This bridge scholarship for postdocs is aimed at female early career researchers and artists in the transitional phase between a doctorate/PhD and a postdoctoral project/habilitation. It is intended to serve as startup funding for the development of a habilitation project or an academic or artistic postdoctoral project meeting high conceptual standards.
As a measure to promote gender equality, the bridge scholarship is financed with funds from the Professorinnenprogramm III funding programme for female professors of the German federal government and federal states. The goal is to make the transition to academia career more attractive to women and easier for them to plan as well as to boost the proportion of women among academic staff and professors in the long term.
1. Who can apply?
Outstanding female postdoctoral researchers who are preparing for a habilitation or an independent academic or artistic postdoctoral project meeting high conceptual standards, which they plan to complete at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
2. How funding is available?
1 bridge scholarship
Amount of funding: 2,000.00 euros per month and the opportunity to participate in accompanying workshops.
Funding period: up to 6 months
The funding period can be freely chosen between 01 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.
Interruptions are not possible; exceptions are regulated in individual cases by the latest version of the statutes for the awarding of scholarships at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (currently MdU 58/2019).
Scholarships 2025/26
- Application deadlines: 15 January and 31 August 2025, if necessary
- If not all scholarships are awarded in March, a new call for applications may be issued.
Regularly announced with a 2nd round on 31 August 2025:
- Bauhaus Degree Completion Scholarships for students (3 months á 450 euros)
The general rules are:
- Applications will only be considered if they are complete and on time for submission.
- Applicants can apply in parallel for a maximum of 2 scholarship formats at the
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar at the same time. - An application can not be considered without a letter of recommendation.
- There is no legal entitlement to the award of a scholarship.
Procedure
- The first application deadline has ended on 15th of January 2025.
- The scholarship commission usually decides in March.
- The scholarships usually start in April.
Funding requirements
The funding is available for:
- Female doctoral candidates, who afford a very good academic record and exam results, and have a special interest in and particular aptitude for scientific work.
- Exposés for habilitation projects or independent academic or artistic postdoctoral projects meeting high conceptual standards that are to be registered and completed at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in the foreseeable future.
Further requirements - please note:
DOCTORATE
As a rule, no more than two (2) years may have elapsed between graduation (doctorate) and the date of application. Proof of the doctoral degree must be submitted by the requested scholarship start date at the latest.
EMPLOYMENT
Scholarships cannot be awarded to persons in employment; secondary employment is permissible, as detailed in the scholarship statutes of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Further details are regulated in the latest version of the statutes for the awarding of scholarships at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (currently MdU 58/2019, changed with MdU 30/2022).
FUNDING PERIOD
The six-month funding period may start on 1 April at the earliest and on 1 October at the latest. The final instalment of the scholarship must be paid in March 2024 at the latest.
REPORT
Funding recipients are required to submit a final report at the end of the funding period.
Application documents
Please use the online application form with file upload for your application documents:
- language: German or English
- 1 PDF document (1 file incl. all attachments, please include name in file name).
- file size max. 15 MB
- not password-protected
Please include the following documents in the order shown below:
- Statement of motivation (for the habilitation or scientific/artistic postdoctoral project and its relevance to the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar)
- Short description of the planned project (max. 3 pages + literature/bibliography + diagrams, where applicable)
- Where applicable, an explanation of your personal circumstances and biographical hurdles, such as caring for a child or relative, a disability or chronic illness, your parents’ (educational) background, migration background, experience of discrimination, etc.
- Time and work plan (for the funding period and, if possible, also beyond)
- Tabular CV
- Degree certificate (bachelor’s degree, master’s degree/Diplom/State Exam; doctorate; scans of certificates and marks transcripts)
PLEASE NOTE – separate submission by the professor:
9. Letter of recommendation from a professor of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar who has agreed to supervise the habilitation or independent postdoc project
- statements on the applicant’s professional aptitude
- statement on the planned project
- satement regarding the academic and organisational integration of the post-doc scholarship recipient into the department
Please submit the letter of recommendation separately as a pdf file via the respective professor/department until 31 January 2022 to the scholarship coordinator. For better comparability, they should use the Letter of Recommendation form wherever possible: stipendien[at]uni-weimar.de
Selection process
The Scholarship Commission at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar will take the following criteria into account in the awarding of scholarships:
- Applicant’s suitability for academic work on a habilitation or an academic or artistic postdoctoral project meeting high conceptual standards (where applicable, outstanding academic achievements and final marks; where relevant, prizes/awards, publication record, experience abroad)
- Prospects of success: Originality of the idea and suitability of the project as the basis for a habilitation or postdoctoral project (research question, objective, state of research/theoretical basis, methodological approach where applicable)
- Schedule and work plan for preparation of the habilitation or postdoc project; where applicable, also already for the habilitation or postdoc project itself
- Where available: Relevance to the Bauhaus or the main research areas at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar; significance of the habilitation or postdoctoral project, taking the aspects of interdisciplinarity, internationality and gender into account
In addition to the applicant’s academic achievements, their voluntary work/commitment, social aspects and the student’s biographical hurdles will also be borne in mind
- Any attempts by the applicant to deceive will lead to immediate exclusion from the application procedure. Future applications will not be possible in this case.
- Due to the absolute confidentiality of the selection procedure, applicants will not be provided with justification of the committee’s decisions.
- The awarding of scholarships is subject to the availability of funding.
Prof. Dr. Andrea Osburg
Chair of the Scholarship Commission at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar