Financing

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With secure funding, you can invest more time and energy in your doctorate. The Graduate Academy provides you with information on funding options for your doctorate.

You have various options for financing your doctorate. Doctoral students work as research assistants at the university, part-time in a company or receive an explicitly designated, rather rare doctoral position. If applicable, you may be eligible for a doctoral scholarship and can, thus, concentrate fully on your doctorate.

For individual consultation, please contact the Graduate Academy Team via making an appointment for a consultation via this form.

Foundations and funding organizations

The scholarships granted by sponsoring organizations and foundations usually run for three years. Most foundations have fixed application deadlines twice a year, which you can find on the websites listed below. Before applying, it is best to check whether the idealistic (party/political or denominational) and thematic orientation of the foundation or the respective sponsoring organization is compatible with your personal attitudes as well as the topic of your PhD. The following table provides a quick overview:

State Graduate Funding

Merseburg University of Applied Sciences awards doctoral scholarships on the basis of the Graduate Funding Act of the State of Saxony-Anhalt of 30 July 2001, the Graduate Funding Ordinance issued for this purpose and the ordinances amending the Graduate Funding Act. The scholarship is initially granted for one year with the option of extension for a further year. The maximum funding period is three years. There is no legal claim to the granting of the scholarship.

The decision on the granting of the scholarship is made by an award committee on the basis of the documents submitted and a presentation of the doctoral project. The documents to be submitted can be found in the document Application modalities.

Applications must be submitted by post and electronically with the complete application documents to the Prorektor*in for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Business Start-Up as chairperson of the Award Commission of Merseburg University of Applied Sciences. The Senate Commission for Research and Knowledge Transfer (KFW) decides on the awarding of the state graduate scholarship.

By post to:

Hochschule Merseburg,              
Prorektorat für Forschung, Wissenstransfer und Existenzgründung,
Eberhard-Leibnitz-Str. 2
D-06217 Merseburg.

Digitally to:

Prorektorat.forschung@hs-merseburg.de   

Overview of the application deadlines for the State Graduate Scholarship

- Please note the possibly changed deadlines -

The deadlines are subject to the availability of funds.

Funding through Projects

Some doctoral students at universities of applied sciences work as a research assistant on a project and finance their doctoral studies in this way. The topic of the doctorate and the topic of the job do not always coincide. Nevertheless, the academic working environment can be very useful and stimulating for one's own research and academic career. It is advisable to implement clear self- and time management so that both the doctorate and the job are successful.

Take a look at the job offers at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences.

If you have already been able to find a supervisor for your doctoral idea, find out whether he/she has funded a project that is of interest to you and has a project position available. Particularly committed doctoral candidates or doctoral students can try to acquire a third-party funded project together with the supervising professor. This can finance a position as a research assistant within the framework of the research activity. Third-party funding is funding that only a university or the professor can apply for, so the application must be submitted via the university.

The staff responsible for the main research areas at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences have a good overview of calls for third-party funding. When planning an application for external funding, be sure to consult the Research Officer Dr Volker Prautzsch.

Funding on a Budgetary Basis to Initiate a Doctorate

Within the framework of available budget funds, Merseburg University of Applied Sciences grants start-up funding for research projects of its professors and provides positions for research assistants for up to 12 months. The funded projects are intended, in particular, to support young researchers and especially to initiate doctoral projects. The positions are awarded annually in a competitive procedure.  The conditions of participation and deadlines are stated in the respective call for applications, which your supervisor at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences will receive in advance by e-mail.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the research officer Dr Volker Prautzsch.

Grants for Doctoral Students

Grants for Travel and Publication Costs

Active participation in seminars as part of the CASE qualification program or in conferences is an important part of your doctorate. Exchanges with your mentor can also be very useful for your career. Your university's promotion of young researchers will support you with subsidies for your travel costs.

In addition, you can receive grants towards publication costs as part of your cumulative doctorate.

You will find all the necessary information in "Guidelines for the distribution of grants for travel and publication costs to doctoral students at HAWs in Saxony-Anhalt". This guideline is valid as long as it can be found on the website. For the request for cost absorption, use the form in the download.

If you have any questions, please contact your Speaker of Promoting Early Career Researchers, Sandra Dietzel.

Mobility Grants

The International Office of Merseburg University supports the mobility of university members.
Further information on mobility funding can be found on the website of the German Academic Exchange Service.

Center of Advanced Scientific Education (CASE)
funded by