Senckenberg offers fellowships to highly motivated and talented early career scientists (doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers) from the Global South (Ext. Link: List of countries belonging to the Global South).
Global Fellowships
The fellowships are awarded for a period of three to a maximum of six months each. Our goal is to support excellent research, to expand and strengthen the worldwide cooperation network and to contribute to the global exchange of knowledge.
We cordially invite you to apply for a Global Fellowship fellowship at Senckenberg. Our fellows will have access to the 41 million objects in our Senckenberg collection, to our research laboratories and research infrastructures, to our libraries, and to the expertise of our scientific staff. At Senckenberg, you will find optimal working conditions and open-minded colleagues with a broad range of scientific backgrounds in biodiversity, anthropology, geology, collection-based research, genomics, and conservation ecology.
We look forward to hearing from you if you have an idea for a high-quality research project that you would like to implement together with a scientific host at Senckenberg.
Contact
Application form
The application form will be available four weeks before the current application deadline.
Project report form
This project report must be submitted within three months of the completion of a project.
Global Fellowships
- The Global Fellowship Program addresses PhD students and postdocs from countries of the Global South (Ext. Link: List of all countries of the Global South).
- Regular application deadlines are March 1st (12 pm CET) and October 1st (12 pm CEST) of each year. Opening of online application submission 4 weeks before deadline.
- We offer fellowships for PhD students (1,600 €/month) or postdocs (2,700 €/month) for 3 months, in selected cases for up to 6 months.
- In addition to the stipend, we offer a one-time travel allowance (up to 1,200 €).
- Applicants from countries of the Global South will be considered.
- Applicants must hold a Master’s or PhD degree in one of Senckenberg’s research areas.
- You will contact a suitable scientist at Senckenberg, who can be your host, and together you will develop a concept for a suitable research topic, which you will spend the funded time working on at Senckenberg.
- This link to all Senckenberg institutes can help you find suitable hosts for your project ideas: all Senckenberg institutes.
- Please note that you are only eligible to receive a Senckenberg Global Fellowship if you do not receive a parallel project funding during the period of the fellowship. We would like to exclude double funding in any case.
- When submitting your application, please also note that it will take a maximum of 8 weeks to process your application before it is approved. After receiving approval, the fellowship must be started within 3 months.
- Letter of motivation with information on your research interests and experience (max. 1 page, in the online form). Description of your project idea (planned goals, implementation) for the research to be carried out within the framework of the fellowship, agreed upon with your host at Senckenberg. Please explain how the submitted project topic would enrich your personal range of methods and your research portfolio (especially for postdocs). Is this research topic breaking new ground? (max. 1 page, in the online form)
- Letter of support from your host(s) at Senckenberg, acknowledging you and your proposed work, adding to the expertise of the host group, and outlining how your stay will add value to Senckenberg as well. Please explain how the named project topic fits into the Senckenberg research landscape, how the Fellow’s project will enrich the research of your working group and the research field as a whole. Will new ground be broken or existing knowledge gaps closed? (max. 1 page – upload)
- Your current curriculum vitae, including a complete list of your publications (upload)
- Certificates of your Master’s degree and, if applicable, of your PhD (upload)
- Optional: further letters of recommendation (e.g. from mentors, supervisors; upload)
Please note that you can only apply online via our form. Please use our form/template for the texts under 1. and 2. and fill it out carefully and completely. Please make sure that the uploaded documents are complete. If any required documents are missing, we will unfortunately not be able to consider your application.
The application form can be found on this website during the application period.
A scientific selection committee will select the successful applications within approximately eight weeks after the application deadline. The selection committee is composed of renowned scientists from the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung.
The following evaluation criteria are applied:
- Scientific potential to reach the aims of the proposal
- Scientific excellence of the proposed work
- Prospects of developing a follow-up project to acquire additional funds
Senckenberg supports equal opportunities for all genders and places particular emphasis on promoting career opportunities for women and underrepresented groups. Qualified women and other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to equally qualified applicants with disabilities.
Successful applicants and their hosts will be notified eight weeks after the application deadline.
A project report must be submitted within three months of completion of the project.
An online form for the project report is available above.
You must upload the following documents to the form:
- An informal, max. two-page report with the following content:
a) the objective of the project (as per the application),
b) the practical implementation,
c) the results achieved and
d) an outlook on planned publications and future plans. The text should not exceed 2 pages (excluding illustrations and diagrams). - This confirmation form, fully completed and signed: Confirmation form
For organizational advice, please contact the e-mail address fellowships@senckenberg.de.
For professional advice and consultation, please contact your professionally suitable potential hosts.
Frequently asked questions
| Affiliation | Applicants who do not currently have a temporary affiliation at a research institution are asked to contact us at fellowships@senckenberg.de. |
| Application deadline | Please send your application before March 1st (12 pm CET) and October 1st (12 pm CEST) of each year. |
| Collections | Natural History Collections are Senckenberg’s largest and most important research infrastructure. With around 40 million counting units, they represent the largest natural history collection in Germany and probably the sixth largest worldwide. You can find more about our collections here: https://www.senckenberg.de/en/collection/. |
| Criteria | A scientific selection committee will select the successful applications within approximately eight weeks after the application deadline. The selection committee is composed of renowned scientists from the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung. The following evaluation criteria are applied: 1) Scientific potential to reach the aims of the proposal 2) Scientific excellence of the proposed work 3) Prospects of developing a follow-up project to acquire additional funds |
| Equal opportunities | Senckenberg supports equal opportunities for all genders and places particular emphasis on promoting career opportunities for women and underrepresented groups. Qualified women and other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Equally qualified applicants with disabilities are given preference. |
| Global South | The OECD maintains a list of the so-called countries of the Global South, to which we adhere. The list is available at the following link: OECD List. You can find more information on how this list is being created here: https://www.oecd.org/oda.html. |
| Grant / Stipend | Young researchers who are temporarily abroad on another, fixed-term grant are eligible to apply, provided that double funding can be ruled out. |
| Host - support letter | Letter of support from your host at Senckenberg, acknowledging you and your proposed work, complementing the expertise of the host group and explaining how your stay will also add value to Senckenberg. Please explain how the named project topic fits into the Senckenberg research landscape, how the Fellow’s project will enrich the research of your research group and the research field as a whole. Will new ground be broken or existing knowledge gaps closed? (max. 1 page – upload) |
| Institutes | see https://www.senckenberg.de/en/research/institutes-overview/ |
| Motivation letter | Description of your project idea (planned goals, implementation) for the research to be carried out within the framework of the fellowship, agreed upon with your host at Senckenberg. Please explain how the submitted project topic would enrich your personal range of methods and your research portfolio (especially for postdocs). Is this research topic breaking new ground? (max. 1 page, in the online form) |
| Project report | A project report must be submitted within three months of completion of the project. An online form for the project report is available above. You must upload the following documents to the form: An informal, max. two-page report with the following content: (a) the objective of the project (as per the application), b) the practical implementation, c) the results achieved and d) an outlook on planned publications and future plans. The text should not exceed 2 pages (excluding illustrations and diagrams). This confirmation form, fully completed and signed: Confirmation form |
| Report | see Project report |
| Research infrastructure | The research infrastructure program comprises the infrastructure units that form the indispensable basis for research and are mostly also open to external users. Some of them are operated jointly with other institutions. Our research infrastructure includes collections, libraries, databases, laboratories and research platforms. More information can be found here. |
| Residency | Young researchers with permanent residence in Germany, EU countries, North America, Australia, etc. are not eligible to apply, regardless of their nationality. |
| Selection procedure | The selection process takes approximately up to eight weeks after submission of the application. |
| Start of the fellowship | Once you have received confirmation, you must start the scholarship within three months. If you are unable to meet this deadline for reasons beyond your control, such as a long processing time for your visa in your country, please contact fellowships@senckenberg.de as soon as possible. Postponing the start date by the required amount of time is therefore only possible in exceptional cases. Further delays are not possible and will result in the loss of the scholarship. Therefore, plan carefully in advance and apply in the application round that fits your schedule. |
| Travel allowance | If the travel costs exceed 1,200 €, the difference must be intercepted in other ways. |
| Travel expenses | Please advance the cost of your journey if possible. The costs will be reimbursed up to a maximum of 1,200 € after your arrival in Germany. If this is not possible, your host will book the trip for you – please make appropriate arrangements. |
| Visa | In order to take advantage of our Fellowship in Germany, you will need some documents from Senckenberg: 1) a letter of invitation 2) a visiting scientist contract 3) a hosting agreement. In case of your sponsorship, we will be happy to help you with these documents and with all further necessary steps and official matters. |