Bridge Scholarship for a Doctorate

For women preparing their doctorate

This bridge scholarship is aimed at female early career researchers and artists in the transitional phase between a Master’s degree, Diplom or State Exam and a doctorate/PhD. It is intended to serve as startup funding for the development of a doctoral project.

As a measure to promote gender equality, the bridge scholarship is financed with funds from the Professorinnenprogramm III funding programme for female professors of the German federal government and federal states. The goal is to make the transition to academia career more attractive to women and easier for them to plan as well as to boost the proportion of women among academic staff and professors in the long term.

Who can apply?
Outstanding female graduates who have completed a Master’s degree, Diplom or State Exam and are now preparing for a doctorate, which they plan to complete at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

1 bridge scholarship for a female graduate
A maximum of up to 4 bridge scholarships can be awarded for starting a doctorate (depending on the availability of funds)

Funding: 1.000 Euros per month, funding duration up to 6 months
non-material support: Opportunity to participate in doctoral preparation workshops

Scholarship holders are free to choose the funding period between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. The funding cannot be paused; individual exceptions are detailed in the latest version of the statutes for the awarding of scholarships at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (currently MdU 58/2019, ;MdU 30/2022)

Applications for the funding year 2024/25 are in general possible on an ongoing basis. The first deadline will be 15 January 2025. Depending on whether the scholarship could already be awarded in the 1st awarding round, this call for applications will be updated.

Scholarships 2025/26

The application deadlines will be 15 of January and 31 August 2024.

The general rules are:

Applications will only be considered if they are complete and submitted before the application deadline.
Applicants can apply in parallel for a maximum of two scholarship formats at the
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar at the same time.
An application can not be considered without a letter of recommendation.
There is no legal entitlement to the award of a scholarship.

Procedure

The first application deadline ends on 15^th of January 2025.
The scholarship commission usually decides in March.
The scholarships usually start in April.

CALL 2025/26

Requirements

Eligible for funding are:

Female graduates of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, who have completed a Master’s degree, diploma or State Exam, afford a very good academic record and exam results, and have a special interest in and particular aptitude for scientific work.
Exposés for doctoral projects that are to be registered and completed at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in the foreseeable future.

Please note:

As a rule, no more than 2 years may lie between the date of application and the date of graduation. The degree certificate must be available at the latest at the time of the scholarship application.
The scholarship cannot be granted to persons in employment. Secondary employment is permissable as detailed in the scholarship statutes of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Further details are regulated in the latest version of the statutes for the awarding of scholarships at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (currently MdU 58/2019 and MdU 30/2022).

The start date of the scholarship is April 1, 2025 at the earliest and October 1, 2025 at the latest.
Accordingly, the last scholarship payment must be made no later than March 2026.

Following the scholarship, the scholarship holders are obliged to submit a final report and, where applicable, proof of acceptance (or an application by acceptance) by the respective Doctoral Candidate Admissions Board.

Application documents

Please use the online application form with file upload to apply (in German or English).

Upload the following documents as one single PDF file (max. 15 MB), organised in the following order. Be sure to include your name in the file name:

Letter of motivation (motivation for the doctorate and its relevance to the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar)
Short description of the planned project (max. 3 pages + literature/bibiography + illustrations or diagrams, where applicable)
If applicable: explanation of your personal circumstances and biographical hurdles, such as caring for children or relatives, disability or chronic illness, your parents' (educational) background, migration background, experience of discrimination, etc.
(Please enclose proof or have it ready for inquiries by the Commission)
Time and work plan (for the funding period and, if possible, beyond)
Tabular CV
Degree certificate(s) (Bachelor's degree, if available; Master's degree/diploma/state exam; scans od certificate(s) and grade transcripts).

PLEASE SUBMIT SEPARATELY:

7. statement by a professor of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar who will supervise the doctoral project - the letter should contain statements on the applicant as well as on the planned doctoral project and its integration in the department.

Please submit separately online as a pdf by the respective professorship. For better comparability, please use the "Form for Letters of Recommendation" if possible and send it directly to the scholarship coordinator.

Selection process

The decision on the awarding of grants is taken by the Scholarship Commission at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, taking into account the following criteria:

Suitability of the prospective doctoral candidates for academic work on a doctorate (outstanding academic achievements, if applicable: prizes/awards, publication or international experience)
prospects of success: Originality of the idea and suitability of the project as a basis for a doctoral project (research question, objective, current state of research/theoretical basis, methodological approach if applicable)
Work and time schedule for the preparation of the doctoral thesis, where applicable, also already for the doctoral project itself
Where available: reference to the Bauhaus or the main research areas at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar; significance of the doctoral project, taking into account the aspects of interdisciplinarity, internationality, gender or intersectional perspective
In addition to the applicant’s academic achievements, their voluntary work/commitment, social aspects and the student’s biographical hurdles will also be borne in mind

In addition to the applicant’s academic achievements, their voluntary work/commitment, social aspects and the candidate's biographical hurdles will also be considered.

Any attempts by the applicant to deceive will lead to immediate exclusion from the application procedure. Future applications will not be possible in this case
In view of the absolute confidentiality of the selection procedure, no reasons will be given to applicants for decisions by the commission.
The awarding of scholarships is subject to the availability of funding.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Timon Rabczuk, Vice President for Projcts and Research
Chair of the Scholarship Commission of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

2023
2022

Olga Wiese, Graduate Architektur (Master)
Professorship Presentation Methodology in Design
»Die Auswirkungen des politischen und militärischen Angriffs auf das Leben und den urbanen Raum der Stadt Odesa.«

Paula Carralero Bierzyñska
Professorship Media Theory and History of Science
»Schwimmerinnen
Malerische Interventionen in der psychiatrischen Klinik«

Clara Sofia Fernández Rodriguez
Junior-Professorship Emerging Technologies and Design
»Mycelium als künstlerisches Material«

More about the projects in the scholarship gallery 2023.

Mariann Diedrich
Graduate Master Media Science

supervised by the department for "Geschichte und Theorie der Kulturtechniken"

»Der Körper als Schwelle. Kritische Wahrnehmung als feministische Praxis«