Idealistic support and event program

Our aim is to create an inspiring learning environment. We do this by contracting competent trainers and instructors for our seminars, leveraging innovative teaching methods, and ensuring diversity in our learning groups.

Our events take place at different venues, such as youth hostels, educational institutions, or at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung headquarters in Berlin.

We provide quality accommodation and offer vegetarian and vegan meal options.

For larger events, we also provide childcare.

The work groups, run independently by the scholars, focus on the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's key causes and beyond. They are a key component of the Scholarship Department's ancillary program, offering spaces to share ideas and explore and debate topics.

The scholars are responsible for their content and organize them as a team. The Scholarship Department supports planning and implementation; funds are available for up to three meetings per year. At the end of each year, the group presents a joint work group product.

Topics of current work groups:

• Foreign and Security Policy
• Biodiversity and Sustainability
• Unleashing the Energy Transition
• Eastward
• Socio-ecological Economics

Spontaneously formed groups can propose a topic to the Scholarship Department, which will counsel the group and finance its travel costs. Beyond seminars, other possible group activities are excursions, exhibition visits etc. New groups may also arise from discussions within the local initiatives or form in order to elaborate a proposal for a new work group. Unlike the work groups that operate year-round, these meetings are one-off events.

Topics of recent one-off meetings:

• Democracy and justice in the age of artificial intelligence
• Gender equality in professional life
• Russia's war against Ukraine: What has been, will be, and can be done?
• The future of our forests and hunting
• Art as a blueprint for revolution? The political writings of Sibylle Berg

Led by two scholars who act as coordinators, local initiatives meet regularly at all major university locations to promote networking among the local Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung scholars. These initiatives offer a variety of activities for current and former scholars, including a "regulars' table," presentations of final theses or research projects, specialist lectures, political debates with local policymakers, visits to special facilities or exhibitions in the region, and much more.

The representative body for all current Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung scholars is the Scholars' Council (“Stipendiat*innen-Rat” - Sti*Ra). It is the scholars' opinion-building forum, representing the scholars' specific interests in the context of their funding.

Sti*Ra members assume various tasks:

• help select new scholars
• serve on the Advisory Board of the Scholarship Department and attend the General Meeting of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
• promote networking among the scholars
• promote networking with other supporters of the Scholarship Department (academic advisors, alumni, etc.)
• promote networking with scholars from other grant-making organizations or university groups

Throughout their entire scholarship, our staff at the division for graduate and PhD scholarships provides support, counselling, and mentorship to our scholars. Our advisors are the students' contact for all questions that arise prior to and during their studies. For PhD candidates, our department staff provides support as needed, especially regarding the planning and organization of their PhD project, liaising with supervisors, career guidance, or the conditions of their PhD program.

This regular exchange is the foundation for trusting collaboration.