DAAD Scholarships for Study and Research in Germany

Scholarships for study and research in Germany are available from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for the academic year 2008-2009. At least one UB applicant will be funded (only 1-5 students apply).

The fellowships carry a monthly stipend of €715 to €975 ($1015-$1390) and include tuition and travel. Applicants in the arts and humanities should have a good command of German; applicants in the sciences can have less German. Eligible are U.S. and Canadian citizens as well as foreign students affiliated with an American university.

Graduating seniors and graduate students from all disciplines may apply for a "Study Scholarship" to study at the German university of their choice from 10/1/08 to 7/31/09.

"Research Grants" are available to graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in all fields for stays of 1-10 months (a one-year extension is possible). Ten-month visits must occur between 10/1/08 and 7/31/09.   Short-term grants (1-6 months) must occur between 7/1/08 and 12/31/08.

To apply, contact Professor Patricia Mazon directly, 584 Park Hall (645-2181 x 584, mazon@buffalo.edu), who collects and screens all UB applications.

Campus Application Deadline: November 5, 2007 (Oct. 22 for students in music/performance/fine arts)

Advice for the DAAD Grant

Please read this page and the information on the DAAD website very carefully.  Also examine the sample research statements (links below).  If you still have questions, I am happy to answer them.  If it's complicated, please call.

Contact Information for Prof. Patricia Mazón, UB campus liaison for the DAAD

Office:  Park Hall 584

Tel.:  (716) 645-2181 x 584 (office), (716) 883-3924 (home, after 12 p.m. only)

Fax:  (716) 645-5954 (office)

Email:  mazon@buffalo.edu

General Instructions

Please read the instructions at www.daad.org carefully.  Pay attention to how the application is to be submitted online.  I will need a hard copy of your application by the deadline I have announced.  In general, you need to follow the directions extremely carefully.  The DAAD is very detail-oriented.

Information about the Competition 

This grant competition has two parts.  The first one is a local competition at UB, where the deadline is generally in September or October.  The second one is a national competition in the New York DAAD office, with a deadline usually in November.  All students or postdocs affiliated with UB must apply through me, Prof. Mazón, in order to advance to the national  competition.   

The campus competition is usually judged by Prof. Mazón along with two colleagues.  The best applicant here is nominated for UB's one set-aside fellowship from DAAD.  Our selection must be confirmed by DAAD New York, and usually is, but not always.  At the campus level, we rank all the applicants.  We forward our ranking, plus all of the applications we have, to the national round of competition.  The New York office reaches a decision by March or April and communicates directly with the applicants.

Each year we have 1 to 6 applicants.  Over the last 8 years, we have averaged 1.75 awards a year (one set-aside and one additional grant); we have had 14 awards for 27 applicants over this period.  I have administered the DAAD grant since 2001.  Since 2003, applications to the DAAD have increased markedly, and the grant has become more competitive. 

If you are going to the trouble of applying for the DAAD grant, you should go ahead and apply for some of  the other grants to study in Germany, such as the Fulbright, the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., the SSRC, etc.  For full list of grant agencies, visit the homepage of the Graduate Group for German and Austrian Studies (http://wings.buffalo.edu/org/gggaas/) and click on links.  You should also consult the advice for undergrads and grads seeking to study in Germany available on my History Department webpage:  /people/mazon.shtml

Dates of Study

For some scholarships, the money can only be used during the German academic year, which runs 10 months, from October through July.  Special guidelines sometimes apply to stays of less than six months.  The most current information is online.  It is your responsibility to make sure the dates of your stay conform to DAAD guidelines.

Language Evaluation

Those of you at UB should ask Dr. Fertig (fertig@buffalo.edu) to complete your language evaluation.  Please make this easy for him by bringing proof of your fluency (transcripts, certificates, papers, etc.).  Please keep a copy of his letter for your own files.  The language evaluation cannot be filled out by a TA.

The level of German fluency required by the DAAD depends on your area of study.

Applicants in the social sciences and the humanities will eventually need to pass the German equivalent of the TOEFL, now called the TestDaF, in order to enroll at a German university.  Generally students need the equivalent of four years (and no less than three) of college-level German to pass this test.  More information on the test, along with sample questions, is at www.testdaf.de.  Generally speaking, though, you will not be able to do serious academic work in Germany without a firm command of German.  Lack of sufficient German is the most common reason why applicants in the social sciences and humanities are turned down by DAAD.

Applicants in the natural sciences and engineering can get by with less German if the language of their laboratory is English or if close collaborators are fluent in English. 

Applicants in the arts will have their German fluency evaluated by field.  Fluent German is crucial to the theater, and less so for other areas.

Letters of Recommendation from UB Faculty

Your letters of recommendation from UB faculty need to reach me by the deadline I have set.  Keep in mind that campus mail is slow.

Letters from a German Professor or Contact

Letters from your German advisor (Betreuer) can be faxed to me at the number above, or you can turn in the fax copy yourself.  Email from a German advisor will not be accepted as the official invitation, although you may submit it in addition to the official advisor letter.  Without such a letter, your chances are not great.

Just FYI, the academic year in Germany ends mid-July.  After that, people are on vacation and difficult to reach until school starts again in mid- or late October.

VIII.  Research Statement

For your research statement, keep in mind that an interdisciplinary committee will be reviewing this.  No jargon!  Please work on  your statements with the advisor you already have in your field.  Once that person has helped you, I am happy to read over your statement before you officially submit it.  Please call me to set up an appointment; I prefer to go over hard copies in real time, so do not email me files.

Here is a good format to follow.

I.  Statement of Problem, including why should we care?  Why is this relevant?

II.  Standard Approaches to Problem Tried by Others (a few footnotes here are OK)

III.  Your Thesis-- what is special/different about your approach-- be bold

IV.  Your Workplan-- why do you need 1-10 months (specify length of time needed)?  How will you divide up what you have to do?

V.  Justification of university and city as bases for your project. Include specific professors, labs, libraries, archives, museums, whatever else will help you in your work.

VI.  You may append a short bibliography or list of institutions if you wish.

For graduate students and postdocs:  for the DAAD application, it is very important to have research proposal that is both cutting-edge and comprehensible to people in different disciplines.

For a sample statement by a graduating senior, click here.

For a sample statement by a student in the arts, click here.

For sample statements by doctoral students, click here, here, and here.

For a sample statement by a postdoc, click here.

List of previous grantees:

Students are listed by the year they were in Germany (they applied the year before).

2000-01:  Four applicants.  Four awards were made to John Stoebner (doctoral student, history), Gloria Zuniga (doctoral student, philosophy), Axel Fair-Schulz (doctoral student, history), Marybeth Boger (doctoral student, education)

2001-02:  Two applicants.  Two awards were made to David Furber (doctoral student, history) and Bruce Hall (doctoral student, history).

2002-03:  Five applicants.  One award made to Lowell Vizenor (doctoral student, philosophy).

2003-04:  Three applicants.  No one received an award.

2004-05:  Four applicants.  Two awards were made to Axel Fair-Schulz (postdoc, history) and Geoff Carver (doctoral student, anthropology).

2005-06:  Two applicants.  One award made  to Erick Feijoo (graduating senior in International Studies).

2006-07:  1 applicant.  No one received an award.

2007-08:  6 applicants.  Four awards made to Rares Piloiu (postdoc, comparative literature), Natalia Mikhailova (doctoral student, comparative literature), N. Andrew Walsh (graduate student, music), and Robert Hinds (graduating senior, theater).

Awardee Who May Be Contacted

Rob Hinds (kjeldore@hotmail.com)