The Marshall Plan Scholarships Program

Call for application

The Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation established an academic exchange program to fund scholarships and fellowships for academic exchange between Austria and the US with a special focus on Universities of Applied Sciences and Technical Universities (“Fachhochschulen und Technische Universitäten”) and to open up and provide for transnational mobility.

Participants applying for a scholarship are students of Austrian and American Universities, studying science and engineering, who have an outstanding record of achievement in their field of study and plan to stay abroad at least for three months. All actions have a bottom-up approach, i.e. research fields/topics are chosen freely by the applicants.

The duration of the research stay has to be at least 3 months.
The scholarship ranges between € 4,000 and € 10,000:

 

Minimum 90 days (3 months) – 119 days: € 4,000
120 days (4 months) – 149 days: € 5,000
more than 5 months (150 days): € 6,000
from 195 days: additional € 1,500
Master students: additional € 1,500
PhD students: additional € 2,500

 

Application requirements

Master and PhD students who have an academic supervisor at the University of Vienna in the following fields may apply:

  • Chemistry, biological chemistry
  • Doctorate of technical sciences
  • Doctorate of natural sciences
  • Earth sciences
  • Geography, cartography and geo information
  • Mathematics
  • Media informatics, scientific computing
  • Molecular biology, genetics and developmental biology
  • Pharmacy
  • Physics

Applicants must remain enrolled as students at the home university during the entire research period with an outstanding record of achievement.

Selection criteria

A Marshall Plan Scholarship supports the most promising students, helping them in their career development. The scholarship program runs an open, merit-based competition for the applying students. The freedom of the fellows to choose a research topic and the appropriate University fitting their individual needs is a key element of the scholarship action.

Decision

The applications will be reviewed by a selection committee of the University of Vienna and then forwarded to the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation for a final decision. Successful candidates will receive a notification from the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation to sign a research assignment agreement.

Please note that the research visit can only be started after the research assignment agreement has been signed by both parties. The earliest starting date for research stays abroad is usually 4 months after the application deadline.

After the decision

  • The awardee will have to sign a research assignment agreement with the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation.
  • The awardee is responsible to apply for a visa and to show proof of adequate travel, health and accident insurance (including insurance for returning home in emergencies) as well as adequate third-party liability insurance before the start of the stay abroad, otherwise the scholarship cannot be released.
  • Payment will usually be made in two installments with the first installment in the amount of 80% due before the beginning of the research period and 20% upon completion of the research period and approval of the written research paper.

After the research stay abroad

Within 3 months after returning, the awardee has to submit

  • an official letter of confirmation of the research stay from the host university or research institution (with the start and end dates of the actual research period) signed by the supervisor in the United States
  • a digital version of the research paper (minimum 7,500 words, excluding title page, table of contents and references), which has to be approved by the supervisor at the University of Vienna, and
  • a narrative report (maximum 2 pages, including a general view of the research visit, the quality of the host institution, contacts and integration within the host institution, the organization and the location of the host institution, recommendations for future students/fellows of the Marshall Plan Foundation and an email address for contacts after the research visit).

Application documents

  • Application form
  • Letter of motivation (maximum 2 pages)
  • Research proposal in English (minimum 1,500 words, maximum 2,500 words)
    • title of the research project (with the name of the supervisor at the University of Vienna and the name of the supervisor in the United States)
    • short presentation of the research agenda
    • general goals
    • detailed description of the research project
    • methodological considerations
    • work flow
    • relevance and expected results
  • Curriculum Vitae (in tabular form)
    • list of publications (optional)
    • list of lectures (optional)
  • Transcript of academic records
  • 2 letters of recommendation, written and signed by researchers of the University of Vienna. One letter of recommendation has to be issued by the supervisor of the Master or PhD thesis.
  • Letter of acceptance from the host university in the United States. Please note that the exact period of stay (beginning and end date) has to be mentioned in the letter. Only official university letters will be accepted.

Application deadlines

  • 15 March (for research visits starting 1 August of the same or later)
  • 15 October (for research visits starting 1 February of the following year or later)