You can pursue doctoral research in Germany with this scholarship

Great news for doctoral students looking to pursue their postgraduate research in Germany: applications for the 2022 DAAD Scholarships are open. 

As part of the DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Programme, the United Nations University’s Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources (UNU-FLORES) is offering a doctoral research opportunity for international graduate students to conduct research under one of three topic areas with the guidance of supervisors from UNU-FLORES and Technische Universitaet Dresden (TU Dresden).

Other fully-funded DAAD Scholarships for the academic year 2022-23 include the MA Sustainable Development Management at HS Rhein-Waal, MSc Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design – IUSD at University of Stuttgart, MSc Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) at TH Köln/
German Jordanian University, and MSc Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation – LENC at Universität Greifswald.

Since 1925, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), an association of German institutions of higher education and their student bodies, has supported more than 2.6 million academics in Germany and abroad. In 2021, it provided academic and research funding to more than 134,900 Germans and foreigners. This funding is primarily awarded to graduates, doctoral students and postdocs to study at universities and non-university research institutions in Germany.

The DAAD scholarships are similar to those offered by The Fulbright Foreign Student Programme, which enables graduate students to study at US universities for one year or longer. Both programmes boast famous recipients. DAAD alumni include author Margaret Atwood and film director Jim Jarmusch, while Fulbright scholars include Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander de Croo.

UNU FLORES blends science with policy in their philosophy towards education — allowing their work to have a policy impact on the United Nation and its Member States. Source: Joe Klamar/AFP

UNU DAAD Scholarships 2022: Important things to know

Available research projects

Research projects under the DAAD Scholarship programme aim to facilitate UNU FLORES’s mission to resolve a global environmental issue: tackling sustainable use and integrated management of environmental resources in developing and emerging economies.

The first research project assesses the complexity and challenges facing food systems in rural agricultural areas affected by climate change. Students will develop and test a decision support framework to evaluate the sustainability of water reuse and biodiversity to reduce food provisioning risk.

The second research project will analyse the environmental, socio-economic and governance implications of the coal phaseout in Columbia. From this analysis, graduate students will contribute to discussions on energy transition and regional development strategies, and adapt them to the requirements of specific coal regions.

Lastly, the third project will focus on the water-soil-atmosphere nexus in rain-fed and irrigation farming within arid regions — a term to characterise areas with a severe lack of available water. The project will investigate spatial patterns of rainfall and groundwater-based irrigation in arid regions using remote sensing.

The DAAD Scholarships will pay a monthly stipend of 1,200 euros for the duration of the doctoral research. As a baseline, graduate students will be under a one-year agreement with UNU FLORES. You can renew this agreement depending on your work performance and the completion of specific milestones. The combined duration shall not exceed four years.

While the doctoral programme is free, a semester fee of approximately 250 to 300 euros must be paid directly to TU Dresden for enrolment. The DAAD  can also provide health insurance and introductory German classes, notes its website. If you are a DAAD scholar, you will be enrolled as a student based in Dresden, Germany.

Applications for the DAAD scholarships will close on July 10, 2022. Source: Issoud Sanogo/AFP

Eligibility requirements

All the research projects require graduate students to have a master’s degree with at least a grade 2.5 or equivalent according to the German system in a field related to the research project.

Graduate students should have strong theoretical and practical knowledge of the research area they plan to undertake. In some projects, specific technical knowledge will be mandatory. Applications for the DAAD Scholarships will close on July 10, 2022. Click here for application details.