Welcome to Germany

About Germany (more)

www.germany.info/us-en/welcome
The German Federal Foreign Office introduces you to German politics, culture and traditions.

www.study-in.de/en
This portal of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) tells you about university studies in Germany and about German culture and daily life in Germany.

www.research-in-germany.de/en
This website gives a wide range of basic facts and figures on Germany. It provides a good insight into all aspects of modern German life.

www.land-of-ideas.org
"Germany - Land of Ideas" is a joint campaign by the German Government and German industry to enhance Germany's image worldwide.

www.internationale-studierende.de/en/home
The German Studentenwerk (student services) provides comprehensive information for prospective students and foreign students.

www.germany.travel
Useful information about Germany: where to go, what to see, what to do.

Employment, insurance (more)

Do you need a visa? What about German social security? All you need to know to live and work in Germany.

www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/einreiseundaufenthalt
This Federal Foreign Office webpage tells you how to find work in Germany and gain entry to the German job market.

www.deutsche-sozialversicherung.de/en
This website explains the German Social Security system.

www.recognition-in-germany.de
This web portal tells you how to get your professional and academic qualifications recognized in Germany.

ec.europa.eu/eures/home.jsp?lang=en
EURES, the European Job Mobility Portal, is a network for cooperation between the European Commission and the Public Employment Services of the EEA Member States. The purpose of EURES is to provide information, advice and recruitment/placement (job-matching) services for the benefit of both workers and employers, as well as for any European citizen wishing to benefit from the guaranteed free movement of persons within Europe.

Learning German (more)

You do not have to know German to do research in Germany, but it helps a lot in daily life and gives you greater insight into German life, culture and traditions.

www.learn-german.net
This DAAD website tells you why, where, and how best to learn German.

www.goethe.de/lrn/wwt/enindex.htm
See this site for German courses available in your country.

Important Internet pages for chemists (more)

www.gdch.de/stellen
Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh)
The German Chemical Society's online job market for chemists announces numerous jobs for doctoral candidates, post-doctoral job seekers and professors. The job market itself is published in German. However, many of our job offerings are published in English.

www.academics.com
The online job market for professionals with a university education.

www.chemeurope.com/en
Information services for the chemical, analytical and laboratory industries.

Research and funding (more)

Learn all about doing research in Germany. Included are databases of research institutes and key information about grants and fellowships for both non-Germans wishing to come to Germany and Germans wanting to live abroad.

www.research-in-germany.de
This internet portal is the first address for anyone interested in the German research landscape.

www.research-in-germany.org/en/research-funding.html
Learn about Germany's research funding system, its funding organizations and funding programmes.

www.research-in-germany.org/en/jobs-and-careers.html
Germany offers highly-qualified PhD students, junior researchers and senior scientists from all over the world outstanding working and career conditions.

www.gerit.org/en/
GERiT – German Research Institutions – provides an overview of 25,000 research institutions in Germany.

www.higher-education-compass.de
The Compass of Higher Education (Hochschulkompass) provides extensive information on Germany's higher education institutions, the range of studies and programmes they offer, whom to contact locally, and the cooperating partners of higher education institutions around the world.

www.euraxess.de/en
Euraxess Germany - the National Coordination Point at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research), is an information point for internationally mobile researchers wishing to come to Germany or to do research outside of Germany. This portal contains practical information about professional and daily life, and job and funding opportunities. 

www.germaninnovation.org
The German Center for Research and Innovation provides information and support for the realization of collaborative projects between North American and German partners.

https://www.daad.de/en
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is the largest funding organization in the world for the international exchange of students and scholars. Its members are German institutions of higher education and student bodies. Whether you're a non-German wishing to study in Germany or a German wanting to study abroad, this site has all you need to know.

http://www.daad.org
This DAAD portal addresses North American university students, scholars, scientists and academics, and German scholarship students during their stay in North America.

www.phdgermany.de
A large variety of job openings and positions for doctoral students appears on the DAAD database PhDGermany.

http://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/home.html
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation funds research fellowships and awards for outstanding scientists and scholars both in and outside of Germany. It aims to promote academic cooperation among high-level academics.

www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/sponsorship.html
Learn all about the Sponsorship Programmes for Scientists and Scholars

http://www.dfg.de/en/index.jsp
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (German Research Foundation) is an independent organization for science and research in Germany. It serves all branches of science and the humanities. Its membership consists of German research universities, non-university research institutions, scientific associations and the Academies of Science and the Humanities.

www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/programmes
The DFG funds and coordinates individual research projects and collaborative research programmes that build up the capacities of host institutions. This site provides an overview of all programmes.

http://www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/research_careers
DFG's funding programmes particularly target support for young researchers.

https://www.daad.de/rise/en
RISE is a summer internship programme for US American, Canadian and British undergraduate students of biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering. It gives undergraduate students a chance to work with university research groups and top research institutions across Germany for two to three months during the summer.

https://www.daad.de/rise-pro/en
This DAAD programme enables North American Masters and PhD students in biology, chemistry, engineering, geology and physics to gain sound practical experience in Germany.

https://www.fulbright.de
The Fulbright Program provides exchanges between the United States and over 180 countries and territories worldwide. The largest of its exchanges worldwide is the German-American Fulbright Program, which focuses on student exchange, with academic year programmes for professors, lecturers and teaching assistants, and summer internship programmes for students.

http://www.iaeste.org
The International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) is an international student exchange programme with partner agencies in more than 80 countries. It provides students in technical fields with paid, course-related, long- or short-term training abroad.  

Non-university research

Four major research organizations in Germany operate independently outside of the university sector:

http://www.mpg.de/en
http://www.mpg.de/career
Germany's 82 Max Planck Institutes serve the general public with basic research in the natural-, life- and social sciences and in the humanities. They offer a variety of jobs and career programmes for young scientists.

http://www.helmholtz.de/en/
http://www.helmholtz.de/en/jobs_talent
The Helmholtz Association is Germany’s largest scientific organization, with 18 research centres in Germany. It offers jobs and programmes for scientists at every stage of their educations and careers.

http://www.fraunhofer.de/en.html
http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/jobs-career.html 
Fraunhofer’s core task is to carry out practical research in close cooperation with clients from industry and the public sector. With 67 institutes and research units, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is Europe’s largest organization for applied research. It offers scientists both research grants and fellowships and various job opportunities.

http://www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de/en.html
http://www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de/en/careers/ 
The Leibniz Association connects 89 independent research institutions that range in focus from the natural, engineering and environmental sciences to economics, spatial and social sciences and on to the humanities. These independent institutions offer a variety of professional positions.

Chemistry Research

Graduate Schools (GSC) were established at universities in the framework of the German Excellence Initiative. Their objective is to provide training and qualification for outstanding doctoral students from Germany and abroad within an excellent research environment. They serve as an instrument of quality assurance in promoting early career researchers and offer large networks that cover wide areas of research.

Graduate schools for chemistry:

Clusters of Excellence (EXC) were established at universities in the framework of the German Excellence Initiative and promote cutting-edge research. Their objective is to engage in scientific networking and collaboration in research fields of particular promise for the future. They also offer excellent training conditions and career opportunities for early career researchers.

Excellence Clusters for Chemistry: 

Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) are organisational units established at universities which enable researchers to pursue an outstanding research programme crossing the boundaries of disciplines, institutes, departments and faculties. The traditional Collaborative Research Centre is generally applied for by one university and is conducted by researchers of that university. Early career support is a key objective of the Collaborative Research Centre Programme. Early career researchers may get involved in a CRC in numerous ways, for example within the framework of an Integrated Research Training Group. Collaborative Research Centres are funded for a period of up to 12 years. 

Collaborative Research Centres 

Transregios (TRR) are Collaborative Research Centres in which up to three universities collaborate with each other and submit a joint application. The contributions of the cooperative partners are essential, complementary and synergetic to the joint research objective. Funding facilitates close, nationwide collaboration among the participating universities and researchers, as well as networking and shared use of resources. There is also the option of international Transregios. 

Collaborative Research Centres/Transregios

Research Units often contribute to establishing new research directions. Research Units are made up of a team of researchers working together on a research project which is often of an interdisciplinary nature. Research units consist of several researchers and subprojects. The subprojects of a Research Unit are often located at several locations throughout Germany. Research Units are generally funded for up to six years.

Research Units

Priority Programmes (SPP) have a programmatic focus and the purpose of advancing knowledge in an emerging field of research through collaborative networked support. They are characterised by their enhanced quality of research through the use of new methods and forms of collaboration in emerging fields. As a rule, one programme can consist of up to 30 individual subprojects located at several institutions across Germany; it usually has one coordinating person. Priority Programmes normally receive funding for a period of up to six years.

Priority Programmes

Research Training Groups combine an ambitious research programme at universities with comprehensive training, tailored supervision and academic freedom to form an ideal environment for a successful doctorate. Research Training Groups can also have an interdisciplinary approach. They are funded for a period of up to nine years. 

Research Training Groups

International Research Training Groups provide opportunities for joint doctoral training programmes between German universities and universities abroad. The research and study programmes are jointly developed and supervised. Doctoral students in the programme spend six months at the partner institution. 

International Research Training Groups 

Integrated Research Training Groups (within Clusters of Excellence or Collaborative Research Centres/Transregios) offer ideal research environments for doctoral researchers. The main aim of these structured training programmes is to provide young scientists and academics with opportunities to independently carry out research at an early stage of their career. The programmes further take care to closely integrate early career researchers into an academic network. Working in Clusters of Excellence or Collaborative Research Centres projects, doctoral researchers achieve additional qualifications. As research assistants in these projects, they contribute to the Research Centre’s success. They are closely involved with the projects and have access to the entire project infrastructure. 

Integrated Research Training Groups in Clusters of Excellence

Integrated Research Training Groups in Collaborative Research Centres

Source: German Research Foundation (DFG), "Research in Germany Chemistry" (2015) here