DDAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)
Partially funded
DAAD Doctoral Programmes in Germany (Research Grants for Doctoral Candidates)
DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), Germany
Scholarship overview
This DAAD programme funds international doctoral candidates to complete a doctorate in Germany, with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office.
Funding covers a doctoral project at a state or state-recognised higher education institution or a non-university research institute, either as an individual project with a doctoral supervisor or within a structured doctoral programme. Research phases outside Germany can be funded if essential, up to one quarter of the funding period.
Award Information
- Above-average qualifications; Master's degree or Diplom (in exceptional cases a Bachelor's) completed at the latest when funding begins.
- A Bachelor of Arts/Science of second class upper division level and a Master's degree are required; for francophone countries a Licence or Maitrise of 'assez bien' level and a DEA/DESS or LMD Master's.
- Most recent degree no more than six years old at the application deadline.
- If the doctorate has already started, it began no more than 3 years before application.
- Not resident in Germany for longer than 15 months at the deadline.
- Language: arts, social sciences and law usually expect good German; natural sciences and engineering may accept good English if English is spoken at the host institute.
- Human medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry follow separate rules.
- Funding must begin in 2027.
- Funding for up to four years: initially a maximum of three years with annual progress review, plus a possible fourth year on application.
- Monthly payment of 1,400 EUR.
- Payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance.
- Travel allowance, on application only.
- Annual research allowance of 460 EUR.
- On application: monthly rent subsidy, allowance for accompanying family members, and subsidy for disability- or illness-related extra costs.
- Language support: online language course fees, a German course of 2, 4 or 6 months before the stay if DAAD decides (compulsory if the host institute works in German), an allowance for a chosen German course, and reimbursement of TestDaF or DSH test fees.
- Third-party benefits are partly credited against the DAAD scholarship.
2026 call: applications open 1 June 2026 and close 30 September 2026. Selection is expected in February 2027 and the scholarship starts from October 2027, with a prior language course where needed. Deadlines are updated each year in the second quarter.
- Register in the DAAD portal during the application period.
- Generate the recommendation form in the portal and send it to a university teacher.
- Prepare PDFs of all documents, with translations where needed.
- Complete the online application and upload documents.
- Submit before the deadline (portal closes 24.00 CET/CEST).
Official links
Documents you will need
- Tabular CV (max. 3 pages) and list of publications (max. 10 pages), if applicable.
- Letter of motivation, 1 to 2 pages.
- Research proposal with description of previous research (max. 10 pages together), discussed with the supervisor.
- For individual projects: work schedule agreed with the supervisor and a letter confirming supervision.
- For structured programmes: module plan and proof of contact with the programme coordinator.
- Admission letter to a study programme (may follow later).
- Declaration from the German supervisor on safety-relevant and ethical aspects of the research.
- All degree certificates with final grades, and transcripts of records.
- One letter of recommendation from a university teacher on the DAAD form.
- Optional: employment certificates, internship and voluntary work proof.
How selection works
An independent committee of specialist scientists reviews applications.
- Qualification: grades and their development, academic progress, language skills, publications and lectures.
- Quality of the research project: originality, topicality, relevance, choice of host, feasibility of the plan.
- Potential: career prospects, motivation, civic engagement.
- Equal opportunities are taken into account.
