Bavarian Gender Equality Grant (BGF) Guidelines

The Free State of Bavaria has been making state funds available since 2008 to intensify efforts to realize equal opportunity in research and teaching. The grant’s objectives are to boost the percentage of women at all academic qualification levels, from the postdoc phase onward, as well as in each respective degree, and in particular, to increase the number of women in leadership positions at research and teaching institutions, especially in professorships.

BGF-scholarships are advertised as a rule once a year. Currently, the following applies: Applications must be submitted via the online application portal. The application period starts on 01/16/2025 and ends on 03/13/2025. The online application portal closes on 03/13/2025 at 12:00 noon.

The stipend term runs for a maximum of 12 months. For first applications, it begins on 10/01/2025, and for follow-on applications, it begins immediately following the preceding grant. The request for proposals for 2025 is subject to budget approval.

Any graduate female researcher at the LMU with a PhD who has worked scientifically at the LMU for at least 6 months prior to the time of application submission and who, to the end of the grant period, holds either an employment agreement at the LMU, or if she has no employment agreement, can demonstrate an institutionalized affiliation or a close connection with the LMU (such as a desk, an office, or a workplace in a lab) is eligible to apply. Please pay close attention to the detailed information regarding the type of grant.

As a rule, these are for graduate female researchers at the LMU whose doctoral degree was completed with at least a grade of magna cum laude. In addition, the doctoral studies can generally not have exceeded a period of four years. Basically this stipend focusses on advanced postdocs.

The stipend amount is 2,400 Euro/month. The stipend amount is 2,400 Euro/month. View detailed information concerning stipends for female postdocs.

These are for graduate female researchers at the LMU seeking a habilitation at the LMU; written proof that the faculty has accepted you for habilitation (e.g. Fachmentorat) required.

The amount of the stipend is 2,800 Euro/month. View detailed information concerning habilitation stipends.

These are for graduate female researchers at the LMU who meet one of the following criteria:

• habilitation paper received a positive assessment
• previously habilitated
• successfully evaluated while holding a junior professorship

The amount of the stipend is 3,200 Euro/month. View detailed information concerning stipends for excellent graduate researchers (Post-Habil-Grant).

Stipends are not subject to any social security requirement.

• Stipends for the Bavarian Gender Equality Grant do not constitute a labor or service relationship; stipend installments do not require or constitute a labor or service compensation
• The payments are not compensation or remuneration for work performed and are not subject to any social security requirements; the scholarship does not include any contributions for social security or health insurance
• The stipend recipient is responsible for obtaining her own health insurance
• Scholarship holders who are required to have voluntary health insurance for the duration of their scholarship can apply for a health insurance allowance (up to a maximum of 200 Euros).

Since a scholarship does not constitute a labor or service relationship, there is no maternity protection, maternity leave or parental leave as far as labor law is concerned.

Upon request, depending on the budgetary situation, the following support options for pregnancy during the scholarship period will be considered on a case-by-case basis:

• Continued payment of the stipend during the maternity leave period, payment of which would otherwise be applicable in an employment relationship that falls within the regular stipend period / the regular time frame of the grant.
• Upon request, extension of the scholarship period for periods of analogous maternity leave that fall within the regular time frame of the grant.
• Requests for continued payment or extension must be submitted in writing to the University's Women's Representative no later than three months before the analogous maternity leave starts.

• Applications for a BGF scholarship during leave of absence from employment due to parental leave are only possible when the parental leave has ended by the beginning of the stipend, at the latest.
• Parental leave may not be combined with a 50% stipend or a 100% stipend.
• If a break similar to parental leave is desired during the fellowship: Upon request, the interruption of a 100% or 50% scholarship for a maximum of six months will be considered on a case-by-case basis. In the event of an interruption, no scholarship installments will be paid.
• Resumption of a 100% or 50% scholarship for the remaining term after termination of the maximum six-month interruption for a parental break is possible, but subject to strict budgetary restrictions. In the event of a lack of funds, there is no entitlement to replacement.
• If, in individual cases, parental allowance and a 100% or 50% scholarship are received at the same time, the scholarship holder must report this immediately to the University’s Women's Representative. An interruption of the scholarship or a reduction in the scholarship installment, if necessary, retroactively even, because of this third-party allowance, must then be examined in the individual case.

• In the event of illness, stipend installments will continue to be paid for up to six weeks.
• An illness extending beyond six weeks must immediately be reported to the University's Women's Representative and a medical certificate must be submitted.
• If work for the project being funded by the grant is not possible, the scholarship must be interrupted and the stipend payments for the period of the illness must be suspended.
• Resumption of the remainder of the fellowship or extension of the fellowship for the duration of the sick leave cannot be guaranteed and are subject to strict budget approval.
• Decisions shall be made on an individual, case-by-case basis.

To determine if the grant is exempted from taxes according to § 3 Nr. 44 EstG, an individual assessment has to be conducted upon demand of the grant recipient or her responsible tax authority only, and is carried out by the corporate tax authority of the stipend provider. For the LMU:

Finanzamt München
Abteilung Körperschaften
Katharina-von-Bora-Str. 4
80333 München

You will need to have the following documents available to upload as a pdf (maximum 5 MB per file). Please pay close attention to detailed information on the respective grant:

• Complete (also explaining gaps in career paths may be helpful) and signed résumé/CV in table form
• List of publications, according to scientific practice (Prof. Stefan Endres from the medical faculty recommends this layout: example list of publications. (PDF, 193 KB)We leave it up to the individual disciplines to define an appropriate layout for the list of publications.)
• Project description, if this is a first application (maximum 6 pages not counting the bibliography, use Arial 11 or Times New Roman 12, line spacing 1.5)
• An interim report, if this is a follow-on application
• Employment agreement or written proof of institutional affiliation or close connection with the LMU for the following periods: at least 6 months prior to the time of application submission up to the end of the grant period
• Previous university degree certificates/transcripts (stipend for postdocs) and doctoral certificate (stipend for postdocs and habilitation stipend), written proof of being accepted for habilitation (habilitation stipend) or written proof of habilitation (stipend for excellent graduate researchers)
• Birth certificates of the children, if applicable

Every applicant is required to have an internal (LMU) and external (non LMU) referee report, which can only be written by professors. The following information should be forwarded to the individuals generating the referee reports:

• Guidelines for writing referee reports in German
• Guidelines for writing referee reports in English

Deadline: Both referee reports must be sent either by mail or by e-mail to the University's Women's Representative by the referees no later than 03/13/2025. They cannot be uploaded through the application portal. The referees will be notified when their referee reports have been received.

You are urged to review your documents for completeness and accuracy according to the detailed information regarding your type of grant before sending in your application. Only complete applications that have been submitted on time will be considered. Please read all information carefully.

The scholarship holder is obliged to report without delay any change with regard to the statements in her application or her personal circumstances to the office of the University's Women's Representative, which is the approving office for the grant.

Copies of all documents related to the aforementioned issues must be sent to the University's Women's Representative.

The scholarship holder acknowledges all application criteria mentioned above.

The stipend will be revoked if one fails to start by the given deadline.

• Upon receipt of the funding, the scholarship holder is obligating herself to submit a comprehensive final report no later than two months following the end of the funding.
• The final report should contain a progress analysis supplying precise information on the state of the scholarship holder's project and the actual performance made during the entire funding period pursuant to the task schedule and timetable in the application. The report must also convey the status of the research work and its results.
• The final report should be 3-4 pages in length and must be signed. It can be submitted by regular mail or electronically.
• In addition, the supervisor must submit a brief statement in the form of a substantive assessment of the accomplishments cited in the final report. Length: approximately one page. (For example, in the case of stipends for excellent junior scientific staff (Post-Habil-Grant), these can be from project referees as well.)
• Both reports should also discuss the funding itself (how it is or was useful for example) because positive feedback helps secure future funding. One may also express suggestions for improvement and constructive criticism in order to optimize the scholarship program.