Overview of funding programmes
In collaboration with the Research Services International Affairs and Student Services departments, the Women's Office and the Transfer Centre, the Graduate Centre provides information on external funding that you can apply for.
Please note that the webpage lists both internal university funding programmes and funding lines from external funders (in a summary overview).
Basic funding
Aside from a scholarship, a vacancy at the establishment at which a student has decided to write his or her doctoral thesis or habilitation thesis is one of the most frequently used ways to finance a doctorate. As a rule, you will have to apply for a such vacancy. Also check out the webpages of the University of Passau for more current vacancies.
Doctoral fellowships provide basic doctorate funding for doctoral students who can apply for such funding themselves. In Germany, there are 13 organisations for the promotion of young talents that award grants to doctoral students in accordance with the funding policy issued by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and are open to all fields of specialisation. In many cases, fellows enjoy all-round support and receive personal advice and encouragement from their liaison lecturer. These organisations for the promotion of young talents are:
- Avicenna-Studienwerk
- Cusanuswerk
- Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Studierendenwerk e.V.
- Evangelisches Studienwerk e.V. Villigst
- Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.
- Friedrich Naumann Foundation For Freedom
- Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung e.V.
- Hans Böckler Foundation
- Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V.
- Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.
- Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Gesellschaftsanalyse und politische Bildung e.V.
- Studienförderwerk Klaus Murmann der Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw) gGmbH
- German Academic Scholarship Foundation
In addition, the following institutions provide doctorate fellowships, but they are usually reserved for doctoral students in specific faculties.
- Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe: the Immanuel Kant Scholarship for doctoral students (historical, cultural and social sciences)
- German Federal Environmental Foundation: scholarship for doctoral students in the fields of sustainable development and environmental protection
- Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris: scholarship for doctoral students (historical sciences)
- FAZIT-STIFTUNG: Doctoral scholarship for doctoral students of all faculties, but with a special focus on 'journalism' and the promotion of applicants in a financial emergency
- Gerda Henkel Foundation: scholarship for doctoral students (especially in social sciences, art history, history of law, history of science)
- Stiftung Bildung und Wissenschaft: scholarship for doctoral students (literary studies)
- ZEIT-Stiftung in collaboration with the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung: 'Trajectories of Change' scholarship for doctoral students (humanities and social sciences, especially doctoral theses on historical or current transformation processes in Europe)
A number of European and national funding programmes offer early career researchers with a doctoral degree the option of financing research and development projects by obtaining funding from third-party sources. We have prepared an overview for you with all the relevant details.
Check out these databases to search for funding possibilities (scholarship databases) based on your particular needs or by subject matter:
- Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen: stiftungen.org
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD): Scholarship database
- Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e. V.: Funding search
The University of Passau has also licensed the funding database RESEARCHconnect. Log in to the database by entering 'your institution details' (= University of Passau) and your ZIM account. As a member of the University of Passau you get to use this database to search for funding opportunities.
Travel
Doctoral students and habilitation researchers of the University of Passau can apply for a travel allowance to attend an academic event. We have prepared an overview for you with all the relevant details.
Female early career researchers at the University of Passau can apply for a travel grant for the following projects:
- Invitation to present a paper at a high-level conference in your subject area; your supervisor confirms that the conference is of special academic relevance for you, or
- Presentation on a gender issue at a conference (the title of the presentation must clearly indicate the gender aspect)
Applications must be submitted to the Women's Office of the University of Passau who then award the grants.
The following external institutions provide travel support to early career researchers wishing to attend events (researchers are expected to actively contribute to the payment of travel costs):
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD): Funding line Congress Travel
- FAZIT-STIFTUNG: Travel allowance for doctoral students in a financial emergency where travelling would be impossible without an allowance
- Verein für Socialpolitik: Conference Subsidy Programme (prerequisite: membership in the association)
- Herbert und Elsbeth Weichmann Stiftung: allowances for attending academic events concerned with the activities of the democratic opposition in exile against Hitler's totalitarian regime and the effects of these activities for post-war Germany
The following programmes or institutions provide funding for passive participation in events:
- The Women's Office of the University of Passau: Travel grants for early career researchers
- Participation in a gender-themed conference (the name of the conference must clearly indicate the gender aspect)
- Participation in a methods course that is deemed indispensable for academic development but not offered at the University of Passau
- FAZIT-STIFTUNG: travel allowance for students pursuing their doctorate or habilitation who are in a financial emergency and travelling would be impossible without an allowance
- Herbert und Elsbeth Weichmann Stiftung: allowances for attending academic events concerned with the activities of the democratic opposition in exile against Hitler's totalitarian regime and the effects of these activities for post-war Germany
The following external institution provide funding for long archive research trips, stays abroad and research trips:
- German Research Foundation (DFG): research scholarship for research projects abroad
- German Academic Exchange (DAAD): various funding lines
- Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris: research scholarships for students setting out on their doctorate (one-month archive/library trips in France)
- Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris: mobility scholarships for research projects starting with the doctoral stage of their studies and writing a research-oriented master thesis (research visits in France for periods of up to three months)
- German Historical Institute Warsaw: research trips to Poland for research projects on Polish, German-Polish and Polish-Eastern European history
- FAZIT-STIFTUNG: travel allowance for students pursuing their doctorate or habilitation who are in a financial emergency and travelling would be impossible without an allowance
- Fritz Thyssen Foundation: funding to cover travel costs directly related to a research project in the humanities or social sciences (as a rule, from postdoc onwards)
- Gerda Henkel Foundation: fellowships in cooperation with research institutions in the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany
- Herbert und Elsbeth Weichmann Stiftung: grants to fund archive research outside of Germany on the activities of the democratic opposition in exile against Hitler's totalitarian regime and the effects of these activities for post-war Germany
- Max Weber Foundation: Gerald D. Feldmann Travel Grants for humanities and social science academics, with a special focus on research in libraries and archives
- Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft / Fritz und Helga Exner-Stiftung: travel stipends for early career researchers doing research on a (contemporary) historical topic in Southeast European studies
- Verein zur Förderung des Deutschen, Europäischen und Vergleichenden Wirtschaftsrechts e. V.: this association funds study visits abroad by legal practitioners
- ZEIT-Stiftung: Gerd Bucerius scholarships at the German Literature Archive Marbach
- ZEIT-Stiftung in collaboration with the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung: 'Trajectories of Change' research travel grant for doctoral students (humanities and social sciences, especially doctoral theses on historical or current transformation processes in Europe)
The Free State of Bavaria funds research visits abroad in the following programmes:
- Bavaria California Technology Center (BaCaTeC): supports the project-based exchange of scientists with a view to initiating permanent cooperation between Bavarian and Californian institutions (universities and businesses)
- Bavarian Academic Center for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (BAYHOST): mobility programme (the application must be submitted by the person supervising the early career researcher)
- Bavarian-Indian Centre (BayIND): research visit in India
- Bavarian Funding Programme for the Initiation of International Projects (BayIntAn): subsidies for travel and accommodation abroad for the initiation of international research cooperation (from postdoc onwards; further project funding must be provided by the participating partners)
The International Office of the University of Passau is happy to assist you through the process of applying for funding from the DAD as well as from the BaCaTeC, BAYHOST and BayIND. The Research Services Division of the University of Passau is happy to assist you through the process of applying for funding from the DGF and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and with your applications for the BayIntAn funding line.
As part of ERASMUS programme for teacher and staff mobility, members of the University of Passau can travel abroad to other European countries both for staff teaching assignments (STA) and staff teacher training (STT) for a period of between two days and two months.
The International Office of the University Passau will be happy to inform you.
Publication
With its Oskar-Karl-Forster scholarship, the University of Passau offers talented doctoral students in financial hardship funding for their doctoral thesis of up to EUR 500.
The Research Services Division and the Graduate Centre have compiled a list of external publication grants for the individual faculties.
Completion and transition scholarships
The following institutions and programmes offer completion and transition scholarships for various stages in the qualification process and for students from different faculties:
- Bavarian Equal Opportunities Support: scholarships for the completion of doctoral studies and bridging scholarships for women doctoral students
- Bavarian Equal Opportunities Support: habilitation grants
- FAZIT-STIFTUNG: completion scholarship for doctoral students in all faculties, but with a special focus on 'journalism' and the promotion of applicants in a financial emergency
- Fritz Thyssen Foundation: postdoc research scholarship for postdocs
- Leo Baeck Fellowship Programme: one-year doctoral fellowship for doctoral students (history and culture of Central European Jewry)
- Stiftung Bildung und Wissenschaft: completion scholarship (literary studies and history, especially social and economic history)
- ZEIT-Stiftung in collaboration with the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung: 'Trajectories of Change' scholarship for completion of doctoral studies (humanities and social sciences, especially doctoral theses on historical or current transformation processes in Europe)
- ZEIT-Stiftung in collaboration with the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung: 'Trajectories of Change' scholarships for prospective doctoral students (humanities and social sciences, especially doctoral theses on historical or current transformation processes in Europe)
Others
The University of Passau has set itself the goal of supporting quality project applications and projects not only morally but also financially – in addition to the basic equipment – using the 'research pool. This applies in particular to project proposals and projects by early career researchers.
Depending on the available budget, funding applications for basic research, primarily funding applications for
- third-party funders that promote excellent, high-level (collective) research at universities,
- the German Research Foundation (DFG) and
- the European Research Council (ERC)
.
The following can be provided:
- funds for the employment of research staff for a period of three months maximum,
- other human resources (in particular tools for student and/or research assistants),
- physical resources.
The provision of funds presupposes that the application for funding is submitted to the potential donor organisation no later than the end of the provision period.
The University of Passau promotes high-calibre academic events that strengthen the national and international academic profile of the University of Passau, contribute to its visibility in the academic community and show a clear academic added value. Events are eligible for funding if they are organised by the University of Passau (organisational, financial and academic responsibility) or the University of Passau plays a clearly visible role. For further information, please see the event pool.
Additionally, a funding programme for PICAIS events will be up and running as of the winter semester 2020-21 . This programme will provide funding to all formats that promote international networking and cooperation between researchers of different career stages and foster exchange on important, innovative research issues. The aim is to promote both subject-specific as well as inter-/transdisciplinary formats.
The following external institutions provide funding for the organisation of academic research events:
- German Research Foundation (DFG): lump sum payments for the organisation of international events and allowances for costs of travel and accommodations for active international participants
- Herbert und Elsbeth Weichmann Stiftung: allowances for costs of conferences, colloquiums or discussion forums concerned with the activities of the democratic opposition in exile against Hitler's totalitarian regime and the effects of these activities for post-war Germany
The Event Management Section serves as advisory body in the organisation of the event.
The University Library Publication Fund helps University of Passau members pay the article processing charges levied by open access journals. If all the funding requirements are met, article processing charges of up to EUR 2,000 may be refunded.
Funding for specific target groups
With its habilitation fund, the University of Passau assists habilitation researchers for the duration of their habilitation period by awarding per-person grants in the amount of EUR 1,500 a year. The budget has its own cost centre and may be used for research-related expenses.
The fellowship programme is open to internationally competitive researchers and promising early career researchers starting from the postdoc level upwards who would like to move their international cutting-edge research projects forward in a fellowship. During their time at PICAIS, they are free to focus their full attention on this project – far from the rigours of everyday academic life.