PHGS Travel Awards

1 Professional requirements

• Full membership in the PIER Helmholtz Graduate School.
• Employment contract with DESY.
• Doctoral studies in one or more of the PIER research fields or competence fields or emerging topic.
• Specific travel plan (e.g., attendance of conference/s, workshop/s, summer or winter school/s, research stay/s).

2 Selection criteria & performance criteria

• Scientific output (important scientific publications) during the doctoral phase.
• Other forms of special productivity: development of scientific instruments or scientific software during the doctoral phase.
• Entrepreneurship (during the doctoral phase).
• Other outstanding contributions of relevance in the context of PIER (during the doctoral phase).

3 Letters of Support

Two letters of support are required, at least one of which should be by one of the supervisors who is a DESY scientist. Both letters should explicitly address the following points:

• Why does the applicant deserve a PHGS Travel Award?
• In what way is the accomplishment to be recognized significant?
• To what degree has the applicant contributed to the accomplishment?
• To what extent may the applicant be expected to profit from the proposed travel?

Please note: Only achievements in the context of the doctoral phase can be taken into consideration.

4 Documentation of stay

• After the stay/s, a brief report must be written by the doctoral researcher, which will be published on the PHGS website. The PHGS will provide a template for the report.

5 Scope of funding

• Maximum of € 3,000 per applicant. Please note: insurance for travel abroad is not included. All doctoral researchers travelling with a PHGS Travel Award have to ensure that the complete trip is covered by a health insurance. Travel arrangements must be handled via DESY business travel procedure.
• The award can only be as high as the total cost of the trip/s. The maximum contribution from PHGS is 3,000 Euros. The following costs can be covered by the PHGS Travel Award: travel costs, accommodation, participation fee, local public transport. Per diems cannot covered by the PHGS Travel Award.
• In total a maximum of 4 awards have been assigned in 2024.

6 Application procedure

• Applications may be submitted once per calendar year.
• The respective application deadline is 15 January.
• Travel must take place and be settled in the same year as the PHGS Travel Award.
• Decisions will be announced via email within six weeks after the respective deadline.
• The planned travel may not begin before the decision about the PHGS Travel Award has been made.The executive committee of the PIER Helmholtz Graduate School decides on the award.
• Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

7 Required documents

• PHGS Travel Award Application Form
• Two letters of support (at least one of which should be by one of the supervisors).

8 How to submit the application

• The completed application form plus appendixes (if any) must be sent to: Stefanie.Tepass@pier-hamburg.de
• The two letters of support must be sent separately to: Stefanie.Tepass@pier-hamburg.de