Travel Grants for short-term research stays and summer / winter schools within Germany and abroad
Table of contents
In brief
Program purpose is to support doctoral candidates, postdoc, TUD Young Investigators and Junior Professors with travel allowances for short-term research stays up to three months as well as the participation in summer and winter schools within Germany and abroad. The short-term research stays should not be less than two weeks. Should the latter apply to you, please contact the Graduate Academy. Eligible are doctoral candidates, postdocs, TUD Young Investigators and Junior Professors of all disciplines of TU Dresden. Membership in the Graduate Academy is mandatory.
Please note: Should you not already be a member of the GA, you must hand in your complete membership application including all necessary documents two weeks prior to the respective deadline with us. Only this way we can guarantee that your membership application will be processed in time.
- Extent of funding: The maximum travel allowance amounts up to:
- 3,600.00 EUR for short-term research stays within Germany and Europe (max. 1,200.00 EUR per month)
- 4,500.00 EUR for short-term research stays outside of Europe
- 1,000.00 EUR for the participation in summer/winter schools
- Application Deadlines: 31st March
30th September - Funding period:
1st October 2023 until 30th June 2024
(Deadline 30th September)
1st April 2024 until 31st December 2024
(Deadline 31st March)
Information on Application | Application Documents
JUNE 15th, 2023 - SEPTEMBER 30th, 2023
Program description
with detailed information on the application process
and references to further mandatory application documents
Application documents:
Please note: not all application documents are barrier-free.
Should you require the Letter of Recommendation as barrier-free documents, please contact the team of the Graduate Academy (email: graduiertenakademie@tu-dresden.de).
- Online application form
(Please note that caching is not possible in the online application form!)
For applying doctoral candidates and postdocs - Letter of Recommendation
by your first academic supervisor or Young Investigator
For applying TUD Young Investigators and Junior Professors - Confirmation of Demand of the Faculty
The application has to be submitted
- within the deadline and
- only electronically as one PDF-file (exception: Letters of Recommendation)
via e-mail to graduiertenakademie@tu-dresden.de with the subject “short-term research stay" respectively "summer/winter schools".
No subsequent submissions are possible after the application deadline. Incomplete applications are excluded from the selection procedure for formal reasons.
Information for Awardees
- Fact Sheet "Information for Awardees"
- Form "Final report for Research Stays/Winter and Summer Schools"
- Official application form for trips (in German only; inofficial translation - please do not use this form)
- Official settlement/reimbursement form for travel expenses (in German only; inofficial translation - please do not use this form)
- Business trips and education/training trips - Please click "D" and "Dienstreise" to find further information on travel trips and the reimbursement of travel expenses (available in German only)
- Reservation form of the travel agency DER Business Travel (in German only; inofficial translation - please do not use this form)
- Website of the team "Travel Expenses" of Directorate 2, SG 2.4, Group 2.4.1 - For further information on the administrative handling of travels and travel expenses at the TU Dresden (in German only)
- Daily allowances and accommodation costs for stays abroad (in German only)
- Travel Expenses Policy (Reisekostenordnung - RKO)
FAQ
Doctoral candidates, postdocs, TUD Young Investigators and Junior Professors of all disciplines at the TU Dresden who are full members of the Graduate Academy are eligible to apply for a travel allowance.
Note on the application deadline 31st March 2023:
- The eligible funding period: 1st April 2023 to 31st December 2023
- Please note that the decisions on funding will presumably be released mid July 2023.
For a travel grant awarded from January 2024 onwards, applications should be submitted by 30th September 2023.
Membership at the Graduate Academy:
Your GA-membership will be administered by Promovendus from September 2020 onwards. You can log in to Promovendus via your ZIH login. If you are already a member of the Graduate Academy, you can find the information related to your GA-membership directly on the start page of your Promovendus file. The reference number of your Graduate Academy membership is also listed here.
If you are not yet a member of the Graduate Academy, please follow the instructions of Promovendus for membership. Further information can be found on the website of the Graduate Academy. If you have any questions, we will be happy to support you!
Please note that associate members of the Graduate Academy and postdocs with a GA-HZDR membership are, contrary to full/regular members, not eligible to file applications for the Graduate Academy's funding programs. All other services are open to associated members and postdocs with a GA-HZDR membership.
Information for applicants from the field of Medicine (General Medicine) / Dentistry
As an applicant from the field of Medicine / Dentistry, please note that this funding program can only support your participation in research stays / summer/winter schools that are directly related to your doctorate / postdoctoral phase.
If you are planning to carry out research stays or attend summer/winter schools in the context of your medical studies, please kindly refer to the FOSTER Funding Program of the Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at TU Dresden, which provides funding for student research activities.
Travel grants support doctoral candidates, postdocs, TUD Young Investigators and Junior Professors with travel allowances to carry out research stays up to three months as well as the participation in summer and winter schools within Germany and abroad. The short-term research stays should not be less than two weeks. Should the latter apply to you, please contact the Graduate Academy. The travel grants provide among others support for experimental work, fieldwork, library and archial research, expertise exchange and networking as well as the acquisition of new knowledge and skills.
The maximum travel allowance is up to EUR 3,600.00 for a research duration of three months within Germany and Europe (maximum EUR 1,200.00 per month) and up to 4,500.00 EUR for a research duration of three months outside of Europe (maximum of 1,500.00 EUR per month).
Summer and winter schools may be supported up to EUR 1,000.00 in total.
The travel grant of the Graduate Academy will NOT be paid as an allowance, but is operated under the Terms and Conditions of the Saxon Regulations of Travel Expenses (SächsRKG) and the travel expense policy of the TU Dresden. First of all, a travel application form has to be filled out; afterwards the settlement/reimbursement of the travel expenses has to be claimed. The SächsRKG operates under the reimbursement law; this means that the awardee has to cover all expenses by him/her in advance. At the end of the travel trip, reimbursement of the occurred travel expenses has to be claimed. For more information on this topic please see Information for Awardees.
For short-term research stays abroad:
For children (age: up to max. 12 years), accompanying the applicant during the research stay abroad, a childcare allowance up to maximum EUR 500.00 on the basis of evidence can be applied for the entire duration of the research stay.
All documents which have to be handed in with the application are listed on the respective call. Thus, we kindly ask you to carefully read through the funding program's "Terms and Conditions".
Should you apply for a childcare allowance for accompanying children in the frame of a short-term research stay abroad:
Please document the childcare costs which might incurre during the research stay (offers sufficient). In case of funding, the booking vouchers / invoices for the childcare costs to be settled have to be handed in to the Graduate Academy.
Your supervising professor is the primary supervisor, who is officially responsible for you during your doctorate and who signed the supervision agreement.
No, it is only possible to apply for travel allowances for one research stay or the participation in one summer/winter school only. Thus, it is not possible to hand in various applications for different research stays and/or the participation in different summer/winter schools at the deadline of the call. But it is possible, of course, to apply for a travel grant in the frame of each published call (deadlines: March 31st and September 30st). Nevertheless please note that as a rule, members of the Graduate Academy can only be funded with one short-term scholarship und up to three mobility grants per qualification phase (doctorate/postdoc).
Yes, as stated in the call for applications short-term research stays and/or the participation in summer/winter schools within Germany can be funded by the Graduate Academy.
No, it is not possible to receive a scholarship (short- or long-term) or a mobility grant (short-term research stay/summer/winter school) of the Graduate Academy/TU Dresden during parental leave. The payment of any scholarship rests during parental leave. In case of pregnancy, the payment of the scholarship will continue during the maternity protection period according to the Maternity Protection Law and after the end of the parental leave. The interruption during that time will not be charged on the length of the scholarship.
The selection takes place by the executive committee of the Graduate Academy on the basis of the application handed in. Based on the committee decision, the director of the Graduate Academy authorizes the travel awards. The travel grants are performance-based fundings and have to go through a competitive selection process. The main selection criteria are: qualification of the applicant (academic performance, publications, prizes/awards), quality and relevance of the research stay/participation in the summer/winter school within the frame of the scientific research project, quality of the letter of recommendation and life circumstances (social criteria: e.g. children, family members in need of care). Please note: a fundamental legal right to claim funding within the "Travel grants for short-term research stays and summer/winter schools within Gemrany and Abroad" funding program does not exist.
The application deadlines are
- 31st March – support of research stays/the participation in summer/winter schools abroad which may take place earliest from April 1st onwards until December 31st the same year.
- 30th September – support of research stays/the participation in summer/winter schools abroad which may take place earliest from October 1st until June 30th the following year.
Within the form “Letter of Recommendation” the academic supervisor*, who has to fill out the recommendation letter, is requested to evaluate the academic performance of his/her doctoral candidate. Thereby the supervisor can choose between "Exceptional", "Above Average", "Average" and "No assessment possible“. This represents a subjective decision of the supervisor and should not be related to the ECTS-Grade or the ranking lists of the examination office (e.g., ranking position within the course of study in the final year).
*The “Letter of Recommendation” has be filled out in general by your first academic supervisor or young investigator, who signed the supervision agreement and is also your main supervisor in accordance to the confirmation of acceptance by the doctoral office.
Contact

Funding and Scholarship Advisor
NameMs Vivien Lippmann M.A.
Send encrypted mail via the SecureMail portal (for TUD external users only).
Visitors Address:
Graduiertenakademie Mommsenstraße 7
01069 Dresden
Office hours:
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