Perhaps you have met an interesting research partner at a conference, or your supervisor maintains contacts with international colleagues, or you have found a particularly relevant publication in your field and contacted the authors? Then you have already taken an important step: you have potential partners whom you can visit as part of your research work.

There are several options available to you for financing such a project:

• The Research School of the Ruhr-Universität offers a variety of opportunities to advance one’s own research in an international context. Information can be found here.
• The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) offers various funding programs for the realization of a stay abroad during the doctoral period. General information you find here and the link to the scholarship database here.
• The German Research Foundation (DFG) also offers opportunities, for example, to involve international researchers in research projects. An overview of the possibilities you can find here.
• The Fullbright Commission supports stays of doctoral students at American universities with a scholarship.