Recruiting Grants

Stiftung Charité funds the recruitment of renowned life scientists for Berlin through various programs in the field of research funding. It offers funding programs for the temporary integration of guest scientists, especially with the Visiting Fellows of Stiftung Charité, as well as funding opportunities for permanent recruitment, especially through appointments in Berlin.

With the Recruiting Grants, Stiftung Charité supports the permanent recruitment of established or leading researchers for the life sciences and university medicine in Berlin. [1] Usually, the recruitment for a permanent position is made through new appointments to professorships at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité) or to joint professorships with Charité.

The scientific qualifications and achievements of the scientists to be recruited and nominated in the application (hereinafter: Recruiting Grantees), are clearly outstanding in relation to their career stage and in the environment of their scientific field. In addition, their recruitment contributes significantly to the strengthening of an existing or a noticeably developing research focus area in the life sciences in Berlin. In addition, the Recruiting Grants enhance the diversity of the life sciences in Berlin in terms of gender, origin, internationality, and age.

[1] based on “R3” and “R4” career levels according to the European Commission’s definition. Cf. European Commission: Towards a European Framework for Research Careers. Brussels 2011. Hyperlink

The Recruiting Grant does not serve to fully realize the recruitment, for example by funding an entire professorship; rather, it requires co-financing by the applicant. In any case, the Recruiting Grant must be indispensable for the recruitment in terms of both content and funding. It must be applied for accordingly at an early stage. An application is excluded if the recruitment, in particular with a corresponding appointment procedure, is already well advanced or can be realized without the Recruiting Grant.

In this sense, the Recruiting Grant exclusively supports the following success-critical components of a recruitment: an appropriate remuneration, attractive additional facilities, a dual career measure, and travel funds to prepare the recruitment. The details of these components are described in more detail in the section "Application of funds".

Requirements for the Recruiting Grantee:

The Recruiting Grantee can be recruited from Germany or abroad. She or he must be established in her or his scientific field and thus be active at least as a junior research group leader, junior professor, assistant professor or in a comparable position. [2] In addition, her or his scientific qualifications and achievements are expected to be clearly outstanding in relation to the career stage and the respective scientific discipline.

The Recruiting Grantee may also be a leading scientist with correspondingly higher expectations for the current position and previous qualifications and performance. [3]

In exceptional cases, Recruiting Grants may also be used to support retention negotiations for professors who have already been appointed to or with Charité in the context of procedures to avert an offer. A corresponding application must then fulfill all of the program's requirements and criteria in an equal manner.

In addition, the recruitment of the Recruiting Grantee must make an important contribution to strengthening a research focus area in the life sciences in Berlin. Here, the recruiting grantee is expected to significantly improve the scientific profile and international visibility of the research focus area in question. In line with the aforementioned expectations regarding qualifications and achievements, it is presumed that the Recruiting Grantee has already acquired a greater degree of scientific independence. In addition to the current position, the acquisition of competitively awarded third-party funding is considered as proof of the degree of independence, with special attention paid to those third-party funds that are subject to the "Money Follows Researcher" principle when evaluating eligibility. This principle allows scientists to take with them the funding they have obtained as Principle Investigator (PI) even in the event of a change of institutional affiliation, if necessary across national borders, and thus to continue the successfully applied for and usually already ongoing work on third-party funded projects at the new institution. The "Money Follows Researcher" principle is particularly promoted by the European Commission in order to support the mobility of scientists and the cross-border cooperation of research funding institutions within the European Union.[4] Accordingly, in particular the third-party funds awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) are transferable between institutions and countries within the European Union according to the "Money Follows Researcher" principle.  The national funding organizations within Europe have adopted the principle in a selective manner and, where appropriate, by way of bilateral agreements.  In the case of recruitment from Germany, the conditions of the respective national third-party funding organizations must be considered.

Funding from Stiftung Charité should enable the applicant to offer the Recruiting Grantee attractive working conditions. Since the Recruiting Grantee usually already brings in a considerable amount of third-party funding according to the "Money Follows Researcher" principle, funds for equipping the professorship with scientific personnel and material resources are already partly available, at least in the first years. Therefore, usually (a) a permanent perspective and (b) an appropriate own remuneration as well as often (c) the support of dual career measures with regard to the partner are likely to be decisive for the recruitment success. Occasionally, (d) attractive additional facilities to the already existing third-party funds may be important.

The permanent perspective can only be established by the applicant himself/herself, in particular by offering the Recruiting Grantee, in the case of an appointment, either directly a W2 or W3 lifetime professorship or a W2 or W3 fixed-term professorship with a true tenure track. The true tenure track is characterized by a one-time limitation of the professorship from the beginning and by the fact that the time, the criteria and the conditions for the tenure are defined in the context of the appointment negotiations in the form of a binding career plan; the tenure of the professorship must not be connected with a job or call reservation. The applicant must ensure the permanent financing of the professorship. If the recruitment does not take place within the framework of an appointment, the permanent perspective may also consist of the recruiting grantee being offered an attractive and permanent position for a leading scientific role (e.g. head of a department or research group).

In order to realize (b) an appropriate remuneration, (c) dual career measures and (d) an attractive additional facilities, funding can be applied for from Stiftung Charité in the form of a Recruiting Grant. Funding is conditional on the applicant's assurance of the permanent perspective outlined.

Stiftung Charité also recommends that potential applicants coordinate the content and timing of their applications for the individual Recruiting Grants. In this context, they should consider for which research focus areas of the Berlin life sciences (current or developing focus areas, existing or planned new collaborations, etc.) or with regard to which group of scientific professionals (ERC grantees, certain countries, certain institutions, etc.) the funding program should be used specifically.

Recruiting Grantees who have been recruited with the funding may use the designation "Recruiting Grantee, funded by Stiftung Charité".

[2] based on “R3” career level according to the European Commission’s definition. Cf. European Commission: Towards a European Framework for Research Careers. Brussels 2011. Hyperlink

[3] based on “R4” career level according to the European Commission’s definition. Cf. European Commission: Towards a European Framework for Research Careers. Brussels 2011. Hyperlink

[4] Cf. European Commission: Access to and portability of grants. Report adopted by the ERA Steering Group on Human Resources and Mobility. Brussels 2012. Hyperlink

A Recruiting Grant may be applied for one or more of the following components:

(1) appropriate remuneration: this type of grant is used to pay the Recruiting Grantee during the first years of the new position in Berlin, i.e., usually his or her remuneration in grade W2 or W3, including all additional costs such as performance bonuses, pension provisions, and allowances. 

(2) dual career measures: This type of funding aims to attract not only the Recruiting Grantee to a scientific position in Berlin, but also his or her partner, if this is of crucial importance to the Recruiting Grantee. An adequate employment opportunity in Berlin or the surrounding area should be created or arranged for the partner. Funding may be requested for employment of the Recruiting Grantee's partner at the applicant's institution (Dual Career Option 1). Alternatively, funding can be provided for consulting and services that the applicant uses to find adequate employment opportunities, including non-scientific employment opportunities, in Berlin and the surrounding area and cannot finance from his or her own funds (Dual Career Option 2). For Dual Career Option 1, depending on the personnel cost category, funding can be applied for based on the personnel funding rates of the German Research Foundation, up to a maximum of 100,000.00 euros per year and for a funding period of up to three years. For Dual Career Option 2, up to 50,000.00 euros one-time funding can be applied for.

(3) attractive additional facilities: this type of funding is used to further increase the facilities of the professorship that are already available through transferable third-party funds. The additional funding can consist of funds for scientific personnel, material resources and investments. The maximum amount of additional funding that can be requested depends on the amount of third-party funds that can be transferred according to the "Money Follows Researcher" principle, minus any portion that only serves to cover indirect costs ( overhead costs). For each Euro that the Recruiting Grantee can prove to have immediately available for his or her scientific work after the move to Berlin, 0.50 euros in funding for attractive additional facilities can be applied for from Stiftung Charité, up to a maximum of 200,000.00 Euros per year (capped) for a funding period of up to three years. The funding period must be parallel to that of the transferable third-party funds and must always cover entire calendar years. The additional funding cannot be used to ensure the permanent financing of the professorship. In individual cases, the additional funding may also be used to further equip a department or working group to be headed by the recruiting grantee, provided that he or she can be recruited without being appointed to a professorship.

(4) travel funds: in addition, travel funds can be applied for to enable the Recruiting Grantee to get to know the life sciences environment in Berlin at an early stage and to conduct the necessary preparatory talks with the applicant and, if applicable, other participants on site. Travel funds must be in accordance with the applicant's rules and must be paid by the applicant.

The Recruiting Grant may comprise one component or be made up of several. However, it cannot exceed a total of 750,000.00 euros over a funding period of a maximum of three years. The award or approval of a Recruiting Grant is made in the form of a lump sum to the applicant. The grant of Stiftung Charité is tied to the person, i.e., under the condition that the respective Recruiting Grantee can also be successfully recruited by the applicant. Following successful recruitment of the Recruiting Grantee, the applicant may apply to Stiftung Charité for the Recruiting Grantee, as then employed by him or her, to personally retrieve and be responsible for the funding awarded with the respective Recruiting Grant (change of project leadership).

Travel funds for preparing the recruitment are not tied to the success of the recruitment and can be approved without this requirement.

Administrative costs / overhead fees are not paid within the context of a Recruiting Grant.

Applications may be submitted by at least one member of the Executive Board of Charité. If the appointment is to be made by way of a joint appointment of Charité with another life science institution in Berlin, the executive board of this institution involved in the appointment must be involved as co-applicant. In addition, important parties involved in the appointment (e.g. the management of the institute or clinic to which the appointment is to be made) may act as co-applicants.

Funding is applied for the respective Recruiting Grantee. The requirements for the Recruiting Grantee are defined in more detail under "Funding volume". The application must be coordinated in advance with the Recruiting Grantee.

Recruiting Grant funding must be critical to the success of the intended recruitment and therefore must be applied for in a timely manner. Funding is excluded if the recruitment and appointment process is already well advanced or can be successful overall without the Recruiting Grant.

The Recruiting Grantee can be recruited from Germany or abroad. The crucial factor is that he or she already has a greater degree of scientific independence. He or she must therefore currently be active at least as a junior research group leader, junior professor, assistant professor or in a comparable position.  He or she must also be successful in acquiring competitively awarded third-party funds, whereby in particular such third-party funds should be available to a significant extent that are subject to the "Money Follows Researcher" principle and can be transferred to Berlin in the event of successful recruitment.

The proposal for a Recruiting Grant consists of the following parts:

(a) presentation of the strategic importance of the nominated Recruiting Grantee for the life sciences and university medicine in Berlin in general and for a more specifically defined research focus area in particular,

(b) demonstration of the qualifications and achievements of the nominated Recruiting Grantee, compared to the standard for an established or leading researcher,[5] including a list of the third-party funds acquired with corresponding proof (distinguishing between 1. third-party funds from contract research/calls for tender, 2. third-party funds from competitive procedures and of these again 2a. those that are transferable according to the "Money Follows Researcher" principle and 2b. those that are not transferable),[6]

(c) presentation of the permanent perspective with the applicant's institution, i.e., usually the intended appointment to a W2 or W3 lifetime professorship or a W2 or W3 fixed-term professorship with a true tenure track.

The proposal is drawn up using the proposal form provided by Stiftung Charité.

By submitting an application, the applicant declares that he or she has read Stiftung Charité’s grant conditions (Bewilligungsgrundsätze) as well as the program information of the program to which his or her application refers and accepts them as the legally binding basis for any funding of his or her project. Furthermore, the applicant acknowledges Stiftung Charité's standards for the realization of funded projects and data protection information (Datenschutzhinweise).

In addition to the minimum requirements listed above, the following criteria will be used in evaluating an application:

• relevance of the Recruiting Grant to the recruitment and appropriateness of the overall funding intended for the recruitment,
• current position and existing qualifications and achievements of the Recruiting Grantee in relation to his/her career stage and scientific field,
• particularly important: success to date in acquiring competitively awarded third-party funding, with special emphasis on those third-party funds that are subject to the "Money Follows Researcher" principle and can be transferred to Berlin in the event of successful recruitment,
• contribution of the recruitment to the strengthening of a research focus area in the life sciences in Berlin, especially with regard to the scientific profile and international visibility of the respective research focus area,
• Contribution of the recruitment to enhance the diversity of the Berlin life sciences in terms of gender, origin, internationality, and age, and
• permanent perspective and development prospects for the Recruiting Grantee.

[5] based on “R3” and “R4” career levels according to the European Commission’s definition. Cf. European Commission: Towards a European Framework for Research Careers. Brussels 2011. Hyperlink

[6] The differentiation of third-party funding must be bindingly clarified in consultation with the nominated Recruiting Grantee and the involved third-party funding organizations before submitting the application.

Applications can be submitted to Stiftung Charité at any time, where they are first reviewed for form. In preparation for the funding decision, Stiftung Charité may include the assessments of external experts. The funding decision is made by the Board of Trustees of Stiftung Charité. Funding is awarded subject to the successful recruitment of the Recruiting Grantee. The grant will only be approved after this condition has been fulfilled. This should be no later than six months after a positive funding decision. Potentially requested travel funds can already be approved in advance without a pre-condition.

Applications can be submitted at any time. There are no calls for applications with separate deadlines.

Dr. Inga Lödig
Research Funding Manager

Stiftung Charité
Novalisstraße 10
10115 Berlin

Phone:   +49 (0)30 450 570 - 577
E-mail:   loedige(at)stiftung-charite.de  
Website:  www.stiftung-charite.de