How to apply for a PhD fellowship

The online application for a PhD fellowship of the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) consists of

  • A questionnaire regarding your CV data
  • A template to be used for the PhD project proposal containing parts 1–6 as listed below
  • Additional documents 1–5 (see below)
  • Two letters of recommendation.

The application must be written in English by the applicants themselves. There are three deadlines each year:

1 February, 1 June, 1 October.

Project proposal

The project proposal consists of the 6 parts listed below. To apply, you need to use our template and adhere to its structure and format. The proposal must be written by yourself. Text passages must not be highlighted by bold fonts, underlines, or different colours. We strongly recommend you read our guide on how to write a research proposal and discuss your draft proposal with your scientific supervisor.

  1. Title and abstract of PhD project (max. 1,400 characters including spaces)
  2. Introduction containing the formulation of the problem, current status of research, and applicant's own groundwork (if applicable)
  3. Aims and objectives
  4. Experimental strategy including methods of investigation (at least 4–5 pages of text)
  5. Work schedule for a three-year project with individual steps
  6. References including all authors and full titles of cited papers

Additional documents

  1. Reasons for wishing to work with the proposed group
  2. Summary of final experimental thesis (e.g. bachelor, master thesis) preceding the PhD project (max. 1–2 pages); if none was performed, please provide the reason(s) in the field “Additional information” in the online application and provide a summary of your most important laboratory internship
  3. List of applicant’s publications (if applicable)
  4. Scans of certificates of all academic qualifications (including grades) and, if applicable, certificates of professional formation (e.g. as nurse or carpenter) prior to university. If the language of certificates is other than English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, or Dutch, please provide a translation.
  5. Scans of high school diploma/secondary school leaving certificate including grades (e.g. Abitur, Baccalaureate, A-Levels) and, additionally, where applicable, university entrance test (e.g. SAT/ACT, PAU, YGS/LYS, Joint Entrance Examination, etc.). If the language of certificates is other than English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, or Dutch, please provide a translation.

Letters of recommendation

Two letters of recommendation are required:

  • One from the supervisor of the PhD thesis
  • One from the supervisor of the MSc or equivalent thesis (e.g. BSc, diploma)

If the same person supervised both theses, or if no final experimental thesis was performed one letter must be provided by the supervisor of the most relevant laboratory internship. 

Letters of recommendation must be in English, on official letterhead, and signed. They must be sent separately by the supervisors themselves via email as a PDF attachment named as follows: 
applicant’s last name_applicant’s first name_MSc/PhD/other 
(depending on who has written the letter of recommendation) 

to: PhD-recommendation[at]bifonds.de. (Example: smith_john_MSc.pdf)

Documents for Download

How to write a research proposal (pdf)

Guidelines on how to write a research proposal for a BIF PhD fellowship

Template for project proposal (rtf)

To apply, you need to use this template and adhere to its structure and format.

PhD online application portal

The application portal for our PhD fellowship is not open at the moment. It will open one month before the next deadline. 

There are three deadlines each year: 1 February, 1 June, 1 October