Maria Reiche Doctoral Fellowships (without Faculty of Medicine)

Female (prospective) doctoral candidates at the TU Dresden, who are not working more than two years on their doctorate. The two years are considered to be completed latest in the month before the requested funding period begins.

You cannot apply if you will be employed as a research assistant (for 19 hours per week) or hold an employment relationship or receive funding from another institution (such as private funding institutions, industry) during the applied period of funding.

Doctoral candidates of the faculty of medicine are also not eligible.

Your supervising professor is the primary supervisor, who is officially responsible for you during your doctorate and who signed the supervision agreement.

No, the grants are not subject to social insurance contribution, because according to § 3 Nr. 44 Income Tax Act (EStG) they are exempt from taxation. Reception of the grant does not constitute a employment relationship and thus does not represent a payment according to § 14 Social Insurance Code (SGB) IV. As a result, the funding is not subject to social insurance contribution. It is the grant holder's sole responsibility to arrange for all her necessary personal and property insurances. Financial assistance in case of illness, or contributions to health insurance cannot be granted.

No, because the grants do not constitute an employment relationship, your health is not insured via the TU Dresden. As it is obligatory to be sufficiently health insured, it is your own responsibility to procure a health insurance and cover its costs. Neither does the grant include an accident or third party liability insurance. We therefore highly recommend you arrange for those insurances as well.

As a matter of principle, yes, it is possible to pursue sideline activities and as well as to earn additional income during the funding period for up to 10 hours/week or 2 SWS teaching activity. 

No, it is not possible to receive a scholarship (short- or long-term) or a mobility grant (short-term research stay abroad) 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.
Applications for Travel Awards are possible only if such an attendance during your maternity/parental leave is compatible with the guidelines of the scholarship provider or your employer. It is absolutely necessary to ask in advance and before submitting your application, if your donor allows or supports such travels.

As a grant holder you are obliged to inform the Graduate Academy about all personal and economic changes that are relavant for the amount of your funding. Especially income changes may lead to a reduction of the amount of funding you receive.

Within the forms “1^st Letter of Recommendation” as well as “2^nd Letter of Recommendation” the academic supervisor*, who has to fill out the recommendation letter, is requested to evaluate the academic performance of her doctoral candidate. Thereby the supervisor can choose between 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and „no assessment possible“ among he/she ranks her doctoral candidate. 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 “1^st 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. The 2^nd Letter of Recommendation can be submitted by a further academic supervisor, researcher at postdoctoral level or a junior research group leader.

The description of the research project shall not exceed 7 pages and has to include:

• Problem statement, explanation and aim of the planned project
• Description of the topic related to the state of the art in the discipline (literary review)
• Preparatory work
• Work und time schedule for the requested funding period

There are no formal restrictions to the design of the description, but we recommend the following:

• A4
• font size mininum 10, preferably Arial
• Cover sheet and bibliography can be added to the 7 pages of the description

For almost all scholarship applications, a separate letter of motivation is required.
You only have to convince by your written application when applying for this scholarship program - a personal interview will not take place. The more important is the letter of motivation: use it to present your personality and motivation for your application. In principle, a letter of motivation is similar to a job application and you need to present yourself, your knowledge and skills and relate them to the funding provider. The letter of motivation is the perfect instrument for that, because it offers more space to explain your personal and academic background than the "ordinary" cover letter can do only in brief.

There is no formal pattern for such a letter - but you can implement some tips, because you should convince with your "personal touch" to convince:

Content issues:

• Before writing, think about why do you fit to the TU Dresden and especially this funding program? Why do you even need a scholarship and why exactly this? Why should the TU Dresden just promote you? Why do you want to pursue a doctorate?
• What do you expect from the scholarship? How would the scholarship specifically help you to pursue and achieve your personal and professional goals?
• Read the call for applications thoroughly and highlight all the requirements and expectations (criteria) that are set to the applicants. Describe how you meet these criteria and why you are the appropriate candidate for the scholarship. Best to prove your statements with examples as well.
• Use the most important and appropriate points from your curriculum vitae, which qualify you especially for the scholarship, which you particularly distinguish and stand out from others, e.g., study, internships, work experience, language skills, awards / honors, publications, previous doctoral studies etc.

Formal issues:

• max. 2 pages
• DIN A4 page
• at least font size 11