Doctoral funding from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, Germany's largest and most selective scholarship foundation, for candidates with well above average degrees and scientifically demanding dissertation projects. Scholars receive EUR 1,750 a month, with health insurance grants and possible family and childcare allowances on top. Nationality is irrelevant: international candidates are eligible provided they have been accepted onto a doctoral programme at a German university where the thesis will also be submitted. The last academic degree should have been completed no more than four years before the application, which is made jointly by the PhD student and their academic supervisor. Selection weighs social commitment alongside academic record.