Graduate School Scholarship Programme (GSSP)

In a competitive process, internationally oriented structured doctoral programmes are identified which receive a DAAD funding commitment for up to four DAAD-funded doctoral scholarships (two doctoral scholarships in each of two consecutive years) for foreign doctoral candidates.

Doctoral education in structured PhD programmes are an essential part of the qualification process of young academics in Europe and Germany. High quality standards regarding the selection and hosting of doctoral students, as well as an international research environment, create unique perspectives particularly for foreign applicants.

Structured doctoral programmes are a central element in the qualification and promotion of early career researchers.

Each GSSP scholarship includes up to four years of scholarship funding from the DAAD. Doctoral candidates are selected in a two-stage process.
1. In a first step, the doctoral programmes advertise the GSSP scholarships publicly and then select the doctoral candidates to be funded with a GSSP scholarship from the applications they receive.
2. Once the DAAD has received the nomination letters from the doctoral programmes, the nominated candidates submit their application documents for formal review via the DAAD portal in a second step.
The DAAD has been contributing to this with the funding programme offered since 2012,
- increasing the proportion of DAAD-funded foreign doctoral candidates in structured doctoral programmes in Germany and
- sustainably support doctoral programmes in establishing and expanding research collaborations with partners abroad.

Funded projects and participating partners

Below you will find an overview of the doctoral programmes selected in 2024, which can nominate GSSP scholarship holders for 2025 and 2026. Those interested in doctoral places should apply directly to the participating doctoral programmes.

In addition to the project names, the list of funded programmes contains links to the programme websites where current calls for applications and application deadlines can be found: List of programmes selected in 2024.

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