There are numerous opportunities for researchers to spend a shorter or longer period of time at Freie Uiversität: through an exchange with partner universities, with a fellowship from an international intermediary organization, as a salaried postdoc, or as a visiting lecturer. Like other international researchers, refugees and scholars at risk can take advantage of the offers for visiting scholars at FUB. An overview of the offers can be found under Funding for Visiting Scholars at FUB and Welcome Services for Visiting Scholars.
In any case, you will need an academic contact person in a department of Freie Universität Berlin who will help prepare your visit and supervise you during your stay.
The most important first step is to contact an academic partner in an FUB department and ask for support with a fellowship or research proposal or a guest stay. Decisive for the selection and cooperation is the scientific proximity to the own research focus. International researchers can find an overview of the departments, including research projects, research assistants and professors here.
In a second step, refugee and at-risk researchers can collaborate with their partner at Freie Universität Berlin, e.g., to apply for fellowships or jointly obtain research funding. Freie Universität cooperates with several foundations and networks that explicitly support researchers at risk with fellowships and research stays. These include:
In addition to the above-mentioned programs, international scholars can apply for changing special programs for researchers at risk in cooperation with an academic supervisor at the FUB as well as for regular research funding, for example from the DFG, the DAAD or European funding pots such as MSCA.
It is important to know that the German science system is highly competitive and makes special demands on the scientific career of each applicant. For this reason, it is worthwhile to gain an overview of the science system and the funding landscape in advance in order to be able to select suitable funding sources and to assess one's own research biography in this regard. Research in Germany offers such an overview.
Contact persons at Freie Universität Berlin
At Freie Universität Berlin you will find contact persons for the respective funding programs:
For proposals and questions about the Einstein Foundation (Academic Freedom Program):
Hannes Berger, Research Funding, Tel.: (030) 838 59109; e-mail: hannes.berger@fu-berlin.de
For suggestions and questions about Scholars at Risk/Philipp Schwartz Initiative/Scholar Rescue Fund:
Stefan Rummel, Department of International Affairs, Tel: +49 30 838-73402, e-mail: stefan.rummel@fu-berlin.de
For proposals and questions about research funding:
Research Funding and Application Counseling at Freie Universität Berlin
