German grants for Ukraine: what changed by September 2026

Updated on 7 September 2026. The previous version of this roundup came out in April and covered nine programmes. Since then, three of them changed status, one window closed for good, and one of the largest fellowship schemes stopped accepting applications altogether because it ran out of capacity. So we went back through every deadline and rebuilt the list around what is actually open this autumn.

The headline for Ukrainian researchers: the two easiest routes into German funding both paused at the end of summer. The DFG option that let a German partner fund a Ukrainian project leader’s living costs in Ukraine expired on 31 August 2026. The Humboldt Research Fellowship hit its application cap and reopens on 15 November. Anyone who missed both has a quiet two months to prepare, and that is the useful way to read this update.

What closed

DFG, funding for Ukrainian project leaders. Since September 2022 a German applicant could add up to €1,000 per month for a Ukrainian researcher working from Ukraine to a DFG research grant, research unit or priority programme, either in a new proposal or as a supplement to a running project. DFG stated the option would apply to proposals received up to and including 31 August 2026. Proposals that arrived before that date are still processed; new ones fall back on the standard DFG rules for international cooperation, which are less generous and require the German side to justify every cost.

Heinrich Böll Foundation, autumn round. The scholarship portal for graduate and PhD candidates closed on 1 September 2026. Böll runs two rounds a year, so this is a postponement, not a loss. The next window runs from 15 January to 1 March 2027. German at B2 or DSH-2 is mandatory for international applicants, which is the reason most Ukrainian candidates are screened out before the interview. Böll scholarships, official page →

BMFTR bilateral cooperation projects. The German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, jointly with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, closed its 2026 round for partnership projects on 24 June. The ministry has committed over €1 million for bilateral projects in jointly prioritised areas for 2024 to 2026, and a further unilateral call with forwarding of funds to Ukrainian partners was announced for a start in 2026. A new bilateral round is expected but has no published date yet.

What is paused and reopens soon

Humboldt Research Fellowship, reopens 15 November 2026. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation stopped creating new applications after reaching the maximum number for the current call. The next call opens on 15 November. The terms are unchanged: €3,000 per month for postdocs within four years of the doctorate, €3,600 per month for experienced researchers, 6 to 24 months in Germany, divisible into up to three stays within three years, plus a language course, family allowances and travel. There is no nationality quota, and the selection committee meets in March, July and November, so an application submitted in the November window is realistically decided by March or July 2027.

What to do with the two months. The application needs a host at a German institution who confirms in writing, a research plan and two independent expert reviews. Reviews are the slowest part. A candidate who lines up the host and the reviewers in September and October can submit on the first day the portal opens. Humboldt Research Fellowship, official page →

What you can apply for right now

The roundup above maps the landscape; the calls below are German-linked, open today and tracked in the GetGrant database, so you can act on them this autumn rather than wait for the November window.

• DAAD master’s scholarships in Germany, €992 per month, deadline 16 November 2026. For Ukrainian graduates starting a master’s programme, with living costs covered for the full degree. DAAD scholarship database →
• DAAD “Ukraine of the Future” research grants, up to €2,300, rolling intake. Short research stays in Germany for graduates, PhD candidates and postdocs to build ties with a German host institution. Programme page →
• German–Ukrainian municipal partnerships (SKEW / NAKOPA, Engagement Global), up to €250,000, deadline 15 October 2026. The application is submitted by the German partner community; the Ukrainian municipality is the beneficiary. SKEW funding page →

What remains open all year

DFG Walter Benjamin and Emmy Noether programmes. Both are open to international applicants under the Global Minds Initiative and have no deadline. Walter Benjamin funds a postdoc’s own project immediately after the doctorate, either at a German institution or abroad with a German link. Emmy Noether funds an independent junior research group for up to six years for researchers two to four years past the PhD. DFG has also eased access to Walter Benjamin for refugee researchers. Neither programme pays a Ukrainian institution; both place the researcher in the German system. DFG funding programmes, official site →

DFG cooperation with developing countries. The standard procedure under which a German PI includes a Ukrainian partner institution and requests personnel, equipment, consumables and travel for the Ukrainian side. It survives the closure of the €1,000 living-cost option and remains the main DFG route for a joint project in which the Ukrainian partner stays in Ukraine. The applicant is always the German side.

DAAD. The scholarship and research grant lines for Ukraine are profiled separately on GetGrant with their programme-specific deadlines, most of which fall in the autumn for stays starting the following year. DAAD: donor analysis and its programmes for Ukraine → · DAAD official site →

VolkswagenStiftung. Germany’s largest private research funder allows costs for Ukrainian partners inside a project budget when the German applicant justifies them, and its programmes run on rolling or annual calls. The GetGrant donor analysis covers the individual lines. Volkswagen Stiftung: who they are and how to get a grant in 2026 → · VolkswagenStiftung official site →

Political foundations. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung keep scholarship lines for international students and doctoral candidates with their own calendars, and both run offices in Kyiv that fund civil society projects on invitation rather than by open call. For an NGO the practical route is a direct approach to the Ukraine office with a concept note, not a portal. KAS → · FES →

How to read the German landscape now

Germany funds Ukraine through many doors, and almost every door is opened by a German partner. The Ukrainian researcher, university or NGO is the beneficiary; the applicant, contract holder and reporting party is usually German. That is the single structural fact behind the whole list. It means the work in September and October is partner work: identifying the host, the PI or the foundation office, and giving them a proposal they can submit as their own.

The second fact is that the emergency instruments of 2022 are being wound down. DFG’s living-cost option is the clearest example, and the Philipp Schwartz Initiative for at-risk researchers has moved to selective rounds rather than continuous intake. The programmes that remain are the standard ones, with standard competition. For a Ukrainian applicant that raises the bar and removes the ceiling at the same time.