Call for Nominations: International Fellowships for International Guest Scholars

With the provision of "International Fellowships", TH Köln professors are given the opportunity to invite international academics from cooperating universities for a guest stay at TH Köln to research, teach and strengthen the existing cooperation.

The aim is to invite committed international scientists from our cooperating universities to TH Köln for a guest stay (3-6 months) in order to research, teach and carry out joint projects.

The initiative aims to create a win-win situation for the sponsored fellows, the home university of the fellow and TH Köln. The fellows bring new approaches and perspectives to their respective subject areas and their culture at TH Köln, while their experiences abroad influence their work at their home university. In terms of internationalization at home and the promotion of diversity, the university staff and student body of TH Köln benefits from the presence of the international fellows.

In addition, TH Köln hopes that they will become ambassadors for both universities in order to sustainably strengthen and possibly expand the existing university partnerships.

Professors of TH Köln with the approval of the dean of the respective faculty.

Funding is available for guest stays of international guest scholars at TH Köln for the purpose of teaching and/or research, which are carried out in cooperation with professors at TH Köln. The projects can be either pure teaching or pure research stays or a combination of both.

Fellowship benefits

• Monthly fellowship allowance of EUR 2,500 (tax-free scholarship) to cover all accommodation and travel costs (incl. travel expenses, visa, health insurance, travel and accommodation).
• Accident insurance cover while working at TH Köln

No additional costs for travelling, the stay or accompanying family members can be covered. No additional material expenses for research can be covered.

Duration of funding

Funding is available for stays of three to six months.

The stay can begin between March 1st, 2025 and February 28th, 2026 and should be completed by December 31st, 2026 at the latest. It is possible to split the period of stay once, if necessary. The minimum duration for one part is 1 month (e.g. 3+3 months, 1+ 5 months, 2+3 months, 3+ 1 month or 1 month + 2 months, etc.).

Please indicate the desired funding duration and periods when submitting your application.

The selection committee will determine the funding period as part of the selection process, taking the project into account.

Depending on the funding period applied for, a total of 8-16 fellowships can be granted.

International scholars from cooperating universities of TH Köln from all subject groups.

Candidates proposed for funding should fulfil the following requirements:

• Academics with a doctorate who are teaching and/or conducting research at a cooperating university of TH Köln. (Candidates must have completed their doctorate or a comparable academic degree by the time they commence their guest stay at the latest. If a doctorate is not possible or unusual in the subject or country of origin, candidates at a position corresponding to the above-mentioned career level with a master's or diploma degree can also be proposed.)
• International researchers should have a good command of German or English, depending on the project.

Additional requirements:

• The host institution (institute / faculty) at TH Köln must provide a workplace and assume responsibility for academic supervision for the duration of the stay.

Nomination deadline: 15.12.2024 at 23:59 (UTC+1).

The nominating person (professors of TH Köln) must send the required documents by the application deadline as one PDF document in the order specified below by e-mail to: international-scholars@th-koeln.de.

Required nomination documents:

1. Nomination form completed and signed by the nominating person

2. Letter of motivation from the nominated fellow (1-2 pages) explaining the personal and professional motivation for the planned project. (Or the German version)

3. Complete curriculum vitae of the nominated fellow (max. 3 pages), for research projects additionally a list of publications (max. 10 pages)

4. Copy of the nominated fellow's passport

5. Doctoral certificate of the nominated fellow

6. Proof of employment of the nominated fellow at the home university (document in free format, can be submitted later but must be submitted at least four weeks before the start of the fellowship if successfully selected).

All documents should be submitted in German or English. In the case of other foreign-language documents, a German or English translation must also be submitted.

Notes on the nomination procedure

• International researchers cannot submit an application or documents themselves.
• Incomplete nominations cannot be considered. The responsibility for completeness lies with the nominating person.
• The nomination documents remain at TH Köln. All personal data will be stored by the Department of International Affairs in accordance with the Federal Data Protection Act and the EU General Data Protection Regulation, insofar as they are necessary for processing the nominations.
• A new round of call for application is planned for 2025 and will be published here in due course. In the interests of the sustainability of the projects, a new application and funding is possible.

An internal TH Köln committee will decide on the nominations.

The selection decision is expected to be made at the middle of January 2025 for the start of funding from 1 March 2025.

Central selection criteria are

• Quality of the teaching and/or research project,
• Integration of the project into the internationalization efforts of the host institution (institute/faculty),
• Consistency of the project with the goals of TH Köln's Internationalization Strategy 2030
• Sustainability of the stay, plan for the further development of the cooperation between the fellow's home university and the host institution (institute/faculty) at TH Köln,
• convincing professional and personal motivation of the nominated fellows,
• knowledge of the required teaching or working language of the nominated fellows.

The administration of the fellowships and the organisational support of the guest stays will be provided by the International Scholar Services.

The measure is part of the project "Rethinking professorial careers at universities of applied sciences: Collaboration and networking (PLan_CV)", which is funded by  the Federal Ministry of Education and Research program “FH-Personal” (staff for universities of applied sciences).