heiDOCS 2.0 Project grants

You can apply for a project grant for financial support to:

• purchase data (incl. the acquisition of data set licenses)
• collect data
• carry out projects that are relevant to your doctoral training and to obtain materials (expenses such as the remuneration of test persons, printing of questionnaires, posters or flyers for a study)

Please make sure that the collection, processing and storage of your data is carried out in accordance with data privacy regulations. You must ensure that your data is stored on a university server belonging to the relevant institute in a way that is compliant with data protection regulations.

• External evaluation: Bring an external evaluator to Heidelberg. The qualifications of the external evaluator must comply with the regulations of the relevant Faculty.
  The organization of a joint event by you and the evaluator (e.g. a doctoral colloquium) during his or her stay in Heidelberg, which is open to other doctoral researchers of your faculty, can have a positive effect on the awarding of the funding.

You are eligible to apply for the grant, if

• you have successfully completed a university degree that entitles you to pursue a doctoral degree (In Germany, this is usually a Diplom, Magister or master's degree),
• you have been officially admitted to one of the 13 Faculties at Heidelberg University* and
• there are no funds available from your institute or through your externally-funded doctoral project to cover the expenses incurred by the project.
  * Medical students who are writing their doctoral thesis during their medical studies, before completing their degree (studienbegleitende Promotion) are not eligible to apply.

Eligibility for funding ends at the end of the month in which you take your final examination (Disputation/Rigorosum) or at the end of the month in which your doctoral training at Heidelberg University ends for other reasons (e.g. termination of your doctoral training or transfer to another university to pursue doctoral training).

You must submit a complete application by the relevant deadline in order to be considered for funding. Please note that this also applies even if the deadline falls on a weekend or public holiday.

Please note the following deadlines and plan accordingly:

a) Data sets, data acquisition, project-related materials

The grant will cover costs up to a maximum of 1,000 Euro.

The amount awarded for a grant will be based on the expenses declared in your application form. Please include proof of the (estimated) costs from your provider (e.g. quotes or cost estimate from the provider) with your application.

If your actual expenses exceed the amount for which you have applied or the maximum grant amount of 1,000 Euro, the difference will not be covered by the grant. You will have to cover this amount yourself.

If the grant is approved, the project grant can either be paid out to you in the form of a reimbursement of the expenses you have already covered or it can be paid out from the Graduate Academy directly to the external service provider. For the latter, please note that the amount on the service provider's invoice must correspond to the approved funding amount from the heiDOCS program.

The following expenses can be covered:

• data set acquisition
• data set collection
• compensation for test persons
• materials like flyers, posters for a study

The grant does not cover:

• costs for books, copies and literature
• insurance
• hardware
• infrastructure at your work space
• devices and technical equipment
• Hiwi contracts

b) External evaluation

The project grant external evaluation will reimburse the external evaluator's expenses for travel and accommodations (up to a maximum of two nights and 100 euro/night). The amount awarded will be based on the expenses declared in your application form up to the maximum grant of 1,000 Euro.

If the actual expenses for travel and accommodation exceed the amount for which you have applied, this difference will not be refunded. You will need to cover the difference yourself.

If the grant is approved, the project grant can either be paid out to your institute in form of a reimbursement or be transferred to your institute in advance.

The following expenses can be covered:

• the return trip and local public transportation (airfare, train fare, tickets for public transportation etc.)
• accommodations for a maximum of 2 nights, not including meals (hotel, private room rental, guesthouse apartment).

The grant does not cover:

• honorariums for the external evaluator(s)
• expenses related to private travel and/or for fellow travellers
• daily allowances ("Tagegeld")
• meals
• leisure activities