Apply now!

Funding Possibilities

Admission to the Bonn International Graduate School in Mathematics does not automatically include a scholarship, teaching position or research position. However, there are many possibilities for the funding of PhD students. See the hints and comments below. When evaluating your application, we will screen all our possiblities mentioned below.

Independently of our efforts to support you if needed, every applicant should consider all possible sources for funding him/herself. It is advisible to start these considerations as early as possible, even before you write your application, by investigating all possibilities of grants from your home country. As soon as a possible supervisor is found, the supervisor, BIGS and the applicant will investigate the possiblities of grants from research projects or teaching assistantships.

Hausdorff Scholarships (PhD grants)

• For a select group of 30 PhD students there are grants of 1365 Euro per month for a maximum of 3 years. Nomination for such a scholarship depends on an outstanding academic record.
• Again for a select group of 8 students there are qualifying grants of 800 Euro per month for a maximum of 1 year. These are scholarships for very promising students who need one more year to start their PhD work.
• NEW! For 5 students there are particular Qualifying scholarships of 800 Euros per month for a period of two years. These scholarships are intended to attract students with an excellent Bachelor degree in mathematics from outside Germany who wish to enter a preparatory phase for our PhD program.
There is the option of completing a regular Master degree in this context, if desired. The courses taken in the preparatory phase - all taught in English - can be applied toward a Master degree.

The deadline for these particular two-year scholarships is June 12, 2009.

Thus each year about 10 Hausdorff scholarships and 3 qualifying scholarships can be awarded. As scholarships they are tax free, however, they do not include health insurance or any social benefits.

Family allowance

BIGS can pay a children’s allowance to Hausdorff-Fellows. We will support families with advice and assistance with regards to settling in Bonn, finding day-care and dealing with the administrative issues. The students’ society offers day-care starting from an infant age.

More PhD Grants

There are two sections of BIGS which have - in addition and especially for their topics - grants for PhD students in their sections.

The Section TOPOLOGY is running the Research Training Group (Graduiertenkolleg GRK 1150) "Homotopy and cohomology" which has PhD grants and qualifying grants available.

The Section MODULI SPACES is organized as an International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) "Moduli spaces" at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics. This research school offers also grants.

Teaching Assistantships

Teaching assistantships are available from the mathematical institutes. Since teaching is a way of learning, this highly responsible work with students in exercise groups or seminars is very sought after.

Research Positions

Several research projects in Bonn like the Collaborative Research Center (Sonderforschungsbereich SFB 611) "Singular phenomena and scaling in mathematical models" offer research positions.

Individual Scholarships

Many institutions in Germany or in other countries give individual grants to PhD students. For highly gifted students from Germany there is e.g. the Studienstiftung. For foreign students the most important organisation supporting studies in Germany is the Deutscher Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service). It has offices in Cairo, Hanoi, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Moskow, Nairobi, New Delhi, New York, Paris, Peking, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Warsaw. Governments of many countries provide grants which are awarded in collaboration with the DAAD. Please, see the respective web-pages of these institiions.