On Antarctica Day, December 1st 2022, we held an online panel discussion and networking event to talk about funding opportunities for Polar early eareer scientists.
More than 50 participants tuned in to listen to our four invited panelists talking about their funding journey in Polar research and answering questions from the audience concerning PhD and PostDoc funding, going abroad and more.
First, we wanted to get to know our audience with some questions (see the interesting responses below!).
For the panel, APECS Germany board members Alexandra Zuhr (AWI) and Lena Nicola (PIK) were joined by AWI Researcher Stefan Kruse and Daniela Walch, who is currently pursuing a PhD at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, Canada.
We thank our panelists for having the time to share their experience with us! Thank you to Elisa Peter (GFZ) for moderating and Erik Loebel (TU Dresden), who helped with the organisation and technical support of the event.
Check out our collection of funding resources here:
There, you will soon find an additional section on “Commonly asked questions”. There we will address re-occurring problems and questions when it comes to funding which will be based on some of the questions we received from the audience:
Do you think getting one grant leads to getting more / large grants later?
When having an idea for a PhD project which is based on a master thesis, where can I apply for funding?
Where do you search for grants? Do you have a recommendation for PhD level grants for equipment, fieldwork and cooperation work?
In which language should the proposal be written? Do all proposals have to be written in German?
A question to parental leave: What happens next to the project? Is the funding agency able to provide support? What kind of?
How do I find out what I can do if I don’t have a background in polar research?
What are the benefits and disadvantages of doing a PhD with a scholarship?
How often do you have to report the progress of your project?
How do I apply to the Arctic Field Grant?
Please reach out if you want to work on this topic with us, creating resources and information for all in our community. Just send us an e-mail to germany-board@apecs.is!
Stay tuned for our short publication on the Funding landscape for Polar Early Career Scientists in Germany (Nicola, Loebel and Zuhr, in press) which will soon be published in the Copernicus Journal Polarforschung.