, an outline of the research project, and a schedule for the implementation of the project. Applicants must not have already received earlier public funding for the same project.

Application Deadlines

There are two deadlines per year, one in mid-April and one in mid-October. The office will announce the exact deadlines (cutoff dates).
Successful applicants begin receiving funding on April 1 or July 1 of the year.

Scope of Aid

The base scholarship is 1000 Euros per month, plus a lump-sum allowance of 103 Euros for the costs of materials. It is possible to be granted special allowances for travel costs. Scholarships are initially granted for a period of up to two years. Each student is required to submit a report on his or her work and a statement from his or her academic supervisor at the end of the first and second years of the scholarship. Aid is granted for a maximum period of three years. Scholarships for completion of the dissertation are granted for a maximum of one year, without any possibility of extension. Grantees are required to devote the vast majority of their time and energies to the work for which they are receiving aid.

How Scholarships are Granted

Scholarships are granted based on the decisions made by the inter-university Commission for the Allocation of Doctoral Grants (Kommission zur Vergabe von Promotionsstipendien), whose members are appointed by the Senator for Education, Science, and Research. The base scholarship is 1000 Euros per month.

Freie Universität Berlin

- Dept. VI B -
Königin-Luise-Straße 16a
14195 Berlin
Tel.: 838 736 41 und -42 (Frau Graetsch-Schröder, Frau Heidinger)
E-mail: nafoeg-stipendium-please remove this text-@zuv.fu-berlin.de

Technische Universität Berlin

- Dept. K 36 -
Straße des 17. Juni 135
10623 Berlin
Tel.: 3142 39 29 (Frau Hördt)
E-mail: k-36-please remove this text-@tu-berlin.de

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Forschungsabteilung
- Dept. II-2 -
Ziegelstraße 13 c, Raum 409
10117 Berlin
Tel.: 2093 15 68 (Frau Haselow)
E-mail: dorothea.haselow-please remove this text-@uv.hu-berlin.de

Further funding opportunities

For funding opportunities, see website of German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for DAAD scholarships: http://www.daad.de/en/index.html

The DAAD also maintains a comprehensive general scholarship database: http://www.daad.de/deutschland/foerderung/stipendiendatenbank/00462.en.html

http://www.stifterverband.de/ (both German and English)

  • check Stiftungen und Stifter > Stiftungen A–Z for a meta search with a search screen
  • check Vielfalt Stiften (publ. October 2010), the compendium on German foundations and their respective foci (link to pdf for download) (German)

Almost everything about doctoral stipends by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (English)
http://www.stipendiumplus.de/de/151.php

Some evaluative commentaries on different foundations (German)
http://www.odile-endres.de/links/links_promstipendien.htm

Overview of the German funding sector (German)
http://www.erzwiss.uni-hamburg.de/personal/lohmann/Materialien/Promotionsstipendien.htm

Funding opportunities in and for Germany (doc, summary in German, state 2008) (pdf 30 kb)

Yet another overview (German)
http://www.unicum.de/evo/11165_1

Meta search engine with a search screen (German)
http://www.stipendiensuche.de/

NENS: grants for lab visits /exchange

NENS offers stipends for graduate students who would like to gain methodological or practical experience in the laboratory of another NENS member school. Grants are targeted at graduate students at the Master's level or early phase of the doctoral studies that wish to acquire key new skills for integration into their research work. Funding of up to 1,000 Euro can be acquired. Only students of NENS member schools are eligible to apply. Calls are regularly announced on the NENS website (http://www.fens.org/nens/stipends).

Scholarships for students from Israel