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Grants, Fellowships, and Awards

External fellowships and awards can provide funding, independence, visibility, and access to new scientific networks. Group members are encouraged to apply even when their position is already funded, provided that the fellowship is compatible with their employment contract.

Check the current call

Programmes, deadlines, and eligibility rules change. Always read the current official call. A scholarship may replace rather than supplement an employment contract, with consequences for salary, social security, health insurance, and residence status.

Opportunities for PhD Researchers

Major AI Opportunities

  • Google PhD Fellowship — A strong fit for original contributions to machine learning, natural language processing, multimodal learning, or related areas. European candidates are nominated through their university, whose internal deadline will be earlier than Google's.
  • Google Student Researcher Programme — A paid, fixed-term research placement rather than a fellowship or award. BS, MS, and PhD students may apply when a suitable position is advertised in an eligible location; participation must be compatible with the doctorate, employment contract, and residence status.

Applications should foreground the methodological contribution to AI rather than presenting the project only as an application of AI to chemistry or materials science.

Chemistry and Materials Fellowships

  • Kekulé Fellowship (FCI) — An alternative way to fund an outstanding new PhD project in chemistry or a chemistry-related discipline. Applications are only possible near the start of the doctorate: normally within four months and not more than six months after starting. The fellowship cannot be combined with a regular full-time position; additional academic employment is limited to 25%.

The Kekulé Fellowship is therefore mainly relevant when designing a new doctoral position or bridging an unfunded candidate into the group. It is not an additional award for someone already employed full-time.

Awards and Scientific Recognition

During the PhD

  • MRS Graduate Student Awards — For graduate students presenting excellent materials research at an MRS meeting. Applications are linked to an accepted abstract and require an adviser evaluation.
  • E-MRS Young Researcher Awards — For PhD researchers presenting at an E-MRS symposium. Find the Young Researcher Award page under the current Spring or Fall Meeting; applications are linked to a submitted conference contribution.
  • Falling Walls Lab — A three-minute research pitch competition for students and early-career researchers. It suits projects with one clear breakthrough, a compelling barrier, and a strong visual story.
  • CAS Future Leaders — An international leadership and networking programme for PhD researchers and postdocs in chemistry and adjacent fields.

Conference-specific best-paper, oral-presentation, poster, and travel awards should also be considered when submitting an abstract. We do not attend a weakly relevant event solely because it offers a prize.

Near or After Completion

  • DGM support for young researchers — Includes the DGM Young Scientist Award in materials science and engineering. Doctoral researchers and recent graduates may be eligible.
  • GDCh division awards — Includes dissertation and early-career prizes in chemical information, solid-state chemistry and materials research, sustainable chemistry, energy, polymer chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and other areas.
  • Institutional dissertation prizes — Before submitting a thesis, check calls from FSU Jena, the relevant faculty and graduate school, scientific societies, and project partners.

Prepare a dissertation-prize package before the defence: a short thesis summary, a precise statement of the candidate's own contributions, CV, publication list, software and dataset releases, evidence of adoption or impact, and a draft nomination letter.

Travel, Research Visits, and Career Support

  • Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy Mobility Programmes — A high-priority option for group members employed by a Helmholtz Centre. The programmes fund AI- or data-science-related research stays of up to three months at another Helmholtz Centre or an international partner institution, with travel and accommodation support of up to €2,000 per month. An active Helmholtz employment contract is required during the stay; associated researchers are only eligible if travel expenses can be processed through the Centre.
  • DAAD Conference Travel Programme — Supports active participation in international conferences abroad. Doctoral researchers must normally be enrolled for a full doctorate at a German university and need a supervisor statement.
  • IMPULSE conferences — Provides up to €1,000 over two years for FSU doctoral researchers and postdocs presenting their own contribution. It is only relevant to University employees: researchers employed by a non-university institute are excluded.
  • DECHEMA travel grants — Support early-career researchers presenting their own work at meetings in chemical engineering, process engineering, biotechnology, and adjacent fields, particularly DECHEMA-associated events. Applications are assessed quarterly.
  • FSU Jena funding overview — Entry point for internal mobility, career, and research-support programmes.
  • ProChance Exchange and equal-opportunity support — Can support eligible female researchers with conference participation, workshops, summer schools, publications, and short research stays.
  • FSU Jena mentoring programmes — Includes career mentoring for STEM doctoral researchers and the Rowena Morse programme for eligible female doctoral researchers near the end of the PhD.

When possible, combine travel funding with an oral or poster presentation, research visit, collaborator meeting, or exploration of a future postdoctoral position.

Postdoctoral Fellowships

International Programmes

  • Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship — Supports postdoctoral researchers from or firmly integrated into the German research system for 6–24 months abroad. The host must belong to the Humboldt Network and normally contributes part of the fellowship. Non-German applicants should check the German-system integration requirements carefully.
  • MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships — A major European postdoctoral route, developed jointly with the future host and subject to the MSCA mobility rule. Suitable for both an outgoing move and, with an eligible incoming candidate, a return to LamaLab.
  • DAAD PRIME — Supports a postdoctoral position in Germany combined with a mandatory research phase abroad.

German Programmes and Foundations

  • Walter Benjamin Programme (DFG) — One of the strongest general options immediately after the doctorate. It funds an independently planned project, normally with a change of research institution, for up to two years; proposals can be submitted at any time.
  • Daimler and Benz Foundation Postdoctoral Programme — Provides flexible project funding for postdocs and junior professors who already demonstrate some research independence. It is better suited to a later postdoctoral stage than to someone moving directly from the PhD.
  • Fonds der Chemischen Industrie — Liebig Fellowship — A strong route for a chemistry-oriented graduate pursuing a professorship. Applicants are normally within three years of the doctorate and must move to a different group and university location from their PhD.
  • FSU Jena equal-opportunity support for postdocs — Includes career-development, mobility, and bridging support for eligible researchers; availability depends on the current call.

Start planning a major postdoctoral fellowship at least six months before the deadline. Host choice, intellectual independence from the PhD, and a clear research identity are usually as important as the publication record.

Small Project Grants and Computational Resources

  • Klaus Tschira Boost Fund — Up to €115,000 over 24 months for non-permanent postdoctoral researchers in Germany developing an independent, exploratory project in eligible natural-science, mathematics, or computer-science fields. This is not a PhD award. Applicants with substantial independent funding are excluded, and junior group leaders or junior professors cannot request their own salary.
  • Gauss Centre for Supercomputing — Competitively reviewed computing-time allocations for technically demanding projects at German universities and publicly funded research institutions. This is a project resource rather than personal funding or an award; a doctoral researcher may help prepare and scientifically lead an application with the responsible project lead and institution.

How LamaLab Supports Applications

Tell your advisor early if you intend to apply. Request a reference or nomination at least four weeks before an external deadline and earlier for major fellowships or institutional nominations.

Please provide:

  1. the official call and deadline;
  2. a short explanation of eligibility and fit;
  3. your current CV and publication list;
  4. a draft project summary or nomination case;
  5. the exact submission instructions and required letter format.

For competitive institutional nominations, the group will consider scientific ownership, independence, research quality, leadership and community contributions, fit to the call, and the strength of the proposed future programme. Publication count alone is not the selection criterion.