About: WiRe – Women in Research

WiRe is a fellowship programme for international female postdoctoral researchers at the University of Münster (WWU) in Germany. Hosted by the WWU’s Welcome Centre, the WiRe programme was founded to help address the unique challenges of women in research, with a special focus on female Postdocs who currently find themselves in their ‘Rush Hour of Life’.

The WiRe programme offers short-term fellowships as well as comprehensive support for its fellows, among other things through workshops, collegial counselling and coaching. Our fellowships have a duration of 4-8 months. Longer periods of up to a year are possible in the framework of the matching option: If your host department at the WWU funds at least two additional fellowship months, WiRe funds one additional month.

During the WiRe period, fellows conduct their research in cooperation with a professor at the WWU and can explore research and development possibilities as well as the wide range of support structures available for top female scientists in Münster. Our fellowships are intended to give the opportunity to explore further career prospects and initiate and foster further cooperation with the WWU.

In 2020, WiRe Research@home Fellowships were created as our answer to the continued challenging circumstances faced by the international scientific community. As time has shown that our Research@home Fellowships allow an easier combination of family obligations and career aspirations, we will continue to offer this remote option, although we highly encourage fellows to carry out their research on site in Münster. However, the Research@home Fellowships allow for the chance to pursue a research project at the University of Münster from your home base.

In addition to support and funding, WiRe fellows should expect to participate in digital science / research communication collaborations with the WiRe team, as increasing research accessibility and inspiring other female scientists by way of new and creative channels is one of the main focuses of the programme.

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WiRe Fellowships: Our Offer

Fellowship for a period of at least 4 but up to 8 months,

Periods of up to 12 months are possible with the matching option: If your host department at the WWU funds at least two additional fellowship months, WiRe funds one additional month

• On-site and remote options available
• Fellowship sum of 2800€ per month for on-site fellowships, 2200€ for remote fellowships
• Family bonus: Child allowance of 200€ for each child*
• On-site and remote option
• Additional funding allotted for conference participation, if applicable
• Excellent research and career development opportunities
• Access to all WWU communication channels, networks and research infrastructure
• Collective fellowship meetings, workshops and collegial coaching

*For on-site stays, the child allowance can only be awarded in the case that you are NOT entitled to the German governmental “Kindergeld” (approximately 200€ per month).

Could a WiRe Fellowship be Your Next Move? Our eligibility criteria

You are eligible to apply if you:

• have obtained or are about to earn your PhD (you must have earned it by the start of your fellowship),
• have not worked at a German higher education institution in the past six months, and
• have completed the majority of your academic qualifications outside of Germany.