At the beginning of 2024, a new Philipp Schwartz Initiative (PSI) scholarship holder, Dr. Tetyana Nabokina from Ukraine, will join TU Dresden. Her mentor is Dr. Christian Bach from the Institute of Space Systems.

Every year, the Philipp Schwartz Initiative (PSI) full scholarship provides universities and research institutions in Germany with the opportunity to host researchers who are at risk or have already fled their home countries up to a period of 24 months.

Two researchers were due to start their scholarships at TU Dresden in January 2024. But the Azerbaijani academic Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu was imprisoned in Baku on July 24, 2023. Despite the worldwide efforts of human rights organizations, the prospects of his release and thus the start of his research stay at TUD are poor. His mentor would have been Prof. Marcel Thum, Chair of Economics with a focus on Public Economics.

In total, TU Dresden has been successful 17 times with its applications to the Philipp Schwartz Initiative, which operates under the umbrella of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH). Two scholarship holders were even funded twice, and in three cases it was not possible to commence the scholarships.
While it was initially mainly Syrian researchers, the focus is currently on Ukrainian researchers. Just last December, the Institute of Slavic Studies at TU Dresden hosted a conference of Ukrainian academics from all over Germany organized by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Philipp Schwartz Initiative. At the conference, it was evident that a small scientific diaspora is now forming, which is extremely active and does not lose sight of its home country of Ukraine.

By supporting threatened and refugee researchers, TU Dresden is also assuming its social responsibility on an international level. The university, but above all the researchers who support their colleagues as mentors, make an important contribution to provide a safe haven. The refugee researchers, in turn, make a significant contribution to research at their host institutes.

"We would like to thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for its repeated sponsorship," emphasizes Prof. Roswitha Böhm, Vice-Rector University Culture at TU Dresden. Nine of the scholarship holders to date come from Ukraine, five from Syria and one each from Turkey, Libya and Azerbaijan.

The Philipp Schwartz Initiative

The Philipp Schwartz Initiative was brought to life by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Federal Foreign Office. It enables universities as well as universities of applied sciences and non-university research institutions in Germany to award scholarships for research stays to academics under threat in their country of origin. This initiative is funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Klaus Tschira Foundation, the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Stifterverband and the Stiftung Mercator.

The 14^th call for applications will run until mid-February. Call for applications: Applications are submitted by the university and coordinated by the TUD International Campus in the Directorate University Culture.

More information on the funding program: http://www.philipp-schwartz-initiative.de

Contact:
Katharina Schmitt
TUD International Campus