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For Individuals with Special Needs

Funding for doctoral candidates and postdocs with special needs is available from the following institutions:

Arbeitgeber-Service für schwerbehinderte Akademiker

The Arbeitgeber-Service für schwerbehinderte Akademiker (Employer Service for Academics with Special Needs) supports individuals with special needs in finding ideal employment, for instance, by compiling suitable job offers, targeting employers for suitable jobs, and initiating projects. Applicants are additionally supported by providing advice and identifying individual funding and other support opportunities. You can find additional information on the pages of the Arbeitgeber-Service.

Kufner Stiftung zur Förderung körperbehinderter Hochbegabter

The Kufner Stiftung zur Förderung körperbehinderter Hochbegabter (Kufner Foundation for the Promotion of Highly Gifted Persons with Special Needs) provides assistance to intellectually highly talented individuals with physical or sensory impairments in matters related to vocational and professional education and training, including financial support for university students. This involves monetary and non-monetary support in seizing existing education and training opportunities as well as pioneering new educational paths and providing means-tested cost-of-living support to those in need. For additional information and queries, please contact Ms. Johanna Kellner.

Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities/EmployAbility

EmployAbility is an organization that assists individuals with special needs of various kinds in their search for internships and graduate programs as well as in entering the labor market. Google collaborates with EmployAbility to issue a call in the fall of each year for scholarship applications for, among others, doctoral candidates with special needs. You can find additional information at Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities or EmployAbility.

Deutsche AIDS-Stiftung

The Deutsche AIDS-Stiftung (German AIDS Foundation) assists doctoral candidates or postdocs who are HIV positive or have fallen ill with AIDS and whose incomes do not exceed the ALG-II level by providing funding for equipment related to their studies or dissertation, for instance, for purchasing a computer or working materials, or for excursions. Regular scholarships are not awarded. Applications can be submitted online (either directly or via one of the information centers). You can find additional information on the pages of the Deutsche AIDS-Stiftung.

Stiftung Darmerkrankungen

The Stiftung Darmerkrankungen (Intestinal Illness Foundation) funds doctoral candidates and postdocs, among others, with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis up until age 35 by providing a one-time scholarship for continuous education and other qualification activities. The educational activity in question can have already begun at the time of being awarded the scholarship but should not have been completed and should commence by the end of the funding period at the latest. Funding is available, for instance, for stays abroad related to the applicant's dissertation, necessary working materials, and cost-of-living expenses under some circumstances. The call for applications for the educational scholarships is issued once annually; the maximum scholarship amount is 10,000 EUR. You can find additional information on the page of the Stiftung Darmerkrankungen.

Many Begabtenförderungswerke and foundations offer funding with the goal of compensating disadvantages or covering the higher costs related to special needs.

To the extent necessary and that its statutes allow, the German Research Foundation (DFG) also takes into account the extraordinary situation that people with special needs or chronic illnesses are faced with in the application process or in project implementation. You can find additional information on the page of the DFG.