‘Leibniz – DAAD Research Fellowships’ is a new programme implemented by the ‘ Leibniz Association’ (Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz), and the ‘German Academic Exchange Service’ (DAAD). The fellowships offer highly-qualified recent foreign postdocs the opportunity to conduct special research at institutes of the Leibniz-Association in Germany.

The DAAD is a joint organisation of Germany’s higher education institutions and is mandated to promote international academic relations, especially through exchanges of students, academics and scientists. It is the internationalisation agency of Germany’s higher education institutions and simultaneously serves as a “mediator organisation” in the government’s foreign policy, European policy, development policy and higher education policy. With a total budget of almost 348 million euro in 2009 the DAAD run over 250 programmes which were predominately funded by Germany’s federal government.

Leibniz Association

The Leibniz Association is the umbrella organisation for 87 institutions conducting research or providing scientific infrastructure. Some 7,100 scientists and scholars work in the humanities and social sciences, economics, spatial and life sciences as well as in mathematics, the natural and engineering sciences and in environmental research. Altogether, more than 16,000 people are employed at Leibniz Institutes, which have an annual budget of 1,3 billion euro.

At the time of their application, applicants for a Leibniz-DAAD Research Fellowship should

* be able to prove their outstanding study or research achievements,
* have completed their studies with a PhD or equivalent degree (no more than two years should have passed since graduation),
* have an excellent knowledge of English.

A knowledge of German is advantageous.

:20 June 2011.

Further Scholarship Information and Application