Last verified: 16 August 2026
Your name will not be attached to your application when it is first judged. A neutral body encrypts every applicant’s personal details before the review begins, and the rule runs deep enough that when you cite your own earlier publications inside the proposal, you are told to write “author” instead of your surname.
That one design choice tells you a great deal about what the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg in Greifswald is looking for, and it changes how you should write every page you submit.
Applications for the 2027/28 fellowships close on 31 August 2026, which leaves about two weeks. One date is kinder than it first appears: letters of recommendation are accepted until 30 September 2026, a full month after the form itself. If a slow referee is the only thing holding you back, submit anyway and chase the letter afterwards.
What follows is the whole process in plain language: the documents and their page limits, who actually qualifies, what the money covers and what it quietly does not, and the errors that sink otherwise strong applications.
First, make sure you are looking at the right year:
There is a genuine source of confusion here, and it is worth clearing up before you read anything else.
Search results and scholarship listing sites are still circulating the 2026/27 call, which carried the annual theme “Interdisciplinary research into the Baltic Sea region, from culture to ecology.” That round is finished. Its applications closed last summer and its decisions were announced in spring 2026.
The call that is open right now is for the 2027/28 academic year, and the theme is completely different. If you build a proposal around the Baltic Sea framing because that is what an aggregator page told you, you will be answering a question nobody is asking.
Always cross check against the official Wissenschaftskolleg site before you write a word of your proposal. Themes at this institute rotate every single year.
The dates you need on your calendar:
- Application period: 1 June to 31 August 2026
- Application deadline: 31 August 2026
- Letters of recommendation accepted until: 30 September 2026
- Decisions announced: March, April or May 2027
- Fellowship year begins: October 2027
Because the Kolleg awards places for one semester or one full academic year, and because it uses a fixed October to September calendar, the 2027/28 options work out as follows:
- Winter semester: 1 October 2027 to 31 March 2028
- Summer semester: 1 April 2028 to 30 September 2028
- Full academic year: 1 October 2027 to 30 September 2028
You state your preferred period in the application form. Give this real thought rather than defaulting to the longest option, because the length you request should match the project you are proposing. Asking for twelve months to finish something that plainly needs five reads as poor planning.
One thing to sit with before you apply. The gap between submitting in August 2026 and starting in October 2027 is well over a year, and you will not hear a decision until spring 2027. That is a long wait. Plan your next eighteen months as though the answer might be no, and treat a yes as the happy interruption.
How the selection process actually runs:
The masking covers the first round only. After that filter your identity returns to the picture: the Academic Director reviews the applications and puts an appointment proposal to the Scientific Advisory Board, and the Board takes the final decision.
The reasoning behind it is straightforward. A reviewer who cannot tell whether a proposal came from a chair in Munich or a postdoctoral researcher in Lagos has to judge the research on the research. If you are applying without an eminent name behind you, that is a real advantage, and it is worth writing as though the proposal alone has to carry you, because in the round that eliminates most applicants, it does.
What anonymity actually demands from you
The burden sits with the applicant, and this catches people out. Your uploaded documents must not contain identifying details, and the rules go further than simply deleting your name:
- No name, age, gender, marital status, religion or origin anywhere in the uploaded PDFs
- Use gender neutral wording when filling in the form fields
- Leave out military or civilian service, au pair placements and parental leave
- No photograph
- No language skills section
- When citing your own previous publications, write “author” in place of your name
That last rule deserves a second read. Most academics cite themselves several times in a five page proposal without thinking about it, and every one of those citations is a signature. Write the proposal, then read it once more purely hunting for places you have identified yourself. A colleague reading it cold will spot what you cannot.
The documents, and their hard page limits:
Everything is submitted as PDF. Nothing else is accepted, and applications by email or post are refused outright.
- Letter of motivation: maximum 1 page
- Abstract of the project: half a page
- Exposé of the research project: maximum 5 pages, with footnotes and bibliography excluded from that count
The footnote exclusion is a small gift and you should use it. Five pages of argument plus unlimited references means you can be properly scholarly in your citations without eating into the space where you make your case.
The half page abstract is harder than it looks. Half a page is roughly two hundred words to explain a project you may have been thinking about for years. Write it last, after the exposé has forced you to work out what the project actually is.
A practical note on file names. The system renames your uploads for server reasons. This is normal, it does not affect your application, and it is not a sign that something went wrong.
Check yourself against the eligibility rules
There are two tracks, and you apply to one of them.
Alfried Krupp Senior Fellowship
Up to six places. These are for established academics with a proven record in both research and teaching. The bar is described in terms of outstanding academic standing rather than a fixed number of years or publications, which means the assessment is qualitative and comparative.
Senior applicants are also asked to think about co financing, and this expectation is stated plainly enough that you should not treat it as optional decoration. The Kolleg suggests combining a research semester from your home university with a six month fellowship to build a full year stay. If your institution is willing to contribute towards the cost, you are asked to say what kind of contribution and how much.
Alfried Krupp Junior Fellowship
Up to eight places. These go to early career researchers who hold a doctorate, and the doctorate must already be completed at the time you apply. Not submitted, not defended next month. Completed.
Junior Fellows are expected to be on leave from their home institution for the duration of the stay. If your employer will also contribute financially, that is welcomed and should be described in the application.
A realistic read on the number of places
The current call advertises up to six Senior and up to eight Junior Fellowships, so fourteen at the ceiling. The Kolleg’s own guidance elsewhere describes the usual annual range as three to six Senior and four to eight Junior places. Read that as your realistic picture: fourteen is the maximum, not the expectation, and in a given year the total may be closer to seven or eight.
The 2027/28 theme: Prevention
Each year the Kolleg names an interdisciplinary focus. For 2027/28 it is:
Prevention: interdisciplinary research on health promotion, disease prevention and social resilience.
Researchers working on this theme are explicitly encouraged, and the call names law, economics, political science, the social sciences and cultural studies among the disciplines it would like to hear from. Natural scientists are also particularly encouraged to apply.
Now the important qualification, because this is where good candidates talk themselves out of applying. The theme does not function as a filter. Applications from every other research area are genuinely welcome and are assessed on quality and on how well they connect with research at the University of Greifswald. A first rate project on medieval manuscripts is not disqualified because it has nothing to do with prevention.
What the theme does is tilt the field. If your work sits naturally within it, say so early and clearly. If it does not, put your energy into the Greifswald connection instead, which is the section below and which matters at least as much.
The Greifswald connection, where most applications go thin
The Kolleg exists to strengthen the University of Greifswald. That is not a detail from the founding history, it is the reason the money is there, and the application asks you to show how your project supports the university’s research priorities.
This is where a lot of applications become vague. People write a sentence about looking forward to fruitful exchange and move on. That sentence is doing no work at all.
What helps instead:
- Read the University of Greifswald’s actual research priority areas before you write anything
- Name specific research groups, institutes or collections your project would engage with
- Explain what you bring that is not already there, and what you would take away
- If you already know somebody at Greifswald, mention the connection, though be careful about anonymisation if the relationship would identify you
- Consider offering a course for students, which the Kolleg welcomes and which is a concrete, checkable form of contribution
You are expected to build these relationships yourself. The Kolleg does not assign you a local partner or match you with a department on arrival. Applicants are expected to cooperate independently with members of the university, so showing that you have already begun thinking about who and how puts you ahead of a proposal that treats Greifswald as a quiet room with a desk.
What the fellowship gives you, and what it does not
Be careful with how this opportunity is described elsewhere. Several listing sites label it fully funded. The Kolleg’s own wording is more precise, and the gaps are real ones you will have to budget for.
What is covered
- A stipend, described as endowed in line with the high expectations placed on applicants’ academic achievements
- A furnished apartment at the Kolleg, free of charge
- A private workroom at the Kolleg, free of charge
- Free rent and operating costs for accompanying children up to the age of 14
- Individual support with finding a kindergarten or school place
What you pay for yourself
- Travel to and from Greifswald, including your initial journey and any conference travel
- Additional insurance
- Laboratory costs
- Other project related expenses
That laboratory exclusion is worth pausing on if you are an experimental scientist. A fellowship that funds your time and your accommodation but not your consumables is a different proposition depending on your discipline, and you should work out the real number before you commit.
About the stipend amount
The Kolleg does not publish a figure. The endowment is set in relation to the applicant’s academic standing, which in practice means it varies between fellows and is not something you can look up in advance. Anyone quoting you a precise monthly euro amount for this fellowship is guessing.
If knowing the number matters for your decision, and for most people with a mortgage or a family it will, contact the Kolleg’s fellowship staff during the application period and ask directly. Do it in the first three weeks of the window rather than the last, because the office says openly that it cannot process every enquiry in the final week.
Bringing a partner or children
The Kolleg actively supports fellows who want to take up the fellowship with a partner or children, which is not something every institute of advanced study can say. Furnished flats come free of rent and service charges for fellows and for children up to fourteen, and staff help individually with kindergarten and school searches.
Also Check: United Nations Nippon Foundation Fellowship 2027 (Funded Nine Month Placement)
What is expected of you once you arrive
A fellowship here is not a remote grant. Two commitments stand out.
The first is that you pursue one major research project and, where possible, finish it. The Kolleg is explicit that this is the point of the stay: freedom from teaching obligations and administrative duties so that a substantial piece of work can be completed. Your proposal should describe something with a defined endpoint.
The second is residency. Fellows are expected to live at the Kolleg and make Greifswald their centre of life during the fellowship. This is not a fellowship you visit for a fortnight each term. If your personal circumstances make a genuine relocation impossible, this is the wrong programme, and it is far kinder to yourself to establish that now than in March 2027.
Teaching is welcomed but not required. Offering a course for Greifswald students is encouraged, and it is one of the clearer ways to demonstrate the contribution the Kolleg is looking for.
Some context on the institution
The Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg sits in the centre of Greifswald, a Hanseatic university town on Germany’s Baltic coast in Mecklenburg Vorpommern. It was founded in 2002 by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation together with the state and the University of Greifswald, with the aim of strengthening the university’s research profile. The Fellows Programme at the heart of its work began in 2007 and has run on the foundation’s support since.
Why this matters for your application: an independent institute of advanced study attached to a mid sized regional university has a specific character. It is small, the community of fellows is small, and the interdisciplinary exchange the Kolleg keeps mentioning is not a slogan. You will eat lunch with people from other faculties. Proposals that show some appetite for that fit the place better than proposals that read as a request for solitude.
Also Check: Jesus College Cambridge Arts Research Fellowship 2027
Mistakes that quietly cost people a place
Drawn from the Kolleg’s own published rules and from how these processes generally run:
- Leaving your name in the PDFs. The most avoidable failure in the entire process. Check, then have somebody else check.
- Citing yourself by name. Use “author” instead. This is stated in the rules and still gets missed.
- Uploading in the last hour. The Kolleg says directly that a large number of people hit the form in the final minutes and it slows down. Aim to be finished several days early.
- Missing the confirmation emails. The system uses double opt in. You receive one email with a link you must confirm, then a second confirming receipt. If you ignore the first, your application is not in. Check your spam folder.
- Applying to the wrong track. A doctorate that is not yet completed rules out the Junior Fellowship at the point of application.
- Treating the Greifswald link as a formality. It is a scored part of the case you are making.
- Building the proposal around last year’s theme. Covered above, and easy to do if you researched this opportunity through aggregator sites.
After you press submit
You will wait a long time. Decisions are communicated in March, April or May of the following year, which for this cycle means spring 2027.
Use the wait sensibly. Do not put other applications on hold. Fourteen places at the absolute maximum, drawn from an international pool across every discipline, means the arithmetic is not kind to anyone regardless of profile. That is not a reason to skip it, since the application asks for a five page proposal you very likely need to write anyway for other purposes, but it is a reason to keep applying elsewhere in parallel.
One general warning that applies to every funded opportunity, this one included. There is no application fee, nobody needs to submit on your behalf, and no agent has an inside track with the Scientific Advisory Board. If anyone offers to secure you a place for a payment, that is a scam. Apply directly through the Kolleg’s own form and nowhere else.
Also Check: CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship 2026 ($74,000 Stipend Per year)
Frequently asked questions
I do not currently hold a university position. Can I still apply?
Yes. The Kolleg does not require you to be affiliated with an academic institution either at the time of application or during the fellowship itself. Professors who have taken emeritus status are also welcome to apply. This is unusually open compared with most research fellowships, which tend to require a home institution to host or endorse you, and it makes the programme worth a look for researchers between posts or recently retired from a chair.
Can I apply in German, or does it have to be in English?
Applications are accepted in both German and English, and choosing one over the other does not disadvantage you. Pick the language you write most precisely in, since a five page proposal is judged on the clarity of the argument. Do not attempt German because you think it will look better locally if your German is merely functional.
Can a group of us apply together on one project?
Yes. Joint applications from several researchers are possible. The mechanics matter though: each member of the group must complete their own application form separately, and the contribution of each individual has to be clearly identifiable within the proposal. A joint application that blurs who is doing what makes the reviewers’ job harder, and anonymous review makes it harder still.
If I am offered a fellowship but cannot start on the given date, can I move it?
Mostly no. The Kolleg’s position is that awarded fellowships cannot be postponed as a rule. The one exception is the six month fellowship, which can be moved between semesters, so a winter semester award could shift to the following summer semester. A full academic year award does not have that flexibility. Factor this in when you choose which period to request, because requesting the full year removes your only escape route if your circumstances change.
Do I have to submit letters of recommendation, and how do they reach the Kolleg?
They are optional rather than required, and no nomination is needed for your application to be considered. If you do include them, you have three routes: upload them within the application form as a single PDF, send them separately by email, or send them by post. Unlike the rest of your application, recommendation letters do not need to be anonymised.
Will the Kolleg help me with a visa or residence permit?
The official fellowship pages do not set out any visa or residence permit procedure, so treat this as an open question rather than assuming support is included. Raise it directly with the fellowship office if you are offered a place. The one thing working in your favour is the calendar: a decision arriving between March and May 2027 for an October 2027 start leaves several months to handle immigration paperwork, which is more room than most short programmes give you. Budget for the fees yourself, since the Kolleg’s published list of what it does not cover is broad and includes insurance and travel.
