Partnerships and supporters

For the selection process, the Scholarship Department relies on the support of approximately 200 academic advisors at universities in Germany and abroad and a pool of 90 selection committee members from our circle of academic advisors, alumni of different professional backgrounds, and experts from the Foundation's wider Green network.

New academic advisors and selection committee members are introduced to the selection process at a workshop.

Once a year, academic advisors and selection committee members meet at our Annual Conference to network, discuss current topics in higher education or science policy, exchange views on the selection process, and learn about current developments at the Scholarship Department and the Foundation.

Our academic advisors at the universities:

The Scholarship Department Advisory Board is one of the Foundation's four advisory boards and a statutory body of the Foundation. It comprises up to 15 Advisory Board members from the realms of politics, academia, science, and science management. The members are newly appointed every three years by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Supervisory Board. Two Advisory Board also includes two representatives of the scholars.

The Advisory Board meets twice a year, advising the Scholarship Department on strategic issues, such as current developments in higher education or student numbers (and how these factors might impact our efforts to promote gifted students), the PhD process, student financing, priority programs to promote students and PhD candidates, and much more.

Many of our former scholars join our alumni association "Ehemalige Stipendiat*innen der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V..Its purpose is to facilitate networking, offer educational opportunities to alumni and current scholars, act as a think tank, and provide financial support to (former) scholars in need from its own solidarity fund. It relies heavily on the personal initiative and commitment of its members. Current scholars are eligible to request financial support for their own event and project proposals from the alumni association. Such projects are partly financed by the Jessica Bilz Trust, which the Alumni Association has set up in cooperation with the StiRa (scholars' council).The Jessica Bilz Trust was set up in memory of the untimely death of Jessica Bilz (1986 – 2015), who was a Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung scholar from 2009 to 2013. Jessica was an active member of the Sti*Ra, served on the selection committee and other bodies, and was a fierce advocate for her fellow scholars.

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Scholarship Department and the Stiftung Begabtenförderung Berufliche Bildung – SBB provide non-material support collaboratively to promote networking among their two groups of scholars and encourage them to share ideas.

We hold joint events on topics such as "Insect decline - causes and solutions" or "Addressing right-wing extremism and counter-strategies" (organized by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung) or "Survival guide for new students" and "Leadership workshop" (organized by SBB). The scholars attend additional networking meetings for a more in-depth exploration of the seminar topics in order to develop them into their own projects.

The project receives additional funding from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and is scheduled to run for six years.
The Scholarship Department is not yet involved in the current pilot program for promoting gifted apprentices.

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung offers PhD scholarships in the Research Cluster "Socio-ecological Transformation". It studies the transformation towards a sustainable and climate-friendly society, exploring its conditions, transition processes, dynamics, overarching conditions and interdependencies as well as possible accelerators. Funding is available for PhD projects (all subjects) that help drive successful socio-ecological transformation processes.

Our cooperation partners in the Research Cluster:

• German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)  
• Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) 
• Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie GmbH (Wuppertal Institute for Climate and Energy)
• Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research) 

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's Scholarship Department also supports arts students in cooperation with the Barenboim-Said-Akademie (BSA) International applicants to the BSA may request a Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung scholarship at the time of application.

Germany's 13 Begabtenförderungswerke represent the country's political and ideological diversity, including six democratic political foundations, among them the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. The oldest Begabtenförderungswerke, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, go back a century. The most recent addition is the Muslim Foundation Avicenna, founded in 2012.

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung is one of the six democratic political foundations. It began awarding scholarships in 1990. We cooperate closely with our sister organizations in a round table called "Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Begabtenförderungswerke".