Three times a year, the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds awards approximately 15 PhD scholarships, taking into consideration only activities concerned with basic research and aimed at acquiring new scientific knowledge. The Foundation supports projects aimed to elucidate basic phenomena of human life. Botanical and prokayotic investigations are supported only if they are of general biological importance. Biotechnological development as well as studies on the course of diseases or the treatment of symptoms are not supported.

PhD scholarships are granted for at least two years and can be extended for up to another twelve months. They are not intended to supplement inadequate funding from other institutions or earned incomes. Nor does the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds allocate funds to bridge temporary financial difficulties or promote the completion of investigations already sponsored by other institutions.

Applicants should not be older than 27 years. Natural scientists may apply after having submitted a diploma or an equivalent thesis; physicians, veterinary surgeons and pharmacists should have passed the state examinations. Nationality is irrelevant. European citizens are supported in Europe or overseas; non-European citizens receive support when working in Europe.

Applications are to be submitted to the secretariat by the following deadlines: 1 February, 1 June, 1 October. At the deadline the applicant should not have worked on his/her project for longer than six months. The beginning of the PhD project is considered (by B.I.F) to be:
(1) the date of the final examination (e.g. Diploma, MSc, BSc, DEA) on the official certificate when the applicant continues to work in the same research group; or
(2) the month of arrival in the laboratory in which the PhD project is pursued when the applicant changes his/her research project and research group. In other cases, i.e. when participating in MSc/PhD programmes or graduate schools without an official final examination prior to the PhD project, please contact the foundation. The Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds gives preference to applicants who are just beginning their PhD work when they apply for the scholarship; preliminary results are not expected.

Four weeks after the respective deadline, applicants will be informed whether they passed the first round of selection. The final decision on the applications selected in the first round will be reached approximately five months after the deadline.

The Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds must be notified if an application is submitted to any other research-sponsoring institution. Should an applicant accept an award from another institution prior to the Foundation’s decision, the application to the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds is considered withdrawn. The secretariat must be notified without delay.

With an award rate of about 15%, only the best 5% of any one year can justifiably anticipate receiving a Boehringer Ingelheim PhD scholarship. The Foundation notes with pleasure that its awards have the reputation of testifying excellence. As a result of the high standards, Boehringer Ingelheim scholars can be assured that, even under difficult conditions, they will later secure choice jobs at universities, research institutes or in industry all over the world.

Application
The Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds requires applications to be written by the applicants themselves, although this does not exclude consultation with scientific supervisors. The form of presentation should be adequate but not ostentatious, since all applications are destroyed after the Board meeting. Applications are to be made in English. One CD, clearly labelled with your Christian name and surname, as well as two paper copies of the application should be submitted. The printed copy should contain all the data and documents listed under (1) - (10). Please note, since the Foundation can process only PC files, Macintosh files cannot be accepted.The CD version should contain documents (1) - (7) preferably in one PDF or *.doc file. Applicants can speed up the selection process by adhering to this sequence:
(1) Personal details and details of scientific education according to the questionnaire for applicants (which must be also sent online);
(2) title of PhD project;
(3) summary of PhD project which should not exceed one page;
(4) detailed presentation of PhD project: formulation of the problem, current status of research, applicant’s own groundwork, objectives, methods of investigation, work schedule showing the anticipated duration of the entire project and the individual steps;
(5) reasons for wishing to work with a particular group;
(6) summary of diploma or equivalent thesis which should not exceed one page;
(7) list of publications (if applicable);
(8) photocopies (Xerox) of university entrance qualification and certificates of all academic and public examinations and appointments;
(9) letter of recommendation from the supervisor of the diploma or equivalent thesis;
(10) letter of recommendation from the supervisor of the PhD thesis (only if changing research group).

Selection
The main criteria for approval or rejection are the scientific quality reflected by the applicant’s achievements to date, the originality of the PhD project and the scientific standard of the laboratories in question. When making their decision, the experts and trustees seek answers to the following questions:

APPLICANT’S ACHIEVEMENTS: What personal qualities has the applicant demonstrated during his training: talent and inquisitiveness, versatility and creativity, determination and motivation, diligence and perseverance? What are his weaknesses? Is he capable of independent research? Does he have a wide variety of techniques at his disposal? Have his results already been presented in appropriate scientific publications?

ORIGINALITY OF THE PhD PROJECT: Is the project imaginative and promising? Is it likely to yield new insights or is it simply an industrious but uninspiring piece of work? Is the current status of knowledge correctly described and adequately documented? Is the applicant’s own groundwork thorough? Are the methods of investigation sophisticated and encouraging? Is the work schedule logical and realistic?

STANDARD OF THE LABORATORIES: Has the applicant shown mobility or has he, for good reasons, been rather settled? Is it a suitable time to change the group? Do the laboratories in which he is working or plans to work have first-class equipment and an international reputation? Does the intended PhD project stand out sufficiently against the current investigations of the group or will the applicant simply be a welcome addition to the present team?

While scarcely any applicant meets all these requirements, a surprising number come very close to doing so. Once the application is received by the secretariat, it is checked for completeness. If necessary, missing information is requested. Approximately four weeks after the respective deadline of submission, the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, seven internationally reknown scientists, decides which of the applications will be rejected immediately and which will be admitted to the entire evaluation process.

The latter are then sent to an independent expert for evaluation. In addition and if feasible, a member of the Foundation’s staff visits the applicant at his/her place of work and submits a written report with the impression of the applicant and the laboratory. The application, together with the assessment of the expert and the report on the personal interview, is then scrutinized by the Board of Trustees.

For more info, consult the source of this announcement at:http://www.bifonds.de/scholar/scholar.htm