Funding Instrument 4

SciMed-Doctoral Scholarship

If the application is successful, the SciMed doctoral program offers structured doctoral training to become a Dr.med./Dr.med.dent. with doctoral supervision of the scholarship holders. This includes mentoring interviews as well as scientific supervision and evaluation (midterm and end-of-funding report).

The SciMed doctoral scholarship opens up the opportunity for scientifically highly motivated students of human medicine and dentistry to gain an early start in biomedical research with a challenging experimental doctoral thesis within the SciMed doctoral program of the Faculty of Medicine. The fellowship is funded by BONFOR grants. Purely clinically oriented scientific doctoral theses are also eligible for funding. The prerequisite is that the doctoral thesis is carried out at the Medical Faculty of Bonn and that the doctoral candidate is enrolled there.

Application & Deadlines ¹

For who?

Students of human medicine or dentistry

Requirements

Required Qualification

Preliminary medical examination

Award Criteria

All professors of the Faculty of Medicine are eligible to apply.
In addition, scientists of the Faculty of Medicine with their own external third-party funding are eligible to apply.
In the case of applying scientists, the formal commitment of a university teacher of the respective institution is also required to ensure both supervision (right to doctorate) and access to the infrastructure there until the end of the doctorate. An application directly by doctoral candidates is not possible.
Applicant and supervisor must be present during the entire funding period of the scholarship holder.
The allocation of funds takes place exclusively within the faculty. Accordingly, it is expected that at least the majority of the work program will take place in an institution of the Faculty of Medicine.

Exclusion criteria double funding:

SciMed scholarship funding in case of parallel financing of the studies by other institutional funding sources is excluded (only a lump sum for study costs from the German National Academic Foundation is possible).
In case of double funding, the scholarship holder is obliged to inform the Team Internal Funding immediately in writing.
However, it is possible to be admitted to the SciMed Doctoral program without using the scholarship funds, but including material funding of the working group.

Assessment Criteria

The two central evaluation criteria in the proposal evaluation are 1. the scientific quality of the project and 2. the qualification of the doctoral candidate.
The doctoral candidate is expected to participate fully in the writing of the scholarship application.
Participation in the doctoral-preparatory Pre-SciMed² enters positively into the evaluation. However, non-participation is not an exclusion criterion.
At least one free semester must be taken within the planned funding period for graduation. Willingness to take two semesters of leave (both with official leave of absence) is desired and will count positively in the evaluation.
The preliminary medical examination grade goes positively into the evaluation.
The amount of work described in the project application should be realistic for a 12-month funding period. The feasibility of the workload will count in the evaluation.

Scholarship Conditions

A number of requirements/duties are associated with the SciMed doctoral fellowship and admission to the SciMed doctoral college:

Documented participation in 12 self-selected lectures/seminars as well as completion of the other accompanying measures of the SciMed doctoral program (mentoring, midterm report, BONFOR symposium).
The presence of the doctoral candidates at the University of Bonn is mandatory for the entire duration of the doctoral scholarship. Rotations to other laboratories are possible when they are in the context of the funded project, but needs to be reported to the Team Internal Funding beforehand. Same applies to other short term breaks or reductions.
Study-related stays abroad (such as e.g. Erasmus) and periods in the practical year (“PJ”) are not allowed during the funding period. A maximum of 30 days of clinical traineeship (“Famulatur”) is possible.
Special case second year funding: Study-related stays abroad, PJ periods and clinical traineeships can be completed up to a maximum total of 30 days. Exceeding this limit will result in a corresponding reduction in funding and must be reported to the Team Internal Funding in good time before submitting the application to check eligibility for funding.
When submitting the application, a binding time schedule for the doctorate as well as for further studies must be submitted, in which the conditions mentioned here are taken into account accordingly.
Personal leave times can be coordinated internally directly with the doctoral supervisor.
The extent of secondary employment (“Nebenbeschäftigung”) is limited to a maximum of 8 hours per week for the duration of the doctoral scholarship.

Grants

Personnel funds
Current BAföG maximum rate. (992 €)

Core Facility Services
max. 3,000 € (exclusively CF established at UCB, animal costs also possible)

Materials

Max. 6,000 € including animal costs and computer software that exceeds basic equipment. Hardware and technical equipment is excluded.

Publication Costs
Application for funding to cover publication costs is excluded.

Travel allowance
For trips to present the results of the funded doctoral thesis, which are conducted by the scholarship holder himself/herself, SciMed pays a grant of max. 500 € (if in accordance with the UKB travel expense guidelines)

Application occurs via the scholarship holder and is transferred to their private account after the trip. Travel allowances can only be applied for in the course of the project and after the midterm report has been completed.

The travel allowance can be spread over several meetings and can still be claimed after the end of the SciMed funding or until the account is closed (6 months after the funding period), as long as the maximum amount of 500 € is not exceeded.

Meal costs cannot be taken into account. A prerequisite for the reimbursement of costs is the submission of a travel request to the UKB administration prior to the start of the trip. It is not necessary to apply for the trip in advance at the Team Internal Funding.

In accordance with the provisions of the NRW State Travel Expenses Act, entitlement to a travel allowance expires if the expenses are not claimed in writing within a preclusive period of six months from the day after the end of the trip.

Accounting form ³

Upon return of travel, the following documents must be submitted to the Team Internal Funding:

Informal request letter incl. list of costs claimed
Private bank account
Proof of participation (submitted abstract and confirmation of participation from the organizer)
Original receipts: congress fee, expenses for travel and accommodation
Copy of the business trip request submitted to the HR deparment of the UKB administration (if trip was requested from UKB)
Filled-out accounting form
Protocol of the midterm Report

Duration of Funding

12 months
The 12-month funding period begins from the month following the SciMed meeting date.
Backdating to a project start date already prior to this date is excluded.

Continuation funding

A second year of funding is possible on application in justified exceptional cases:

Interim report: Work report with a compact summary of the research work carried out and the scientific results achieved in the first funding year

Continuation application: Planning of the second funding year with a clearly defined work program; newly drafted application with all the application attachments listed below. In the case of two funding years, at least two semesters off over the entire period are a prerequisite.

Combination options and follow-up funding

If the relevant application requirements are met: Follow-up funding Gerok scholarship (funding instrument 1A)

Procedure

Step 1

Project Application

Contacting the Team Internal Funding
Advice from the Internal Funding Team
Access to the eApplication system
Submission of the project application via the eApplication system.

Step 2

Appraisal & Decision

An internal assessment and a selection interview
Commission consultation

Step 3

Project Execution

12 months

Step 4

Evaluation & Project Presentation

midterm report and evaluation after the first 6 months of funding
End-of-funding report by date of account closure
Presentation of the research project at the BONFOR symposium

Application & Deadlines

Submission of the project application in English including mandatory and additional documents via the BONFOR eApplication system.

eApplication system ⁴

Checklist Submission ⁵

Project Application

Please use the following template to describe your project proposal (in English language):

Project proposal 2025 (EN)

Please use the following document for your project proposal:

Project proposal (EN)⁶

Required Documents

The following documents are required for your application:

Mandatory Documents

Project Application (s. template)
One page of summary of the research project
Curriculum vitae and scientific background of the applicant (including a list of third-party funding obtained)
List of publications of the applicant in the past 5 years
Doctoral theses supervised to date by the applicant or in the working group, both completed (doctoral candidate/topic/year/grading/possibly BONFOR funding) and ongoing (doctoral candidate/topic/start/possibly BONFOR funding).
Curriculum vitae of the candidate (with high school diploma and exam grades)
Preliminary medical examination certificate
Timetable ⁷(course of study and doctoral planning)
Proof of leave of absence (semester of leave): if the leave of absence still has to be applied for or if the application for leave of absence is currently still being processed, an informal declaration of leave of absence can first be uploaded in the eApplication System as a substitute. The official proof of leave of absence must be submitted by e-mail without being requested to do so.
Signed commitment statement (see text templates below)
Signed guidelines for the use of BONFOR funds.⁸
Declaration BONFOR Applicant for Instrument 4⁹

Additional Documents

Curriculum vitae of the supervisor (if different from the applicant)
List of publications of the supervisor (if different from the applicant)
Pre-SciMed Program: Certificate of Completion / Proof of Participation
Cooperation agreement(s)
Votum of the Ethics commission (must be present at the time of application)
Animal Testing Permit (must be present at the time of application)
Further Documentation

Commitment Statements

Commitment Statement¹⁰

Part 1: Supervision and Workplace Commitment
Part 2: Conditions for SciMed Scholarship holders

Deadlines

Grant applications may be submitted at any time, but must be submitted via the eApplication system no later than the application deadline for the respective meeting date.

Application Deadlines ¹¹