Scholarship Database

The aim of this grant programme is to support doctoral projects in Germany.

Excellently-qualified young academics and scientists who have completed a Master's degree or Diplom, or in exceptional cases a Bachelor's degree at the latest by the time they begin their grant-supported research.

Doctoral programmes at a state or state-recognised institution of higher education or a non-university research institute in Germany:

• individual projects under the supervision of a university teacher or academic adviser
  or
• participation in a structured doctoral study programme

• Depending on academic level, monthly payments of:
  euros 861.- for graduates,
  euros 1,200.- for doctoral candidates
• Payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance cover
• Travel allowance
• annual research allowance

Under certain circumstances, grant holders may receive the following additional benefits:

• monthly rent subsidy
• monthly allowance for accompanying family members
• In the case of a disability or chronic illness: subsidy for additional costs which result from the disability or chronic illness and are not covered by other funding providers: Further information

To enable grant holders to improve their language skills in preparation for their stay in Germany, DAAD offers the following services:

• Payment of course fees for an online language course after receipt of the Scholarship Award Letter
• if necessary: Language course (2, 4 or 6 months) before the start of the research stay in Germany; the DAAD decides whether to fund the grant holder's participation and for how long depending on language skills and project. If a language course scholarship is granted and the working language at the host institute is German, participation is compulsory. Due to the pandemic, German courses may take place online.
• Allowance for a personally chosen German language course during the grant period
• Reimbursement of the fees for the TestDaF or DSH test which has either been taken in the home country after receipt of the Scholarship Award Letter or in Germany before the end of the funding period

An independent selection committee consisting of specialist scientists reviews applications.

Central selection criteria are:

• a convincing and well-planned research or training project
• academic achievements

Furthermore, additional documents submitted that prove the applicant's professional aptitude or provide information about extracurricular commitment will also be included in the evaluation.

In addition, in order to ensure equal opportunities, the selection committee may take into account special life circumstances, about which you can provide information in the application form.
For further information on the selection procedure, please refer to the Important Scholarship Information / Section E.

• As a rule, applicants should not have graduated any longer than six years before the application deadline. If you are already working on a doctoral degree, it also applies that the start of the doctorate should not be longer than three years ago. Please also read our Important Scholarship Information / Section A, point 2.
• Your application cannot be considered, if you have been resident in Germany for longer than 15 months at the application deadline.

Note:
For applicants from the fields of human medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry, other regulations are applicable. Please refer to www.daad.de/extrainfo.

Certificates, proof of credits, certifications and translations may be scanned in non-certified form and uploaded to the DAAD portal. The DAAD reserves the right to request certified copies of the documents.

Documents to be uploaded to the DAAD portal:

• Online application form
• Full curriculum vitae in tabular form (max. 3 pages)
• List of publications (max. 10 pages), if applicable
• A proposal, prepared and formulated by yourself, as well as a description of previous research work (max. 10 pages in total). A proposal is an extensive and detailed description of the research project which has been discussed with the academic adviser. Please also read our Important Scholarship Information / section B, point 2.

In the case of individual projects supervised by a university teacher (academic adviser)

• Letter confirming supervision by a university teacher in Germany (academic adviser)
• Schedule of planned research work

In the case of planned participation in a structured doctoral study programme:

• Letter of admission to a study programme; this can be subsequently submitted before the grant-supported research begins if it is not available at the time of application.
• Proof of existing contacts to the coordinator of the doctoral programme in the form of copies of correspondence

Also for all applicants:

• 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.
• Other documents which support your application (example: certificates of employment, proof of practical training/internships and voluntary commitment etc.)
• Depending on the subject certificate of knowledge of German language (onDaF, TestDaF) or English language (IELTS or TOEFL iBT or TEM)

Current note: If a language certificate is part of the application documents, please note the following: In the absolute exception, if you are unable to submit a language certificate due to Corona (e.g. due to the closure of universities or language test centres and if no digital language test is possible either), please upload an appropriate justification with a self-assessment of your current language level according to the CEFR instead of the missing document (tips for self-assessment of your language skills can be found here, under section A, point 8).
In these cases, the absence of a language certificate does not lead to a formal rejection of your scholarship application by the DAAD. However, submitted language certificates are included in the assessment. If you acquire language certificates after the application deadline, please submit them later.
Please note that you will still need proof of language proficiency in order to apply for a place at a German higher education institution and thus to be able to take up the scholarship.

To be submitted by post:
One recent reference from a university teacher which provides information about your qualifications (hand-signed, no digital or scanned signature). Please regard the instructions given on the tab “Submitting an application“.
Current information on application deadlines until 31.12.2021: Due to the current pandemic situation, applications can be submitted without an application reference. The absence of a reference does not lead to a formal rejection of your application. Submitted references are included in the assessment. We therefore recommend, if possible due to the pandemic, submitting references with the application.

You are also required to send 1 copy of the "Application summary" (PDF file), which is generated in the DAAD portal after the online application procedure has been completed, by post to the application address.

The application procedure occurs online through the DAAD portal.
You are also required to send 1 copy of the "Application summary" (PDF file), which is generated in the DAAD portal after the online application procedure has been completed, by post to the application address.
Please note that the access to the application portal only appears while the current application period is running. After the application deadline has expired, the portal for this programme is not available until the next application period.
The access to the DAAD portal generally opens about 6 weeks before the application deadline at the latest.

Application deadlines are updated at least once a year. In most cases, they are in the same period as the previous year. You can find the current dates here:

October 20th for stays that start in October of the following year

Regional Office Tokyo
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
Akasaka 7-5-56, Minato-ku
107-0052 Tokyo
Japan
Tel.: +81 (3)/3582-5962
Fax.: +81 (3) /3582-5554
E-Mail.: daad-tokyo@daadjp.com
WWW.: https://www.daad.jp

• Your application is only valid if you submit all the required documents to the DAAD portal on time.
• For submitting references by post, the postmark date serves as proof that they have been dispatched on time.
• (If further documents are to be submitted by post, please send them as soon as possible.)

[listThe DAAD portal closes at 24.00 hrs. (CET or CEST) on the last application day.]

• Incomplete applications cannot be considered. You are responsible for ensuring that your applications are complete.
• The application documents remain with the DAAD. Your personal data is saved by the DAAD in accordance with the Federal Data Protection Act and with the EU Data Protection Regulation insofar as this data is needed to process the application.

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 for the completed reference form to be returned to you in a sealed envelope. In each case, please provide your referee with the application address thus enabling him/her to send the recommendation letter there direct.

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 you!

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.

You are also required to send 1 copy of the "Application summary" (PDF file), which is generated in the DAAD portal after the online application procedure has been completed, by post to the application address.

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 for a scholarship with application documents, a reference and a DVD with work samples (no commercial goods, no merchandise value, no 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 hotline: +49 (0228) 882-8888 or via e-mail portal@daad.de, open every weekday from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm and from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm (CET).
Please consider this when you are planning your application.