Who can apply?

• US or Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
• Foreign nationals who live in the USA or in Canada
  • must have been living in the US/Canada for a minimum of one year and
  • have their current residence in the US/Canada by the time of the application deadline.
• All other foreign nationals may need to apply via a different DAAD office

Which requirements must be met at the time of application?

For doctoral students enrolled in a program in the US/Canada:

• no more than 3 years should have passed (at the time of application) since receiving ABD status

For postdocs:

• no more than 4 years should have passed at the time of application deadline since gaining their doctorate

In addition, all applicants:

• must not have been living in Germany for more than 15 consecutive months by the time of the application deadline, and
• if you are a German national, you must have been residing in the US/Canada for 6 continuous years at the time of the application deadline. Please call  our office to make sure you are eligible.

DAAD will provide a monthly stipend (varies based on academic level and cover health insurance and provide a flat rate subsidy for travel costs. In addition, limited funds are available for a rent subsidy and family allowance.

• Please note that DAAD scholarship recipients are not permitted to receive supplementary funding through any other German funding body.
• Supplementary funding from a non-German funding body may in some cases be permitted. However, they would then be treated as additional earnings, i.e. grants exceeding the tax-free income level in Germany would be deducted from the DAAD scholarship, unless the grant payments will be put on hold for the duration of your DAAD scholarship.

For more information about the Short-Term Research Grant, click here.

For the upcoming deadline, funded projects must be completed between September 1, 2023 and March 2024.

Please note that due to administrative reasons the short-term grant can only start on the 1^st of a month.

The portal will close automatically at 11 PM Central European Time (5 PM EST/4PM CST/3PM MTN/2PM PST) on the deadline date. Applicants are advised to start the application process at least one week before the closing date.

1. Please refer to the application checklist (available for download in the box to the right) to gather all required application materials before you enter the online portal. These guidelines are region-specific for North American applicants only. You will find some different details on the application portal and the DAAD Bonn website, such as maximum pages; the instructions on this checklist supersede any conflicting information potentially found elsewhere.

• Check out the step by step Manual for Personal Funding
• If you seek technical support with the online portal, please email portal(at)daad.de

3. Are you ready? In order to register with the DAAD Portal to start your application, please choose one of the links below, according to your current academic status.

4. All application documents must be submitted via the online portal except for the reference letter. Please mail the reference form signed by your professor and in a sealed envelope to:

DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)
Short-Term Research Grant
871 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017

…or let the professor submit the form to us directly.

• Please ensure we receive the signed reference form by the closing date (date of postmark). Your application is only complete once we have received your electronic application and the reference form by mail.

• Please DO NOT CALL OR EMAIL. You will receive an e-mail notification 8 weeks after the deadline.
• Application decisions will  not  be accompanied with an explanation.
• Applications remain with DAAD. Personal data of applicants and grantees will be stored electronically in DAAD’s files only to the extent necessary for the administration of the applications and scholarships in accordance with the German Federal Data Protection Act. Data will be provided to the respective International Student Office (Akademisches Auslandsamt) for successful applicants where necessary in order to administer the scholarship and provide the scholarship holder with guidance services. Applications of unsuccessful candidates will be deleted after one year.

6. Results will be announced approximately 3-4 months after the application deadline.