বোরিংগার ইংগেলহাইম ফাউন্ডেশন৷ এটি একটি বেসরকারি সংগঠন৷ জার্মানিতে অন্যান্য ফাউন্ডেশনের সাথে এর পার্থক্য হল এই সংস্হাটি শুধু জার্মানি নয়, ইউরোপের যে কোন জায়গায় ডক্টরেট করার জন্য প্রার্থীদের আর্থিকভাবে সাহায্য করে থাকে৷

Selection Criteria

The scientists in the Board of Trustees and the external peer reviewer evaluate applications according to the following three criteria:

• the applicant’s achievements to date (grades and curriculum vitae);
• the scientific quality, e.g. originality and inventiveness, of the proposed PhD project;
• the scientific standard of the laboratory in which the project is to be pursued.

Who Can Apply for a PhD Fellowship?

At the deadline, the applicant should not have been working on his/her project for more than 6 months. The beginning of the PhD project is considered by BIF to be:

• the date of the final examination (e.g. BSc, MSc, Diploma, DEA, Licenciatura, Laurea) on the official certificate if the applicant continues to work in the same research group; or
• the month of arrival at the laboratory in which the PhD project is pursued if the applicant changes his/her research group.

In other cases, i.e. when participating in MSc/PhD programmes or graduate schools without an official final examination prior to the PhD project, pleasecontact us. The foundation gives preference to applicants who are about to begin their PhD work when they apply for the fellowship; preliminary results are not expected.

We do not support

• applied research, such as biotechnological and pharmaceutical development (e.g. development of assays for diagnostic purposes or drug screening; optimization or screening of substances/compounds for therapeutic use; development of drug delivery systems or vaccines); in case you are not sure if your project fits into the scope of support, please contact us;
• studies on the course of diseases or the treatment of symptoms;
• botanical and prokaryotic investigations unless they are of general biological importance;
• education; we can support only research; fellowships therefore cannot be used during the course and rotation phase of PhD programmes, but only for the duration of the PhD project.

Furthermore, the PhD fellowships cannot be used to supplement inadequate funding from other institutions or earned incomes, to bridge temporary financial difficulties or to complete investigations already sponsored by other institutions.

Application for a PhD Fellowship

The application for a PhD fellowship of the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds consists of two parts:

1. the online application via the online application portal and
2. two paper copies of the application including one CD to be sent by surface mail.

Both must be submitted by one of the respective deadlines of each year (date as per postmark for the paper version): 1 February, 1 June, 1 October

Applicants can facilitate the selection process by adhering to the following sequence:

1. to 5. two-sided printouts, if possible;

1. title and summary of PhD project (max. 1,400 characters including blanks);
2. detailed presentation of PhD project (please also refer to “How to write a research proposal“): formulation of the problem, current status of research, applicant’s own groundwork, objectives, experimental strategy including methods of investigation (at least 4-5 pages for strategy and methods), work schedule showing the anticipated duration of the entire project and the individual steps;
3. reasons for wishing to work with a particular group;
4. summary of final experimental thesis (e.g. bachelor, diploma or master thesis) before embarking on the PhD project;
5. list of applicant’s publications (if applicable);
6. certificates of all academic qualifications (including grades) and certificates of professional education prior to university (if applicable); in chronological order, the newest on top; photocopies suffice;
7. photocopies of university entrance qualification or high school-leaving exam certificate, (e.g. Abitur, A levels, Baccalaureate);
8. letter of recommendation from the supervisor of the PhD thesis;
9. letter of recommendation from the supervisor of the diploma or equivalent thesis (only if changing research group for the PhD project); letters of recommendation (on official letterhead and signed) have to be written in English and may be sent together with the application or by the supervisors themselves via surface mail, or as a PDF attachment(Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds, Schusterstr. 46-48, 55116 Mainz, Germany; [email protected])