Bridge Fellowship

The Bridge Fellowship aims to support doctoral researchers during the final phase of their doctoral studies or in the transition between graduating from Ph.D. studies and the next career step. This funding scheme also includes postdoctoral researchers who have applied for external funding for their position and need interim financing for the time until a funding decision is made.

What is funded?
Fellowships are available for a duration of three to six months per selected fellow as a 65% TV-L E 13 part-time position.

Funding is available for several fellowships.

Who can apply?
Applications are open to early career researchers whose contract ends and who belong to one of two following groups:

  1. Doctoral researchers in the final phase of their doctoral studies or the transition period after having earned their Ph.D. until their next career step who receive funding from the Cluster or who substantially contribute to Cluster projects. Funding for doctoral students may be granted if the doctoral student has not caused the delay of the graduation by herself/himself.

  2. Postdoctoral researchers of the Cluster who have applied for external funding and need an interim financing solution until an external funding source decision has been made.

How to apply
To apply, please submit the following documents:

  • Updated curriculum vitae including information on prior employment and duration of current employment contract or scholarship (for doctoral and postdoctoral applicants).
  • Statement (max. two pages) on eligibility and planned steps (for doctoral and postdoctoral applicants).
  • Letter of support by the supervisor/host. For doctoral students, the document should outline why the completion of the dissertation was not feasible within four years (for doctoral and postdoctoral applicants).
  • Proof of a submitted application for external funding to obtain a follow-up position. The decision on the application needs to be pending with the submission date not more than three months before the application to this call (for postdoctoral applicants).

Please submit your application as one PDF file to application.inequality@uni-konstanz.de

Bridge fellowships are offered twice a year, with the deadlines being 31 January and 1 June. We will have a supplementary deadline this year on 1 October 2024.

The Executive Board will assess all applications and take a selection decision on a rolling basis. Plausibility and quality of the application, financial need and a clear definition of the objectives and perspectives of the transition phase will be the relevant selection criteria.

Additional information 
The Managing Office helps with any questions: application.inequality@uni-konstanz.de

 

The University of Konstanz is one of eleven Universities of Excellence in Germany. Since 2007 it has been successful in the German Excellence Initiative and its follow-up programme, the Excellence Strategy. The Cluster “The Politics of Inequality” includes researchers from political science, sociology, economics, linguistics, psychology, law, and education studies. They study how people perceive these inequalities, how they lead to collective mobilization, and how political actors respond to them.

This Call is funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG) under the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments – EXC-2035/1 – 390681379 - and is in accordance with the Bylaws for the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality: Perceptions, Participation and Policies” of the University of Konstanz.

For more information on the Cluster, please visit: http://inequality.uni.kn