Activities & Projects

Practical projects offer doctoral reseachers the opportunity to compare and further develop their own skills, experience and goals with the requirements and circumstances of a potential professional field. To this end, doctoral candidates agree with a non-university organisation on a project that the doctoral candidate will independently conceive and carry out: for example, an event (workshop, technical discussion or exhibition, etc.) or an expertise (research, evaluation or recommendation for action, etc.) on a topic relevant to the respective organisation. Reports about Practical Projects, written by doctoral students who have designed and carried out a practical project in cooperation with a non-university organisation, are available here.

Programme Elements

The BGHS awards three-month scholarships for practical projects from 2020 to 2022. Scholarships for practical projects are awarded to doctoral reseachers from the fourth doctoral semester at the earliest. The working time for the practical project is 20 hours per week so that researchers can continue working on their dissertation. The programme for the practical project consists of three parts:

• "Life after University is Possible": The workshop offers doctoral reseachers the opportunity to exchange experiences with various colleagues who are pursuing careers in non-university organisations.
• BGHS-Blog: In the context of a contribution to the BGHS blog, scholarship holders report on their gained non-university professional experience. The timetable for the practical projects can be found here.
• Accompaniment: Scholarship holders conduct "career discussions" with their practical partners and the programme management, which serve to assess their own competencies and goals.

Application and Participation

Applicants must send a curriculum vitae in tabular form and an exposé with a work plan and a schedule of their planned practical project until 31 May / 15 October to bghs@uni-bielefeld.de. The call for applications is available here, the criteria for the awarding of scholarships here. After reviewing all applications received, the BGHS board of directors decides on the selection of the scholarship holders.