Eligibility and requirements

Any C-SEB members eligible to apply for C-SEB funding can act as host and propose candidates. This includes tenured and non-tenured professors, postdoctoral and doctoral researchers (a) who either are employed by the UoC or (b) who receive a stipend (from the UoC or other organizations) and whose main affiliation is with the UoC. Each person may submit only one international fellowship program application per round. Eligible candidates are researchers of all levels of academic seniority from institutions abroad who are strongly connected to C-SEB or work in a field related to C-SEB’s overall topics.
 

Selection procedure

Decisive criteria for the granting of funds are the expected outcomes of the research stay with regard to its scientific contribution to C-SEB as well as the promotion of international collaborations and of the international visibility of C-SEB and the UoC. The C-SEB Executive Board selects among the duly received proposals.
 

Application procedure

The application deadline is April 30^th, 2025. Applications are submitted via a LimeSurvey questionnaire; the link to the questionnaire is emailed to eligible researchers. Please prepare the required documents and information listed below. Once you have started the application questionnaire, you can create a login to resume the questionnaire again later („Resume later“ in the upper right corner of the survey).
 

Required documents

Please prepare the following documents for upload in PDF format:

Statement of purpose — Statements of purpose are limited to 2 pages using the mandatory .docx template (download ⭳), converted into a single PDF file for upload. Statements of purpose must be written in a way that is easily understood by scientists in both the economics and psychology disciplines. The document must contain detailed information on why the research stay is necessary and beneficial for C-SEB, on how it will promote international cooperation, and on the financial planning.

Confirmation letter — The confirmation letter by the guest is limited to 1 page, converted into a PDF file for upload. The confirmation letter should express the guest’s willingness to be hosted by the applicant at the UoC in the desired time period.

CV(s) — Short CVs of the applicant and the guest (≤ 2 pages each, 1 PDF file per CV).
 

Required information

Please prepare the following information for entry into the questionnaire in plain text format:

Summary statement of purpose — A summary of the statement of purpose of 850 characters or less.

Statement on contributions — A description of the research stay’s scientific contribution and advancement of international visibility and connectivity in 850 characters or less: How will the applicant, C-SEB, and the UoC benefit from the research stay?

Explanation of the financial plan — Prepare an explanation of the requested funds (which is also a part of the statement of purpose) of 850 characters or less that briefly describes your calculations for each expense category. Please note that daily allowances are typically excluded from reimbursement. If the requested C-SEB funding (max. 6,000 €) covers only a portion of the total funds needed, please state the total amount needed and explain where the missing amount will come from.
 

Have ready

Please have the following information ready for entry into the questionnaire:

Information about the guest — You will be asked to provide the guest’s name, level of academic seniority, home affiliation (institution, faculty, institute/dpt/chair), address, e-mail, and website.

Expected arrival date of the guest at the UoC/in Cologne (start of the research stay, dd/mm/yyyy) — Please note that we expect to announce the funding decisions no later than the end of June 2025. Funding can only be used for expenses incurred after the date of the decision letter.

Expected departure date of the guest (end of the research stay, dd/mm/yyyy) — Please note that funding is currently only available until the end of December 2025. If the UoC continues to provide funding beyond 2025, an extension of the funding period to June 30^th, 2026 is possible (but not guaranteed).

If applicable: End date of your current contract/stipend (dd/mm/yyyy) — If your affiliation with the UoC is not permanent, you will be asked to enter the current end date of your contract/stipend. Please note that approved funds can only be used until the end of your contract/stipend.

In a nutshell