LGF Individual fellowships FAQs

What is the purpose of the LGF fellowship?

The LGF fellowship serves to provide financial support to talented doctoral candidates of all academic disciplines at Heidelberg University and to enable them to concentrate as best as possible on their academic research.

The LGF fellowship does not constitute income in the sense of §§ 18, 19 EStG.

The LGF fellowship does not establish an employment relationship between Heidelberg University and the fellowship recipient. The fellowship payments are therefore not remuneration for work in the sense of § 14 SGB IV and are not subject to social security contributions. The fellowship recipient cannot be obligated to provide any specific academic services or any other form of labor based on the award of the fellowship.

No applicant has a legal claim to receive a fellowship.

How high is the fellowship?

The individual doctoral fellowship of the Landesgraduiertenförderung is 1,650 Euro per month. This includes a monthly allowance of 100 Euro for travel and materials.

Fellowship recipients who do not have mandatory public health insurance through an employment contract can apply for a health insurance allowance of 50% of the actual costs of their health insurance up to a maximum of 100 Euro per month.

Fellowship recipients with children can apply for a child allowance of 400 Euro per month for the first child and an additional 100 Euro per month for every additional child.

Who can write my reports?

The reports can be written only by university professors as defined by § 44 (1) Nr. 1, LHG Baden-Württemberg. As a rule, these are professors, junior professors, junior group leaders, or lecturers with a Habilitation or equivalent qualification. The evaluator should know the applicant personally and should be familiar with his or her academic performance and abilities. In many cases, the doctoral supervisor submits one of the reports. It is not possible for the Graduate Academy to provide assistance in the search for evaluators.

• For a new application you will need two evaluation reports. These must be received by the Graduate Academy by the application deadline. Please contact your potential evaluators in plenty of time.
• For an application for a fellowship extension (first or second extension) you will need one evaluation report. The report must be received by the Graduate Academy by the application deadline. Please contact your evaluator in plenty of time.

Please only submit the number of evaluations indicated in the application instructions. Additional evaluations will not be considered.

Please make sure to forward your LGFG identification number or, if you do not yet have an LGFG identification number, your personal email address to your evaluator(s). You will be notified via automatic email when an evaluation has been submitted to the Graduate Academy for your application.  Please check with your evaluator(s) if you have not received two (for new applications) or one (for extensions) such notification(s) by email before the application deadline.

Is there a form for the evaluation report and where do I find it?

Yes. Both the evaluation form for new applications and the evaluation form for extensions will be available on the website of the Graduate Academy as soon as the call for applications is open. After the evaluation form has been filled out and saved, the evaluator can upload it on the Graduate Academy’s website.

Please make sure to forward your LGFG identification number or, if you do not yet have an LGFG identification number, your personal email address to your evaluator(s). You will be notified via automatic email when an evaluation has been submitted to the Graduate Academy for your application.  Please check with your evaluator(s) if you have not received two (for new applications) or one (for extensions) such notification(s) by email before the application deadline.

How do I find out if all necessary evaluation reports have been submitted?

You will be notified via automatic email as soon as an evaluation has been submitted to the Graduate Academy for your application. Please make sure to forward your LGFG identification number or, if you do not yet have an LGFG identification number, your personal email address to your evaluator(s). Please check with your evaluator(s) if you have not received two (for new applications) or one (for extensions) such notification(s) by email before the application deadline.

Can I apply for a fellowship if I have not yet been officially admitted to my faculty as a doctoral candidate?

Admission as a doctoral candidate to a faculty at Heidelberg University is one of the prerequisites for applying for a LGF fellowship. You must have completed the admission process in your faculty before the application deadline. In certain cases, it may be possible to submit a conditional admission letter from your faculty. Please contact the Graduate Academy (ga-lgf@uni-heidelberg.de) to determine whether a conditional admission as a doctoral candidate in your faculty would be sufficient for your application.
Please note that it is not sufficient to submit a letter of acceptance from your doctoral supervisor.

What is a university degree that qualifies the holder for doctoral training?

A university degree that qualifies the holder for doctoral training is an academic degree that entitles a student to pursue a doctoral degree. In Germany, this is usually a Diplom, Magister or master’s degree.

I received my university degree qualifying me to pursue doctoral training outside of Germany. May I apply with this degree?

Yes. On the application form, please select "außerhalb Deutschlands” (degree from a university outside Germany) in the field "qualifying degree“.

I am writing my doctoral thesis as part of my studies while still in medical school. May I apply for a fellowship?

No. To apply for an LGF fellowship, you need to have successfully completed a university degree.

I would like to apply for the fellowship but cannot submit my university degree certificates because I have just finished my studies. What can I do?

In this case, please ask your university for a temporary degree certificate. The temporary certificate must state that you have completed your studies successfully and include the grades received.

Please note that you must also submit the official letter of admission as a doctoral candidate from a faculty at Heidelberg University with your application.

Can I submit an enrollment certificate instead of the letter of admission from the Faculty?

Yes, if the enrollment certificate clearly indicates that you are enrolled for doctoral studies.

Can I make changes to my application documents after I have submitted them?

Yes. You can submit the attachments (as one PDF file) until the end of the application period using the link that is sent to you via email after you have filled out and submitted the online registration form. Simply follow the link and enter your LGFG identification number or your email address. Please note that if you upload your documents more than once, only the latest version of your application documents will be considered.

Can I submit my documents (project outline, schedule, etc.) in English?

Yes, you can submit your documents in English.

Are there format requirements for the project outline and schedule for completion?

The outline is limited to a maximum length of five pages of text plus a bibliography. The schedule for completion of the project is limited to a maximum of one page. As a guideline, we recommend a line spacing of 1.5 lines and a font size of 10 to 12 points. If your bibliography comes to more than 5 pages, we recommend that you limit your literature list to only selected works.

Must the additional application documents be uploaded as a PDF? Can I submit the documents as a Word document or PowerPoint presentation instead?

Please upload your application documents only as one PDF. Documents submitted in Word, PowerPoint or other formats will not be considered. PDFs can be created directly from Word documents, PowerPoint presentations or most image editing software by using the Adobe PDF function, if installed, or by using free software and the print function. After you have combined your application documents into one single PDF, please check to make sure that the PDF can be opened and the contents can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Please note that the PDF must not exceed the maximum file size of 10MB. Therefore, please be sure to compress images or image files before converting them into a PDF.

An error occurred when submitting the online registration form and my data were not transmitted correctly. What can I do?

Please fill out and submit the online registration form again. After you have filled out the online registration form again, you will receive a new confirmation email including your new LGFG identification. Please use only this new identification number for any further correspondence and for uploading your application documents.

Can I be gainfully employed during the receipt of the fellowship and what do I have to consider?

The purpose of the fellowship is to support you in the completion of your doctoral studies within the planned time frame. Therefore, while you are receiving the fellowship, you should concentrate primarily on carrying out your doctoral project. If you are nevertheless employed while receiving the fellowship, the following conditions apply:

• The work must be of academic nature (e.g. research or academic teaching) and must be related to the subject area of your doctorate and/or to a possible field of work that you could pursue after completing your doctorate.
• If you have an employment contract with Heidelberg University (e.g. as student assistant or a research assistant in the TV-L system), please be aware that there must be no connection between the activity supported by the fellowship and the work carried out within the employment contract. This does not exclude a relationship to the subject area of your doctoral studies.
• You can work a maximum of 40 hours per month.
• The net income you earn cannot exceed 25% of the monthly income of salary group TV-L E 13, level 3 according to the current table of the “Tarifvertrag für den Öffentlichen Dienst der Länder (TV-L), Tarifgebiet West”. If your net income exceeds this amount, the LGF fellowship will be reduced accordingly.

If you are awarded a fellowship, you will be required to provide information about your employment situation. If your employment does not comply with the requirements listed above, you will be obliged to resign from your contract or relinquish your claim to the fellowship.

I was employed at Heidelberg University (not including the University Hospital) in the 3 months before the beginning of the fellowship. How does this effect the receipt of a fellowship?

It is not possible to receive an LGF individual fellowship if the following conditions apply to you:

• you were employed employed as a Mitarbeiter/in nach TV-L or a wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft at Heidelberg University (not including the University Hospital) in the three months before the start of the fellowship AND
• your employment consisted of a contract of more than 25% of a full-time position AND
• the work you did has a direct connection to your doctoral project (this means that through the contract you earned income for doing the research that makes up your doctoral project).

If this describes your funding situation, please contact the Graduate Academy.

Can I apply for a fellowship if my current income will exceed the limit indicated above (25% of a TV-L E13, level 3, Tarifgebiet West position) or if it already exceeds this income limit?

Yes, you can apply for a fellowship even if your current income exceeds this limit. If your income exceeds the income limit during the time in which you receive the fellowship, the fellowship will be reduced by the exceeding amount. This rule applies only to the income you receive while receiving the fellowship.

When and how do I find out if my application was successful?

The Graduate Academy will notify you in writing about the awards decision after the completion of the awards process at around the beginning of July.

Are parallel applications for other fellowships negatively evaluated?

No. Parallel applications for other fellowships will not have negative effects on your application for the LGF fellowship.

Does the LGF Fellowhsip include "Urlaubsanspruch" (legally-mandated vacation time)?

No. The receipt of a fellowship does not create an employment relationship. Therefore, no benefits are awarded with the fellowship and the fellowship recipient cannot be obligated to provide any specific academic services or any other form of labor based on the award of the fellowship.

Information about taxation/social security contributions in connection with the LGF doctoral fellowships

The fellowships may be paid out by the university free of income taxes and social security contributions if the requirements according to the Income Tax Act are met. The fellowship recipient is responsible for determining whether he/she is liable to pay income taxes. The fellowship recipient is responsible for paying any possible income taxes or insurance themselves.