Germany: Scholarship Program in the Field of Environmental Protection

The Scholarship Programme

The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt has established a German scholarship programme to promote promising young scientists in the field of environmental protection. Per annum about 60 scholarships for postgraduates from different disciplines - mostly in chemistry, biology and engineering - are provided.

Scholarship applications can be submitted twice a year per 15 Feb and 15 Aug. Besides a brief and a detailed description of the research project further documents are necessary. Corresponding forms are obtainable from the DBU office or via Internet-download (german version).
The application will be assessed by external experts. Afterwards the most promising candidates are invited to present their topic in a selection procedure which is held in the DBU office twice a year. The committee consists of about 20 independent external and DBU scientists. Decisions are made at short notice.

Particularly excluded is financial backing for

- Dissertations (submitted for a diploma)
- Doctoral or PhD thesis' in progress
- Travelling expenses for research stays in Germany or foreign countries
- Printing costs for dissertations, costs re a patent procedure
- Costs re attending conventions and conferences
- Costs for research studies at German or foreign universities

For the scholarship holders an international summer academy in St. Marienthal, close to the Czech-Polish-German border is organised every year.

Extension of the DBU scholarship programme to foreign scientists:
With the extension to foreign scientists from Poland, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic and Kaliningrad the DBU intends to open its scholarship programme to international applicants without changing the basic order of the programme's character. Subject of promotion are exclusively German universities' doctorates, aimed at creating an international network of former and current scholarship holders accompanying them in their further professional development. The programme's conferences for scholarship holders and other meetings and events are aimed at this target.
A good linguistic competence of the German language is indispensable for a successful participation in these events, which are different from conventional expert's conferences. With the extension to international applicants the foundation's scholarship programme is intentional still different from other international programmes: it doesn't act in the international area and does not adopt English as its scientific language but remains still a programme for new generation scientists from all fields, dealing with topics of applied environmental sciences at German universities in an interdisciplinary dialogue, orientating towards environmental protection and linked with the DBU network of scholarship holders.

Formalities:
1) According to the guidelines the application must be in the German language as well as the interview in front of an expert's commission will be held in this language. Correspondingly applications in other languages will be returned to the applicant. Applications which originate obviously not from the applicant himself will be examined and discussed with the tutor to determine the level of the applicant's own contribution and if he is able to attend the following obligatory interview in the German language. Applicants who do not meet the necessary language standard should refrain from their application or, when the level will have been achieved later, then apply once again.

2) If an applicant is invited to an interview the DBU will take over the travelling expenses within Germany.