Minerva Fellowships for PhD-students

The Minerva Fellowship Programme enables Israeli and German scientists to complete a research residency at institutions in the respective other country. Minerva Fellowships are not only intended to promote research, but also to strengthen the cultural and scientific exchange between Germany and Israel. Younger scientists (graduates and postdoctoral scholars) get the possibility to further their scientific background while they conduct a research project at their host institution in Israel (fellows from Germany) or Germany (fellows from Israel).

Minerva Fellowships are granted to doctoral and postdoctoral researchers from Germany and Israel from all fields of research.

Applicants who are presently residing in Israel/Germany but are not nationals of either of the two countries must show a proven record of integration into the Israeli or German scientific community. An affiliation to a research institution in Israel or Germany is required together with a residency of 5 years or longer in either of the two countries.

Conversely, if applicants are citizens of one country but have been living in the other for an extended period of time (more than 4 years) a scholarship in the second country cannot be granted since it would not truly support German-Israeli exchange.

Eligible candidates must have completed a university degree ("Diploma", M.A., M.Sc., or equivalent qualification). B.A. and B.Sc.  students are only eligible to apply if accepted to a direct Ph.D. track.

The following documents are required for application:

CV including publications

Certificates:
You can submit your university certificates in English or German (B.A./B.Sc., M.A./M.Sc., and Ph.D.). We would need your Transcripts of Records and the degrees with its final grades.

Research proposal including short summary and abstract of the research project:
Your Research Proposal should not exceed five pages. (References are not included in these five pages.) The Abstract of the proposal should include 5-10 keywords, the summary (up to 200 words) should by all means be written in laymen's terms (for committee members who are not familiar with your field of research), and should contain a generally comprehensive description of the project, also indicating its scientific aims.

External letters:
In order to complete your application, we would also need external letters: one letter of invitation from your host (institution) and two letters of recommendation. While filling out the application form we shall ask you for the email addresses of the respective authors. They will be automatically invited to provide their letters by our application platform. Please note that the referees will have no access to your application documents via our database. Please inform the authors of your external letters about your application and forward to them the respective documents (your research proposal, your CV etc.). As soon as the letters are submitted, you and the respective author will receive a confirmation of the filing. Letters directly sent to Minerva (via email) cannot be accepted. The deadline for delivery of external letters is 7-10 days after the application deadline.
Letter of Invitation from your host (institution):
The letter from your host should contain a statement indicating the feasibility of your research at his/her institute, your integration into the host group and comments on your project. Additionally, we require an overview of the activities of the host institute/chair/group including its ten best research publications of the past five years. This information should be no longer than a page.
Two letters of recommendation:
The letters must be provided by scientists who know you personally. A letter from the PhD-supervisor is for doctoral students compulsory, for postdocs desirable. Your future host can also write such a letter provided he or she knows you personally.

If not stated otherwise, we would need all documents in English and as one single PDF-document!

In case of submission of incorrect documents, we are not able to accept your application.