Finding Scholarships

Application requirements

What requirements must be met?

At the time of their application, applicants for a DLR-DAAD Fellowship must

• not be of German nationality, or must be able to proof that the main place of residence lies outside of Germany for at least six years,
• be able to prove their outstanding study or research achievements in the field of research corresponding to the fellowship offer,
• Type A: applicants have completed a first qualifying degree (Bachelor's, Diploma, equivalent) and must be enrolled in a Master's programme at a foreign or German university,
• Type B: have completed their studies or research with a university degree not more than six years ago,
• Type C: have completed their studies with a doctorate/PhD/Candidate (Russia) not more than two years ago,
• Type D: applicants must be working in higher education or at a research institute; positions are open to outstandingly-qualified academics and scientists who should generally hold a doctorate/ Ph.D., additional prerequisites may differ and are stated in the fellowship offers,
• have an excellent knowledge of English; knowledge of German is advantageous.

Application Procedure

Application deadline

If an application deadline exists, it is mentioned in the current offers.
The DLR-DAAD scholarships are awarded with the principle „first come first serve“, therefore fellowship offers may sometimes be allocated to other applicants while your application is still processed.

Application documents

The application procedure occurs online through the DAAD portal. Your referees should send their letters of recommendation by post to the application address.

Certificates, proof of credits, certifications and translations may be scanned in non-certified form and uploaded to the DAAD portal. DAAD's Head Office in Bonn will only request certified copies of the submitted documents in paper form if a grant is awarded!

Type A

The following documents have to be uploaded to the DAAD portal:

• Online application form;
• Cover page;
• Statement of the reasons for applying for a certain fellowship: Appendix;
• Complete curriculum vitae;
• Abstract of the final Bachelor (or equivalent) thesis;
• Bachelor or similar degree certificate indicating final grade(s): the certificate must be subsequently submitted before the grant-supported research begins if it is not yet available at the time of application;
• German or English translation of documents submitted in the national language;
• All university certificates on all annual examinations with individual grade(s), incl. explanation of grading system;
• Proof of Enrollment for Master’s program;
• Proof of English proficiency;
• Documents to be sent to the DAAD application address by post:
  One letter of recommendation from a professor of the applicant’s home institution. The form of the letter of recommendation has to be generated in the DAAD portal in the section "Request reference" after registration and downloaded. Please send the form by e-mail to your referees and ask for the completed reference form to be sent to the application address in Bonn in a sealed envelope. References are confidential and must not be read by the applicant.
  The letter of recommendation cannot be accepted in digital form and must be sent by your referees by regular mail to the DAAD head office in Bonn. The letters of recommendation must arrive 4 weeks after the application was uploaded in the DAAD portal at the latest, at the application address (see below). Please regard the instructions given on the tab “Submitting an application“.

Type B and Type C

The following documents have to be uploaded to the DAAD portal:

• Online application form;
• Cover page;
• Statement of the reasons for applying for a certain fellowship: Appendix;
• Complete curriculum vitae;
• List of publications, if applicable;
• Abstract of the final Master or PhD thesis (max. 3 pages);
• University degree certificate indicating final grade(s): the certificate must be subsequently submitted before the grant-supported research begins if it is not available at the time of application;
• English language certificate giving evidence of the applicant's Level of proficiency (e.g. TOEFL IBT min. 79, IELTS min. 6.5);
• German or English translation of documents submitted in the national language;
• All university certificates on all annual examinations with individual grade(s), incl. explanation of grading System.
  Applicants are not required to submit any confirmation of academic supervision.
• Documents to be sent to the DAAD application address by post:
  Two letters of recommendation, which should be written by senior academics of the applicant´s own choice. The form of the letter of recommendation has to be generated in the DAAD portal in the section "Request reference" after registration and downloaded. Please send the form by e-mail to your referees and ask for the completed reference form to be sent to the application address in Bonn in a sealed envelope. References are confidential and must not be read by the applicant.
  The letters of recommendation cannot be accepted in digital form and must be sent by your referees by regular mail to the DAAD head office in Bonn. The letters of recommendation must arrive 4 weeks after the application was uploaded in the DAAD portal at the latest, at the application address (see below). Please regard the instructions given on the tab „Submitting an application“.

Type D

The following documents have to be uploaded to the DAAD portal:

• Online application form;
• Cover page;
• Statement of the reasons for applying for a certain fellowship: Appendix;
• Complete curriculum vitae;
• List of publications.

Important notice for all applicants:
Within the DLR-DAAD programme, you can apply only for a DLR institute, not for a university or any other institution.

By applying for a fellowship within the 'DLR-DAAD Research Fellowhips' Programme you give your consent to the DAAD to forward your documents and your personal details to DLR and its relevant institutions. The DAAD and the DLR will not pass on your details to third parties.

Application location

Please ask the referees to send the references to:

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Section ST43/DLR
Kennedyallee 50
53175 Bonn
Germany

Please note

• The application documents remain with the DAAD. Data relating to applicants is saved by the DAAD in accordance with the Federal Data Protection Act and the EU Data Protection Regulation insofar as this data is needed to process the application.
• Please be aware that only complete applications will be accepted. Applicants are responsible for their applications’ completeness.

Contact and Consulting

Information and advisory centres

Ms Katrin Bußmeier
Section ST43
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Kennedyallee 50
53175 Bonn
Germany
Email: dlr-daad-program@daad.de

Submitting an application

General information on the application via DAAD portal

You can access the DAAD portal by clicking "Application portal" at the end of the page. Here you will find an online application form in which you can enter your application data.

This is what you have to do:

1. Register in the DAAD portal (Read notes about registering in the portal >>)

2. Request references
The form, which has to be completed by a referee, has to be generated in the DAAD portal in the section "Request reference" after registration and downloaded. Please send the form by e-mail to your referee and ask him/her to complete the form and to write a freely formulated reference (as described in the form). The reference must be returned to you in a sealed envelope, or alternatively it can be sent directly to the DAAD. Provide your referee with the application address (see tab “Application procedure” under “Application address”) so that he/she can send their reference directly to the DAAD.

Please note that the form for completion by a referee can only be generated during the application period (from about 6 weeks before the application deadline).
Please generate one form for each referee.
The reference is confidential and may not be viewed by the applicant!

3. Applying online in the DAAD portal (Read notes on applying in the portal >>)

• Download and complete the online application form
• Prepare application documents
• If necessary, translate documents (unless they are already in German or English).
• Scan paper documents (except references) and save in PDF format. Please note that you can only upload PDF files to the portal.
• Upload the completed application form and the other application documents to the portal in PDF format. Translations, if applicable, should be uploaded together with the document issued in the original language.
• Submit the uploaded application documents online.

4. Sending application documents by post
References must be sent in the unopened envelope to the application location (see tab ‘Application procedure’).

Information for applicants from non-EU countries:
Please remember to specify the exact contents of your postal consignment in the documents for the customs authorities, e.g. 'Application documents for scholarship (contains no commercial goods, no merchandise or insurable value)'.

Please note:
If you have any technical questions or problems your local information and advice centres could not help you with, please do not hesitate to contact our technical Portal support via e-mail portal@daad.de.

Currently you cannot apply for this programme. Please note the application deadline specified under the Application procedure tab.