General Research Grants: Scholarships and Projects

A German private foundation funding the historical humanities—archaeology, history, art history, legal history, prehistory, the history of science, and Islamic history. Its significance for UNIMA is a single sentence on its own eligibility page: support does not depend on the applicant's nationality or location. Almost every comparable European humanities funder reviewed in this search required a European anchor institution; this one does not.

Applications are accepted regardless of nationality and place of work, with no requirement for a German or European host institution and no institutional affiliation required. Scholarships are for postdoctoral researchers within ten years of the PhD, or for scholars holding a post-doctoral habilitation-level qualification, with no career-stage ceiling. Projects may be submitted by universities and institutes or by individual or grouped postdoctoral researchers. The restriction is disciplinary rather than geographic: the historical humanities only.

Scholarships at €2,760 per month for postdoctoral researchers or €3,720 for post-habilitation scholars, plus a family allowance of €480 for the first child and €120 for each additional child under 18, plus travel and material costs. Projects fund team members at €1,920 per month for doctoral researchers, €2,760 for postdoctoral researchers, and € 3,720 for post-habilitation researchers, plus travel, materials and family allowances

Concurrent salary or pension alongside a scholarship, part-time scholarships, institutional overheads, tuition fees, flat daily or hotel allowances, childcare beyond the flat family allowance, and outside employment of more than five hours a week without approval. Project funding pays scholarship-rate stipends rather than salaries, which materially changes how a university budget must be constructed.

Apply through the electronic form with all documents as PDFs of up to 6MB each: a research proposal of at most eight pages at font size 11 and 1.5 spacing, a work plan and time schedule, an itemised budget in euros, a CV with publication list, degree certificates, and one recommendation letter uploaded and signed by the referee directly. A maximum of two recommendation letters is accepted.

Timeline: Next deadline 20 November 2026 for the spring 2027 committee | Earliest funding start May 2027 | Subsequent deadline around May 2027, not yet announced | Projects under €30,000 assessed on a rolling basis in three to four months.