About the scholarships
The DAAD presented the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences with the opportunity to nominate and host up to four international PhD students in 2017 and 2018 (two students a year). These DAAD scholarships are being awarded in the frame of the "DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Programme" (GSSP).
A DAAD scholarship can be awarded for up to three years. Funding for up to four years is possible for candidates from developing and emerging countries. The scholarships are initially granted for one year, an extension of the grant period will depend on positive evaluation of the progress made in the past year.
The DAAD scholarship comprises:
- a monthly scholarship rate of 1,000 EUR
- a travel allowance depending on the country of origin
- a combined health, accident and liability insurance
- a study and research allowance of 460 EUR per year
- a rent and/or family allowance if applicable
Who is eligible for a DAAD Scholarship?
We are looking for candidates with a non-German citizenship who are holding a Master's degree or equivalent in Sociology, Political Sciences, Economics, Statistics, Demography, Empirical Educational Sciences or Psychology. Candidates should propose an original dissertation project fitting thematically into at least one of our four research pillars. The two main criteria are the candidate's proven record of academic excellence on the one hand, and BAGSS' ability to ensure competent, research-led supervision on the other. We are interested in projects that fit with at least one of our School's four Pillars. Proposals cutting across two (or more) Pillars are equally welcomed.
Candidates should not have lived in Germany for more than 15 months by April 2017. Furthermore, the last final examination for the highest university degree (usually the Master's degree) should not have taken place more than six years prior to April 2017.
Selection criteria
The selection process for the DAAD Scholarships comprises two stages. In the first stage, applicants send their application to the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences via our online application form, as described on the following webpages. Our Graduate School selects candidates based on the following criteria:
- A complete, formally correct application has been submitted by the advertised deadline and in the required fashion.
- The statutory criteria for admission to doctoral studies at Bavarian universities are met.
- The research topic for the doctoral thesis, as proposed in the application, matches the academic profile of BAGSS
- At least one faculty member of BAGSS, who is qualified to examine doctoral theses, agrees to supervise the suggested thesis topic.
- The complete application has been judged as excellent by a panel of academic assessors from the Graduate School in competition with other applications.
The Graduate School nominates at least two candidates for both scholarships. These candidates are then asked to submit their application materials to the DAAD. Eventually, the DAAD decides upon the successful candidates.
Application
When to apply?
Applications for the scholarship year October 2017 - September 2018 are accepted from December 22, 2016, until February 28, 2017
What application materials are required?
In order to be considered for a DAAD Scholarship, your application must include the following documents:
- A cover letter that demonstrates your acquaintance with our programme and your qualifications in your subject area.
- Your complete CV - including full contact information.
- An abstract of your research proposal of at most 1 page.
- Your research proposal of the planned dissertation project (only one research proposal) on at most 5 pages (font Arial, size 11, 1.5 line spacing). The proposal should include a work schedule. In the work schedule, please indicate planned periods and destinations of research or field trips.
- Scans of the following transcripts and certificates. a) School leaving certificates giving the right of entry to higher education in your home country, with individual grades. b) All university transcripts, for the bachelor's, master's or any other degrees, stating all individual grades. c) All university diploma or degree certificates indicating the final grade, including an explanation of the grading system (i.e. maximum attainable grade, minimum grade to pass, etc.). If your transcripts or certificates have been issued in other languages than English or German, then certified translations need to be provided.
- Proof of English language proficiency. Please attach a copy of one of the following official test results: IELTS (minimum band score of 7), TOEFL (minimum score of 95 ibt), CAE (pass), Unicert III (pass). Please include also a short self-written statement about your knowledge of German. While the programme is conducted entirely in English, willingness to learn German or improve existing German language skills is expected.
- A concise statement on your knowledge of social science research methods. This short, self-written description (not more than half a page, font Arial, size 11, 1.5 line spacing) should contain information on your methodological training or practical experience in applying methods.
- Two letters of recommendation. These letters should be send to us via post in a sealed envelope.
Your recommenders should send the letter to this address:
University of Bamberg
Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences
Feldkirchenstr. 21
96052 Bamberg
Germany
All application materials must be submitted in English (except for certificates and transcripts, which may also be provided in German). Please do not attach any documents other than those requested.
How to submit your application?
All documents need to be submitted as a single PDF (max. 30 MB).
In this single PDF, you must arrange your documents in the following order:
- Cover Letter
- CV
- Abstract
- Research Proposal
- School leaving certificate, university transcripts and degree certificates
- Proof of English language proficiency
- Statement of knowledge of social science research methods
Find the online application in the "Further official information" link below.
Two letters of recommendation need to be sent by your recommenders to us via post, in a sealed envelope. The recommendation letters should not be included in the PDF file which you upload.
Applications that are not submitted in this order will not be accepted.
Free software for creating PDFs and merging them into a single document is available on the internet, e.g. the PDFcreator.
Please, use your surname to name your application file (SURNAME.pdf; make sure to avoid special characters).
What happens after I submitted my application?
- We will send you a confirmation of receipt shortly after you submitted your application.
- The BAGSS Executive Committee will review all applications that meet the formal requirements. The first review should have taken place by the end of March 2017.
- Shortlisted candidates will be invited to take part in an interview. Interviews are scheduled to take place in Bamberg in early April 2017. In exceptional cases, a video conference may suffice.
- The Graduate School will make the final decision in April 2017. The second selection stage by the DAAD is supposed to take approximately two months.
- The winter term 2017/18 will start on October 1, 2017.
- Please note that we cannot give individual feedback whether the individual letters of recommendation have arrived or not.
For more information click "Further official information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bagss/application/starter-vs-daad/daad-scholarship/