Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has opened the Walter Benjamin Programme to displaced scholars. 

With the option of acquiring a Walter Benjamin position, refugee researchers who have been forced to leave their home country within the last three years are given the opportunity to embark on their own research project. Funding under this programme thereby offers the chance to gain experience through independent supervision of a research project at an academic institution in Germany, which is the necessary basis for taking the next steps towards becoming further established within the German research system. At the same time, applicants are to benefit from individual career support measures offered by the host institution, as is customary under the concept of the Walter Benjamin Programme. The focus of this programme is usually on applicants in the early postdoctoral phase, but in the case of this particular target group, such a limitation does not apply.

The DFG will continue to offer funding opportunities for refugee researchers in the future. Under many DFG funding programmes (research grant, Priority Programme, Research Unit, Clinical Research Unit, Centre for Advanced Studies, Research Training Group), it has been possible in the last three years to submit supplemental proposals for the purpose of integrating persons who have fled their home countries in ongoing DFG projects that already receive funding. Supplemental proposals can be directed towards any funding that enables involvement of the individuals concerned in the project, whether as research assistants, doctoral candidates, post-doctoral candidates or professors. In addition, the Mercator Module is particularly suitable for integrating academically proven individuals; here it is possible to apply for funding to cover the cost of travel and accommodation and also to cover remuneration based on academic qualifications.

Find all information concerning funding opportunities by DFG here.