Philipp Schwartz Initiative

Philipp Schwartz Initiative for researchers at risk

Due to his Jewish faith, the Austrian pathologist Philipp Schwartz lost his professorship in Frankfurt in 1933. He emigrated to Switzerland and founded the “Notgemeinschaft deutscher Wissenschaftler im Ausland” – Emergency Society of German Scholars Abroad. In 2015, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Federal Foreign Office chose to name the programme they launched after him: the Philipp Schwartz Initiative. The programme allows researchers who are subject to significant and continuous personal threat in their country of origin to continue their work at German universities and research institutions.

In the context of the Initiative, the Humboldt Foundation cooperates closely with international partner organisations such as the Scholars at Risk Network, the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund and the Council for At-Risk Academics. The Initiative is financed by the Federal Foreign Office, the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Klaus Tschira Foundation, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Stifterverband and the Stiftung Mercator.

War against the Ukraine: support for researchers at risk

In addition to the main programme Ukrainian researchers can be funded through the MSCA4Ukraine initiative. The European Commission has tapped the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, together with its partners Scholars at Risk Europe hosted at Maynooth University, Ireland and the European University Association (EUA) to conduct the new programme for which the EU is providing €25 million in funding.

Our sponsorship

The Philipp Schwartz Initiative enables universities and research institutions in Germany to host researchers at risk on the basis of a full fellowship. Accordingly, host institutions receive funding which is composed of two components:

Fellowship amount: Sponsorship covers a fixed-amount fellowship or contractual employment. It is earmarked for a period of up to 24 months; application may be made during the initial fellowship period for an extension of up to 12 months in the framework of a co-financing model.

Allowance for host institution: The host institution receives a lump sum allowance of € 20,000 for each individual sponsored.

Who is eligible to make an application?

Applications may be submitted by the following categories of academic institutions in Germany only:

• public and state-recognised universities
• Max Planck Institutes, Helmholtz Institutes, Leibniz Institutes, Fraunhofer Institutes
• federal and federal state research institutions
• other research institutions that can convincingly demonstrate their research portfolio and structures

Institutions that would be interested in hosting researchers at risk but do not have anyone specific in mind can approach the Scholars at Risk Network and Council for At-Risk Academics, which may be able to help find suitable candidates.

Please note that researchers cannot apply for this programme directly. Interested researchers should contact potential host institutions in Germany that can then make an application.

Who is eligible to receive a Philipp Schwartz Fellowship?

Researchers who are demonstrably at risk – irrespective of discipline and country of origin – are eligible for sponsorship under the Initiative. At-risk status can be verified either by

• a residence status in the context of an asylum-granting procedure within the EU that confirms a recognised threat
• or a credible threat assessment issued by a third party, such as the Scholars at Risk Network (SAR) or the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA), within the previous 12 months.

Threat assessments: Due to the impact of the ongoing worldwide crises, our partner organisations SAR (Rose Anderson) and CARA (Stephen Wordsworth) can only carry out a limited number of threat assessments. We therefore advise you to contact them as soon as possible. Please note that requests for risk assessments can only be submitted by nominating institutions. We also kindly remind you that threat can be proven not only by SAR or CARA, but also by a corresponding residence status in connection with an asylum procedure within the EU or by the detailed, personal statement of a credible third party (e.g. German diplomatic representation abroad, non-governmental organisations or similar). In case of doubt, you are welcome to send us such statements for examination before submitting your application. In the case of Afghan and Ukrainian nominees, a self-report on their at-risk status is sufficient.

Candidates for a Philipp Schwartz Fellowship must, moreover, fulfil the following criteria:

• have completed a doctorate or comparable academic degree (PhD, CSc or equivalent); in the case of legal or medical doctorates, provide evidence of equivalence to a research PhD
• not be or have been resident outside their own country for more than five years at the time of application; researchers who hold German university entrance qualifications (“Bildungsinländer”) are not eligible
• have the language skills required to successfully conduct their research projects
• have academic qualifications (e.g. publications)
• have the potential to be integrated in the (broader academic) employment market

Researchers who have already received sponsorship under the Philipp Schwartz Initiative or who have access to residence in safe countries due to dual nationality or other circumstances (e.g. marriage to an EU citizen) are not eligible for sponsorship; the same applies to German citizens. Multiple nominations of one and the same individual by various potential host institutions are not permissible.

Application and selection procedure

The programme documents for the 13th call for applications can be found here soon.

We require the following documents (German or English):

• concept describing the strategy for hosting researchers at risk (institutions that applied successfully in a previous round do not need to re-submit)
• application for a Philipp Schwartz Fellowship, including all required documents
• in the research fellowship programme line: fellowship calculation (in the contract employment programme line a lump sum will be calculated)
• financial plan

The application must be signed by a member of the executive of the applicant institution (executive board, rectorate or similar) and sent by the project leader, password protected, to schwartz-initiative[at]avh.de. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept electronic signatures, but we can accept documents that have been signed by hand and then scanned.

In view of the vulnerability of electronic communication and the sensitivity of the data transmitted, we urgently request that application documents be encrypted in e-mail correspondence. Alternatively, you can provide the documents via secure download link.

The decision on which applications are approved is taken by the Humboldt Foundation’s relevant, independent Selection Committee on the basis of the application package submitted. The selection is made according to the following central question:

Does the impression arise that from the combination of the

• the concept of the host institution
• the professional fit between the guest and the intended scientific mentor (also with regard to the research project)
• scientific qualification of the guest
• commitment of the host institution to the nominated person
• concrete support measures on the part of the host institution and the mentor
• perspectives for the time after the end of the funding

a promising new start in a scientific or science-related career in Germany, another country, or the country of origin beyond the Philipp Schwartz Fellowship seems likely?

Funding and reporting documents

• Latest programme documents (ZIP, 2 MB)
• Programme documents for extension (ZIP, 62 KB)
• Payment plan (in German only) (DOCX, 40 KB)
• Financing Plan (in German only) (XLSX, 14 KB)
• Reporting documents (all calls and extension, in German only) (ZIP, 62 KB)

Special programme “Bridge Fellowships for Scholars from Afghanistan”

To supplement the main progamme, the Humboldt Foundation has established a special programme titled “Bridge Fellowships for Scholars from Afghanistan” with the support of Germany’s Federal Foreign Office. This special programme targets another group of Afghan researchers and scholars who are at acute risk, for whom, due to their specific qualifications, the main programme  is not the ideal option, and who will give special consideration to prospects outside science and academia. Up to 20 fellowships are available.

Further information

In order to support and offer sanctuary to researchers at risk, universities, research institutions and science organisations in Germany, under the responsibility of the Humboldt Foundation, joined together on 20 September 2016 in Bonn to establish the Germany Section of the global Scholars at Risk Network. Until 31 March 2022, the Humboldt Foundation is hosting the section’s secretariatand acting as its central contact point.

• Online seminar on 3 February 2021 on the programme updates to the Philipp Schwartz Initiative (MP4, 492 MB)
• Scholars at Risk Network – Germany Section
• More sponsorship opportunities for researchers at risk
• Information for universities and research institutes
• Publication: A New Beginning - Philipp Schwartz Initiative for Researchers at Risk (PDF, 8 MB)
• Event: Philipp Schwartz Forum
• Evaluation of the Philipp Schwartz Initiative
• Presentation online seminar (May 2023) on the administrative preparation and implementation in the Philipp Schwartz Initiative (in German only) (PDF, 295 KB)
• Video online seminar (May 2023) 2 on the the administrative preparation and implementation in the Philipp Schwartz Initiative

Further donations:

We should like to thank all our private donors for supporting the Philipp Schwartz Initiative, especially for the generous Buschmann-Simon donations.