DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Program (GSSP) in Experimental Geosciences

The Doctoral Program of Experimental Geosciences at the University of Bayreuth has been awarded a prestigious DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Program (GSSP). This program offers up to four doctoral scholarships – two scholarships to start in each 2025 and 2026 for international candidates. Each DAAD scholarship covers a funding period of up to four years.

Scholarship recipients not only have the opportunity to complete a DAAD-funded doctorate at the University of Bayreuth but also become part of the Graduate School of Natural Sciences BayNAT. Doctoral students can expect an international and interdisciplinary research environment with individual support and supervision at the Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry and Geophysics (BGI).

We are delighted to welcome talented young scientists in Earth and Planetary Sciences from around the world and to provide them with the best possible conditions for their scientific careers.

We seek motivated graduate students interested in the broad research areas of the BGI related to studying the formation, structure, composition, and dynamics of the Earth and planetary interiors using:

• Experimental petrology and geochemistry 
• Mineral physics
• Isotope cosmochemistry and geochronology of planetary materials
• Planetary geophysics and numerical modelling 

Application & Nomination procedure

Application requirements:

• At the time when DAAD receives the nomination letter, applicants must not have been resident in Germany for more than the last 15 months prior to the nomination.
• At the time when DAAD receives the nomination letter, applicants should not have graduated any longer than six years before the time of nomination.
• At the starting date of the scholarship/preparatory German course (optional), applicants must have completed their studies with a master's degree or equivalent.
• Applicants must hold an above-average Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Earth, Physics or Material Sciences.
• Applicants must not have completed a PhD previously.
• Applicants must have very good knowledge of written and spoken English and provide language certificates, if available.

Step-1: Application documents (until December 15th 2024)

• A curriculum vitae, a motivation letter, a copy of diplomas and transcript of records (BSc. & MSc.), and 2 letters of recommendation;
• if possible, a copy of the MSc thesis (as a pdf file <5 MB size);
• a short project idea (~400 words) of the planned doctoral research based on a discussion with a potential professor or academic supervisor of the BGI or research interests and expertise fitting our research programs.

Step-2: Candidate selection (January - February 2025) 

• A selection committee of the Doctoral program will review the applications and select six candidates for submitting an extended research proposal and for online interview. 

Step-3: Candidate nomination (March 2025) 

• A short-list of four applicants is sent to the DAAD. Nominated applicants have to further submit their application documents to the DAAD.

Step-4: Final decision (April - June 2025) 

• The DAAD handles the final selection of two doctoral students.
• Applicants successfully accepted by the DAAD will be offered a full doctoral scholarship, funded by the GSSP programme.
• Scholarships start between 1 July and 1 December, 2025 pending on the DAAD procedure and visa obtention.

Financial Support

The scholarship includes:

• scholarship payments of currently € 1,300 a month;
• a travel allowance;
• payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance cover;
• a research allowance of currently € 460 per year (for scholarship holders from countries listed in the DAC List of ODA recipients), or € 260 per year (for scholarship holders from other countries).

Under certain circumstances, grant holders may receive the following additional benefits:

• Monthly rent subsidy (calculated individually, usually about € 50 to 125 per month);
• monthly allowance for accompanying family members (about € 200 child allowance per child and about € 275 marriage allowance);
• in the case of a disability or chronic illness: subsidy for additional costs which result from the disability or chronic illness and are not covered by other funding providers;
• a preparatory German language course (if available, applicable and feasible, taking into account the starting date of the scholarship).

Submission & Information

Please submit your complete application via email (mentioning DAAD GSSP in the subject line) to ExpGeoDAAD@uni-bayreuth.de by December 15th, 2024.

Two informative 1-hour sessions will be held on Zoom for questions and answers about the program and application procedure on October 18th 2024 at 10h00 and 17h00 (CEST or GMT+2). To receive the Zoom links and for other questions, please contact us at ExpGeoDAAD@uni-bayreuth.de.