Pathways to Research for Doctoral Students

The program is for doctoral students at the University of Bonn and for universtiy graduates, who must meet the following criteria:

• No other source of financing for their doctorate (e.g. scholarship, employment subject to social security contributions)
• Refugee and/or migration background*
• Ongoing or planned doctoral studies under a first supervisor based at the University of Bonn
• Very good final grade in their degree program
• German or English at C1 level
• Initial research experience in a research project or under a professorship an advantage

Doctoral candidates do not necessarily have to be enrolled at the University of Bonn yet at the time they apply. However, they will not be able to start receiving funding under the Pathways to Research program unless they are enrolled. 

* “With a migration background” means either that the person concerned was not themselves born with German citizenship or that their parents were not born with German citizenship. Doctoral candidates with a migration background must have obtained their “Abitur” in Germany in order to be eligible to apply for the program. For doctoral students with a refugee background, it is irrelevant whether the higher education entrance qualification was obtained in Germany or abroad. 

Required application documents: 

• Degree certificate from your most recent degree program
• Letter of motivation (max. one page, motivation for application; if applicable information about social / cultural engagement; if applicable voluntary information about hardship case such as, for example single parent, chronic illness, disability, caring duties)
• Letter of recommendation and confirmation of academic supervision from a professor at the University of Bonn. 
• Outline of your doctoral studies (no more than three pages)
• Certificate of enrollment from the University of Bonn (if you are not enrolled at the University of Bonn at the time of application, please provide the enrollment certificate as soon as possible to be admitted to the program)
• Signed approval of data protection (please sign the German or English paragraph)
• CV (tabular and max. two pages) 

If you have a refugee background, please send us in addition the following documents:

• ID scan which shows your current residential permit (irrelevant sections may be censored)
• Proof of German or English skills

If you have a migration background, please send us in addition the following documents:

• Scan of your birth certificate if you were born outside Germany or scan of the birth certificate of your parents if you were born in Germany. 
• School leaving certificate from Germany

If you have concerns, reservations or problems concerning the provision of documents, please contact Daina Hues by phone or email to discuss the next steps. 

The documents can be written in German or English. Please send the documents, if possible in PDF or JPG format, to daina.hues@uni-bonn.de

Note: Your letters of motivation and recommendation should be addressed as follows: Daina Hues, Projektmanagerin, Stabsstelle Chancengerechtigkeit und Diversität, Dechenstraße 3-11, 53115 Bonn.