More than scholarships - access to a Green network
- The scholarship department can assist you in getting in touch with experts in various fields, friends of the foundation and the regional as well as international offices of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
- We support networking between our scholarship holders and provide an intranet platform for them.
Alumni stay in touch
- Alumni are invited to an annual “alumni salon”.
- There is a regular “Alumni Newsletter”.
- Many former scholarship holders go on to become partners of the foundation. Alumni take part in our selection committees or become liaison professors at universities in Germany and abroad.
Martin Kaatz studied audio visual media in the area of film and broadcasting at the Academy of Media Art in Cologne (scholarship from 2006 to 2008):
“The scholarship of the Heinrich Böll Foundation gave me the freedom to freely develop my interests. I want to focus on specific issues, incidentally and in an undemonstrative way. As I have a Polish background, I do want to focus on that topic in my work. The protagonist of the film I directed for my degree is a Polish-born guy who grew up in Germany. I engage with Central Europe; my point of view is not subject to national borders.”
Dr. Sosan Jafari earned her doctorate at the University of Siegen in the field of literary studies. The subject of her thesis was “Images of Femininity in Islamic Fundamentalism and its Dislimitation in the Iranian Prose of Scharnush Parsipur” (scholarship from 1994 to 1998):
“The benefits? Materially: To be able to work on my thesis; ideally: getting to know and to collaborate with the Heinrich Böll Foundation and its other scholarship holders. The foundation has been a reliable contact for projects in both Iran and Germany; it has been a forum for debate. As an alumni, I continue to promote the foundation’s principles and help its endeveaours as an expert in my field of study.
Xio Jun Zhu studies economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Erfurt (scholarship since 2006):
“I, as a Chinese citizen, do not have access to many grants. The Heinrich Böll Foundation’s scholarship programme is one of the few I am eligible for, and it suits me well. I am involved with the students’ committee of my university and therefore already knew the foundation’s regional office in the state of Thuringia. I am active on the Erfurt Refugee Council and a supporter of the campaign against university fees in Thuringia. Through these activities I have many points of contact with the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The foundation has much to offer that goes beyond scholarships: As a member of the scholarship department’s working group on economics I participate in discussions on the political consequences of the increasing shortage of renewable energy and natural resources.