Information for Threatened and Refugee Researchers

Find a personal report by Visiting Fellow Dr. Nazir Ahmad Yosufi on his academic journey from Afghanistan to the GIGA here. We welcomed him at the Institute upon invitation by Prof. Dr. Amrita Narlikar, his research funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

Support for Researchers Affected by the War in Ukraine

The GIGA would like to invite researchers affected by Russia's war on Ukraine and whose work is in line with the GIGA’s Research Programmes to contact us. Whenever possible, we will try to offer support, e.g., by:

• Helping identify and apply for sources of funding from German institutions (for more info, see below)

• Facilitating contacts to researchers from the GIGA and our cooperation partners

• Providing access to the GIGA Library

• Other help to facilitate research

List of German Institutions Offering Funding for Threatened Researchers

• Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation provides scholarships for refugees. Undergraduate and graduate students as well as PhD candidates may apply. The application deadlines are 15 January and 15 July of each year.

• Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation offers financial support for students and upcoming scholars that are political refugees in form of a solidarity fund. Applications can be submitted at any time.

• Philipp Schwartz Initiative (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) The Philipp Schwartz Initiative provides universities and research institutions in Germany with the means to host threatened foreign researchers for a period of 24 months on a fully funded research fellowship.

• The German Research Foundation (DFG) The DFG made funding options available for scientists and academics who have fled their home countries. Supplemental proposals to research projects that are already funded by the DFG can be submitted for refugees and at-risk researchers who have already completed a degree programme and any funding which allows refugees to be integrated in a project. Proposals can be submitted informally at any time. Contacts and information for refugees from Ukraine or Russia can be found here.

• Volkswagen Foundation The Volkswagen Foundation has two funding opportunities: The fellowhips programme provides researchers who were funded during the last ten years by the foundation with the means to host threatened foreign researchers for a period of up to 2 years. Furthermore, grant recipients of projects currently funded by the foundation can (in addition to the grants already made) integrate refugee scholars into their research projects. In response to the war in Ukraine, the Volkswagen Foundation now offers special funding for scholars and researches fleeing the country. Refugees from Afghanistan find more information here.

• Scholar Rescue Fund The Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) support visiting appointments for threatened scholars around the world to continue their work in safety at partnering academic institutions worldwide.

• Scholars at Risk Scholars at Risk is an international network of institutions and individuals whose mission it is to protect scholars and promote academic freedom.