FAQ Alumni abroad

Prerequisite for alumni to be sponsored within the framework of the alumni programme is the continuation of superior achievements and academic activity. The alumni programme is not subject to a career stage or an age limit.
The decision on the application will be made on the basis of an assessment of the applicant’s academic qualifications and activities, the academic quality and relevance of the proposed research, as well as the significance of a further stay both academically and in foreign policy terms. The scale of sponsorship already granted, as well as the period of time elapsed since the last Humboldt Foundation sponsorship, will be taken into account.

Alumni are eligible to apply for support for a renewed research stay in Germany after they have completed their initial research stay in Germany and returned abroad. Decisions on additional research stays in Germany are taken by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation on the basis of scientific necessity and the funds at the Foundation’s disposal. Applications should generally not be submitted before the expiration of one year after completion of the initial research stay in Germany. Please do not hesitate to contact the Foundation before submitting an application.

Please make sure that your application is submitted well ahead of your planned arrival. If you require a visa for your stay in Germany, make sure you obtain a visa in good time – also for your family – from the German diplomatic mission abroad.
Once all the relevant documents have been received, the Humboldt Foundation will decide on the application, usually within 3 months. Retrospective approval is not possible.

Short visits of up to 30 days are sponsored by providing a daily allowance and, in cases of active participation, reimbursement of conference fees (cf. guidelines C.1.1. (PDF)).
For research stays of up to 3 months, a monthly research fellowship sum will be granted (cf. guidelines C.1.2. (PDF)).
Provided that the budget situation allows, the Alexander Humboldt Foundation can grant upon application allowances and/or subsidies towards health and personal liability insurance for spouses and minor children who accompany the research fellow during the renewed research stay in Germany for at least three months (without interruption). For further conditions and details, please refer to our related website.
Travel expenses for the journey to and from abroad can usually not be reimbursed within the framework of alumni sponsorship.

Application for a return fellowship must be made no later than 6 months after completing the initial research stay in Germany sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the return fellowship be taken up no later than 12 months after completing the initial research stay. Experienced researchers are only eligible to apply if the duration of the last sponsorship period was at least 6 months.
Return fellowships can be awarded for a return to research institutions in Central and Eastern Europe (PDF) and to developing or threshold countries (PDF).
Detailed information on the application procedure and sponsorship is available in our guidelines (cf. guidelines C.2.1. (PDF)) and on our website.

For the duration of the return fellowship, you may submit applications for those sponsorship opportunities that are intended to support the academic activities of alumni at their institutes abroad, such as donations of book and equipment grants, printing subsidies for book publishing, or invitations of German collaborative partners to institutes of the alumni abroad.
However, sponsorship of further research stays in Germany (such as short-term visits, participation in specialist conferences, renewed research stays, research group linkage) by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is not possible while being sponsored under this scheme.

Research fellows living abroad – preferably in countries with limited foreign currency reserves (please see current list of countries (PDF)) – are eligible to apply to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for donations of academic literature. Individual applications should not usually exceed €1,000. Only books by German authors or published by German publishers can be donated. Subscription costs for journals cannot be borne by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
For further information regarding the application procedure, please refer to our website and to the guidelines (cf. guidelines C.2.2. (PDF)).

Humboldtians in countries with limited foreign currency reserves (please see current list of countries (PDF)) are eligible to apply for a subsidy towards the purchase of scientific equipment. Applications for equipment subsidies should not exceed a total amount of €20,000. If applications for higher subsidies are submitted, applications should either be made jointly by several Humboldtians or documentation should be enclosed confirming that part financing is available from other sources.
For further information regarding the application procedure, please refer to our website and to the guidelines (cf. guidelines C.2.2. (PDF)).

On application the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation may grant printing subsidies for books publishing research results directly linked to grants provided by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, especially those ensuing from a research stay in Germany.
The preconditions for sponsorship are that

• the publication is published by a German publisher or in the German language,
• the print run does not exceed 1,000 copies, and
• the number of complimentary copies does not exceed 25 % of the print run.

For further information regarding the application procedure, please refer to our website and to the guidelines (cf. guidelines C.2.3. (PDF)).

Alumni staying abroad and their academic hosts or collaborative partners in Germany can apply for a subsidy to sponsor guest visits by academics from Germany to the alumni’s institute abroad. The guest visit should be used for lectures and academic contacts at the research fellow’s institute and possibly at other institutes in the country. Priority will be given to journeys undertaken by academic hosts or collaborative partners from Germany to countries with limited foreign currency reserves.
The subsidy is intended to cover or partially cover the travel expenses incurred by the academic from Germany. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation expects the institute visited to bear the costs of the stay locally.
Informal applications can be made either by the Humboldtian or the academic from Germany. In any case, the application must be submitted to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation well in advance prior to the intended visit. Retrospective approval is not possible.
For further details, please refer to our website or to our guidelines (cf. guidelines C.2.4. (PDF)).

Any researcher who is working abroad and has already been sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation can act as host in the Feodor Lynen Programme. On the strength of Feodor Lynen Research Fellowships for post-doctoral and experienced researchers, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation gives highly-qualified German scholars and scientists an opportunity to spend extended periods working on research at Humboldtians’ institutes abroad. Selection criteria are comparable to those for research fellowships for foreign scholars. Financing is provided jointly by the foreign host institutes and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Detailed information on sponsorship conditions can be downloaded from the Foundation's website.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation sponsors long-term research collaborations between academics in Germany and abroad in the framework of research group linkages. A research group linkage is an alumni support tool designed to build a sustainable basis for long-term international academic collaboration. Such cooperations should also integrate (doctoral and post-doctoral) junior researchers as potential candidates for a research fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
The current list of countries (PDF), the programme information and the complete application documents can be downloaded from the Foundation's website.

Initiatives of Humboldt Alumni Associations and individual Humboldtians to organise regional and interdisciplinary conferences can be supported financially. The aim is to strengthen regional and interdisciplinary networking of Humboldtians. The organisers are responsible for the content of the so-called Humboldt Kollegs. Detailed information can be found in the programme information on our website.

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation grants up to three Humboldt Alumni Awards to promote innovative networking initiatives of alumni of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship and award programmes. The award is valued at up to €25,000. It is designed to support initiatives, not covered by the Foundation's existing sponsorship and alumni programmes, and to promote academic and cultural relations between Germany and the Humboldt Alumni's own countries and strengthen their collaboration in the respective regions.
For further details including information on the networking initiatives that have already been recognised by the Humboldt Alumni Award in the past, please visit our website.

In many countries, Humboldtians have joined together to form Humboldt Alumni Associations, which cultivate social and professional contacts with one another, with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and with Germany. The Foundation gives full encouragement to these Alumni Associations; regrettably, it can sponsor them financially to a very modest extent only. Further information is available in our guidelines (cf. guidelines C.3.3 (PDF)). Addresses may be found on the Foundation's website.

More information as well as the current list of all Ambassador Scientists is available on our website.

You will find detailed information in our guidelines (cf. guidelines C.3.4. (PDF)).
Via our homepage, you will have access to the Humboldt Network section which offers information that may be used to enhance the networking of Humboldtians above and beyond national frontiers and disciplines, as well as the password-secured section of the Network Online.

On this free internet platform, fellows and alumni of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation are given the opportunity to network with researchers and other Germany alumni throughout the world. You will find further information on this social network in our guidelines (cf. guidelines C.3.5 (PDF)).
Registration (free of charge):
https://www.alumniportal-deutschland.org/en/
Access to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s own group of alumni on the Alumniportal (only for already registered members):
Humboldt Life on the Alumniportal