Guidelines / FAQs for applying for a bridging grant from the Faculty of Law

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General questions
 

► Who can apply for a bridging grant?
► What is meant by "bridging grant" ?
► When should I apply?
► How high is the grant?
► When does the bridging grant start and for how many months will I receive it?
► I was employed at Heidelberg University (not including the University Hospital) in the 3 months before the beginning of the bridging grant. How does this effect the receipt of a grant?
► Can I receive funding through an employment contract or another grant while I am receiving the bridging grant?
► Is there a deadline for the submission of my dissertation?
► How do I know if the Graduate Academy has received my application?
► When will I be notified of the decision regarding my application?
► Can I suspend the grant?

Questions about the application forms

► What do I need to consider when filling out the application form?
► Do I need to submit any additional documents (e.g. publication lists, etc.)?
► What is meant by "external funding"?
► Who can issue the evaluation form for my application?

General questions

Who can apply for a bridging grant?

The bridging grants are only open to doctoral students who have been officially ad­mit­ted to the Faculty of Law at Heidelberg University.

What is meant by "bridging grant"?

The purpose of the bridging grant is to fund the swift and efficient completion of your dissertation project. You can apply for a grant to fund the final six months of work on your dissertation up to the submission of the dissertation to the Faculty. The period between submission of the dissertation and the oral examinations cannot be funded.

Eligibility for funding ends at the end of the month during which the dissertation was submitted to the faculty or at the end of a month during which a circumstance arises that is not compatible with funding offered through the Faculty’s heiDOCS program. This includes the termination of the doctoral project or the commencement of employment that is not compatible with the funding.

Note: The funding is awarded in the form of grants. The award of a grant does not establish an employment relationship between Heidelberg University and the recipient. The recipient of the grant may not be obligated to perform any specific academic service or employment activity in connection with the grant.

When should I apply?

Applications can be submitted at any time.

The applications will be collected and evaluated as a group after the deadlines indicated below. The funding should start within the period indicated for the respective deadline.
 

Deadlines            Start of funding

Please take note of the deadlines and corresponding funding periods. The awards notifications will be sent out about 6 to 8 weeks after each deadline.
 

Important:

• Grants cannot be approved retroactively.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.
   

How high is the grant?

The grant is max. 1,000 Euro per month and will be awarded for a maximum of 6 months. The grant is paid out monthly.

When does the bridging grant start and for how many months will I receive it?

Funding can begin at the earliest within the period indicated for the respective deadline and it will be paid out for a maximum of 6 months. You can determine the starting point and duration of your grant according to your needs, taking into account the deadlines and the corresponding time periods. The grant can begin only at the beginning of a month and ends at the end of a month. Please indicate the time period during which you would like to receive the grant on the online registration form.

Please note: The duration of the grant should correspond to the remaining work to be completed on your dissertation.

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

It is not possible to receive the grant if the following conditions apply to you:

• you were 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 funding 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 this 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 (ga-docs@uni-heidelberg.de).

Can I receive funding through an employment contract or another grant while I am receiving the bridging grant?

The purpose of the bridging grant is to help you to complete your dissertation success­fully and efficiently. Therefore, while you are receiving the grant, you should be occupied only with the completion of your dissertation. Furthermore, this grant is intended to support doctoral students who have no other source of funding during this final phase. Therefore, if you plan to have additional income from employment or another grant while you receive this bridging grant, you must indicate the reasons for this income clearly in your application. You are not eligible for a bridging grant if you are receiving another grant for your doctoral studies.

Please note that, in accordance with the university's fiscal regulations, any employment relationship at Heidelberg University during the period in which the grant is received may not exceed 25% of a full-time job. Please be aware that there must be no connection in terms of time, place or content between the activity supported by the bridging grant and the employment relationship. This does not exclude a relationship to the subject area of your doctoral studies.

Important: If there are changes to your income while receiving the grant, please contact the Graduate Academy immediately (ga-docs@uni-heidelberg.de).

Is there a deadline for the submission of my dissertation?

Yes. You must submit your dissertation to the Faculty of Law no later than 3 months after the bridging grant has ended. Please submit a confirmation from the Faculty of your submission within this time period to the Graduate Academy.  

If your dissertation is not finished within three months of the end of the bridging grant, you must submit an interim report on the status of your dissertation, a work schedule and a short assessment by your doctoral supervisor to the Graduate Academy. The Graduate Academy reserves the right to require a full or partial repayment of your grant if these documents are not received by the Graduate Academy within the three month deadline as outlined above.

How do I know if the Graduate Academy has received my application?

Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to automatically notify each applicant that their application has been received. If you want to check on the status of your application, please send an email to: ga-docs@uni-heidelberg.de.

Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered.

When will I be notified of the decision regarding my application?

The awards notifications are sent out after the entire evaluation process is completed; this process takes about 6-8 weeks after each application deadline. It is not possible to inform you about the results of your application before all evaluations are completed.

Can I suspend the grant?

Yes. It is possible in exceptional cases (for example illness, pregnancy, family reasons) to suspend the grant for up to 12 months, as long as your doctoral supervisor confirms that the completion of your dissertation is not jeopardized by the interruption. Please contact the Graduate Academy immediately if you think that you will need to suspend your grant (ga-docs@uni-heidelberg.de).  

Questions about the application forms

What do I need to consider when filling out the application form?

Please fill out the application form (see » Application procedure and forms) electronically; do not handwrite your application. In order to ensure that the electronic forms work with all versions of the Adobe software, we strongly recommend that you first download and save the empty application form on your computer and then fill the form out and save it again.

Please use an Apple or Windows operating system to fill out the forms. The forms are not compatible with a Linux system.

Please use only the space provided in the existing fields on the application forms. The evaluators will not be able to read any text that extends beyond the existing limits of the fields.

Please do not change the formatting of the fields on the application forms.

Please send the application documents as separate attachments in your email. You do not need to merge the various documents into one PDF file.

Do I need to submit any additional documents (e.g. publication lists, etc.)?

The application procedure and required application documents are indicated in detail here. No additional documents that are not listed on the website such as publication lists or literature lists will be sent to the evaluators.

What is meant by "external funding"?

“External funding” refers to funds that you have received from an external funding organization for your doctoral project in general or for another research project.

 

Who can issue the evaluation form for my application?

The evaluation form for your application must be issued and submitted to the Graduate Academy by your doctoral supervisor. Please note that the evaluation is to be treated confidentially by your supervisor and must be sent by your supervisor directly to the Graduate Academy: ga-docs@uni-heidelberg.de
Please be aware that the application deadlines also pertain to the receipt of the evaluation form.

If it is not possible for your first supervisor to fill out the evaluation form for you (e.g. due to illness, parental leave etc.), you can ask another professor in your subject area who is familiar with your project to evaluate your application and complete the form for you.