At the International Psychoanalytic Universiy Berlin, you have the opportunity to apply for a Deutschlandstipendium (transl. Germany Scholarship). This scholarship is awarded in the amount of 300 euro per month over the course of two years and is funded partially through private donations and partially by the Federal Republic of Germany.
The purpose of the Deutschlandstipendium is to support students who, based on prior engagement and accomplishments, as well as social, familial, and personal circumstances, show notable potential and excellent performance in their studies or career.
Applications for the Deutschlandstipendim are open for students who are enrolled at the IPU Berlin and are within the standard period of study for their study program.
As of the winter semester 2023/24, there are also topic-based scholarships as part of the IPU Berlin Deutschlandstipendium. Each topic group will consist of five scholarship recipients who are brought together and accompanied an IPU professor in order to address a specific, relevant issue. Each group will meet approximately twice per semester to discuss their topic, which can potentially feed into to term papers or thesis projects.
This year's topics are:
- Aggression and Violence (sponsored by the "Priv.-Doz. Dr. Harald Leupold-Löwenthal" endowment fund)
- Artificial Intelligence and Psychoanalysis (sponsored by the IPU Fundraisers Association and the Foundation to Promote University Psychoanalysis) and
- Future (sponsored by the Friedrich Foundation Hannover)
Bachelor's and master's students can apply for a general Deutschlandstipendium, i.e., not related to a specific topic, or, if interested, for a topic-based scholarship. If applying for a topic-based scholarship, this shoud be indicated in the application, and the required motivational letter should draw attention to the reasoning behind one's interest. A selection committee will then decide on the scholarship recipients as well as the makeup of each topic group.
The scholarship is unrelated to receiving BAföG or one's income level. Only students who are already receiving a merit or performance-based scholarship from a public or publicly funded institution in the amount of 30 Euro per month or more are excluded from receiving the Deutschlandstipendium.
The next awarding period for the Deutschlandstipendium will begin in the winter semester 2023/24. Applications may be submitted between 12 July and 3 September 2023.
Please indicate in your application whether you are interested in one of the topic groups. A letter of motivation is required for each application, and if applying for a topic group, you should make the reasoning for your intererest clear.
The topic of aggression and violence was a research focus of Viennese psychiatrist, neurologist, and psychoanalyst Harald Leupold-Löwenthal (1926-2007). Applying to this topic group should be interesting for students who are already working on a project related to this topic or are planning to do so. This topic group is structured in a way that allows for a wide range of possibilities regarding individual focuses. Perspectives on issues revolving around aggression as a subject theory are just as sought after as projects addressing direct experiences of violence (for example, living through war), trauma, or posttraumatic disorders. The binding element of this group is psychoanalysis as an academic discipline and methodic backdrop.
The contact and accompanying professor for this topic group is Prof. Phil Langer.
This year, five scholarships will be awarded for this group.
Artificial intelligence is a currently developing subject area that addresses issues that are not in the least relevant to psychoanalysis. The use of artificial intelligence fundamentally influences processes of subjectification. Here, one must question, among others, how a relationship to AI is designed, which has allready changed and will continue to change our work processes. The question of what role artificial intelligence may play in psychotherapeutic contexts also draws on these topics.
This topic group is broadly defined in order to allow space for the development of individual perspectives. The group is oriented towards students who are already working on a project related to artificial intelligence or are planning to do so in the future.
Contact persons and accompanying professors for this group are Prof. Birgit Stürmer and Prof. Thomas Kühn.
This year, five scholarships will be awarded for this group.
We are living in times of uncertainty. Above all, it is key words like war and peace, environmental conservation and climate change as well as social and political stability – three spheres, which create confusion and force this uncertainty. Finding personal orientation is more difficult in these situations but is also necessary in order to allow for hope and initiate constructive action. This can be combined with significant psychological challenges, especially when one experiences a loss of perspective, feelings of fear and anxiety, or powerlessness.
Here, interesting questions can be opened up by activating positive psychological resources and then asking which conditions could strengthen self trust and confidence, and how anxieties, self-doubt, and dejectedness could be compensated for through therapeutic interventions. In this way, the unconscious dimension of such emotional states are more recognizable and analyzable. This topic is designed on an interdiscipinary spectrum in order to draw connections to historical and political sciences, and above all, to futurology and transformational research.
Ultimately, this topic group is focused on transformational psychology approaches to societal change, whose tempo and dynamic are associated with complex challenges.
This group will be accompanied by Prof. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz and Tara Loeber, M.A. (research associate).
This year, five scholarships will be awarded for this group.
This year, five scholarships will be awarded for this group.
Awarding the Deutschlandstipendium
Amount and Duration of the Scholarship
Applicants will be informed whether they will receive a scholarship at the beginning of the semester, for which they have applied (i.e., in April for the summer semester, in October for the winter semester).
Individual information on the scholarship duration will be provided in the grant notice. The grant notice will also indicate the scholarship amount and maximum duration. The scholarship's maximum duration is analog to the standard period of study for each study program (generally six semesters for bachelor's programs and four semesters for master's programs) minus the number of semesters the student has completed at the time of application.