Fully Funded Postdoctoral Fellowships from Volkswagen Foundation in Germany 2021

Volkswagen Foundation in Germany, is offering the 2020 'Freigeist' Fellowships for Post Doc degree in all disciplines and topics. The Freigeist funding initiative provides an opportunity for outstandingly qualified, creative and independent early career researchers to conduct their own research. It aims to encourage exceptional research personalities to embark on visionary, risk-taking research projects at the intersections between established fields of research. The flexible funding scheme and clear time frame are designed to ensure maximum support for their self-chosen research topic and thus help them develop an entirely independent research profile.

A ‘Freigeist’ Fellow: for the Volkswagen Foundation this means a young researcher with a strong personality, a creative mind, an ability to identify and use freedom, dedicated to overcoming obstacles. A ‘Freigeist’ Fellow opens up new horizons and combines critical analysis with imagination and innovative solutions.

Anyone can apply who identifies with the goals of a ‘Freigeist’ Fellowship and whose proposed research project fits in with the aims pursued by the Freigeist initiative. Candidates must, however, conform to the following conditions: 

• Their doctorate must have been obtained not longer than four years but at least one year previously (with regard to the date of the defense relative to the deadline of the initiative). 
• The Fellowship must be integrated within a university or an extra-mural research institution in Germany. 
• Candidates must already have changed their academic environment and moved to a new location – at the latest when starting the Fellowship. A return to the working context of the doctorate will only be accepted under exceptional circumstances. 
• A previously completed research sojourn abroad, at the latest integrated in the proposed research project.

Selection Criteria:

• The applicant’s personal qualifications.
• The scientific quality and originality of the project.
• Accuracy of fit between the project proposal, applicant’s personal profile, and aims of the funding initiative.
• A capability for independent research.
• The potential for breakthroughs, new methodological approaches, interdisciplinary cooperation.
• A constructive approach to possible risks.

About Volkswagen Foundation:

The Volkswagen Foundation (German: Volkswagenstiftung) is the largest German private nonprofit organization for the promotional of research and education in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. It is not affiliated to the present company, the Volkswagen Group.

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