The Medical Faculty aims to support early career researchers in their academic development and enhance their prospects of successfully securing their first competitive third-party funding (e.g., DFG or comparable grants). The "Career Kickstart" program helps researchers foster their independence and develop an independent project intended to lead to a third-party funding application within the next 15 months.

Eligibility:

• Postdoctoral researchers up to and including W1-Professors at the Medical Faculty who meet the DFG criteria* for Early Career Researchers (ECR) (up to 8 years after PhD defense).
  • Parental leave: For mothers, a maximum of 2 children at 2 years each are credited; for fathers, a maximum of 2 children at 1 year each are credited if parental leave was taken. Caregiving periods can also be credited.
• Applicants must not have previously acquired more than €50,000 in project funding in total, as this program specifically aims to facilitate entry into first-time individual project funding.
• Applicants must not have received personal funding to establish their own research group (e.g., Emmy Noether, UMEA Advanced, ERC Starter etc.).
• Applicants must have an employment commitment (employment contract or written confirmation from the Head of Clinic/Institute) for at least 15 months from the deadline (December 31, 2026).

*These are the DFG's ECR criteria for collaborative projects.

Scope:

The funding provides up to €50,000 (for material and personnel costs, excluding your own position).

Duration:

The maximum funding period for projects is 12 months.

Application documents:

• Letter of Support from your scientific/clinical mentor
• Employment commitment from your supervisor
• Current CV
• Publication list
• Written proposal (max. 3 pages, Arial 10 pt, line spacing 1.15)
• Application Form and Annex 1 (see downloads below)
• Application language: English
• Please send the applicatioform by email to the Research Department (forschungsreferat@uk-essen.de). Please also attach your entire application including all required documents and attachments as a PDF file.

Selection Procedure:

• All submitted applications will be reviewed.
• The 10 highest-ranked applicants will be invited for an oral presentation at a Research Commission meeting.
• Subsequently, the Research Commission will decide on the funding of the best-ranked applications.

Dates and Deadlines:

• The call is issued twice a year.
• Next submission deadline: October 1, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.
• Provisional date for oral presentations to the Research Commission: December 16, 2025
• Provisional funding approval: End of February 2026

Download application form: 

Application form_eng

Annex 1

FAQ:

Find all questions and answers on this topic here.

Dr. rer. nat. Nora Mitdank
Officer for research funding
Tel: +49 (0) 201/723-4692
nora.mitdank@uk-essen.de
Dean's Office,
1. Floor, Room 6

Dr. Munisch Wadwa
Officer for research funding
Tel: +49 (0) 201/723-83379
munisch.wadwa@uk-essen.de
Dean's Office,
1. Floor, Room 6