Santander International Exchange Grants

Funding is awarded for research stays with a duration of 1 to 3 months at a foreign partner university or in a priority country as well as for stays of doctoral students from the mentioned regions at the University of Bonn.

Please note: The research stay must commence within one year upon call deadline. Funding cannot be approved retrospectively, this means the start of the research stay applied for cannot be prior to the call deadline.

The funding includes the following services:

• Travel allowance depending on the country of destination or country of origin (according to DAAD-rates[available in German only]) 
• Subsistence allowance depending on the host country and the applicable DAAD rates⁴ (the current rates can be determined via the "Scholarship Calculator" on this page [available in German only]) or 1,300 €/month for stays in Bonn
• Research grant of € 300 per month (e.g. for conference costs, language courses, consumables)
• Family benefits for accompanying spouses or partners and children

The support follows the lump sum determined for the target country / country of origin and not the actual costs.

• Quality of the research project and relevance of the stay for the realization of the project
• Relevance for international networking and raising of the academic profile of the applicant
• Involvement of the applicant in the host institution (e.g. participation in teaching and research activities as well as knowledge transfer)
• Academic CV of the applicant

The grants are awarded by an interdisciplinary selection committee of young researchers. The Bonn Graduate Center supports the committee members in an advisory capacity. Committee members are:

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alessandro Bismuto, Prof. Dr. Sabine Feist, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Lorenzen and Jun.-Prof. Dr. Michael Schindelegger. 

An application includes the following documents:

• Brief description of the relevance of the stay for the applicant’s research project as well as networking and profile building
• Outline of the research project (max. 2 pages)
• Work plan for the duration of the research stay (max. 1 page)
• Letter of invitation from the host institution (e.g. receiving institute)
• Academic CV of the applicant¹
• Letter of recommendation from the main supervisor (see template)

Please note that applications are assessed by an interdisciplinary committee and should therefore also be understandable for non-specialists.

Applications can only be submitted using the Santander platform linked above. Please register early to avoid late submissions.

¹ Family obligations, parental leave, illnesses and other well-founded time-outs are taken into account. Please explain possible interruptions in your application.