University of Heidelberg

Funding

Scholarships and grants are available for students at any stage in their career and for various purposes from diverse institutions and foundations. Generally speaking, the more advanced you are with your studies, the more offers you may find.

Funding can be obtained for almost any aspect of one's study or research. Individual foundations, associated with political parties, confessions or other social organizations, provide long-time support for postgraduate and doctoral students for up to three years. They sometimes provide additional funds for study or research abroad.

Exhaustive lists of foundations and programmes offering grants and scholarships are provided by the German Labor Union for Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Education and Research. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has a useful database not only for travel funds. Internally, within Heidelberg University, the International Relations Office can be consulted.

Funding for Conference Participation

Universities, individual projects and foundations may also provide funds for conference or short-term research trips. Doctoral students can apply for funding for conference and lecture participation at the DAAD and the University's Graduate Academy. Post-Doctoral students have the additional opportunity to apply for travel subsidies at the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the German Research Foundation (DFG). 

Publication Grants

Grants to complete and publish doctoral theses, on the other hand, are limited and difficult to obtain. It is therefore advisable to plan well in advance, stick to a strict schedule and to keep searching for alternative funding. The University's Graduate Academy provides limited grants through funding from the Excellence Initiative.

Below we provide you with announcements of current offers. If not stated otherwise, the offers listed on these pages are available for German as well as foreign students.

Funding Offers