MSc Career Exploration Scholarship

Junior Scientists Tandems (JST)

Get to know your job before you do it

ATSAF's new "Junior Scientists Tandem (JST)" program gives students at MSc level the opportunity to get hands-on experience in research for development in collaborative projects between CGIAR++ centers and German research institutions.

JST supports MSc students enrolled at German universities for a 6 months internship at a CGIAR++ center. At the same time, it supports MSc students from partner countries (as per OECD DAC list) for a 6 months internship at a German research institution. Both must be working – either parallel or sequentially - within the framework of the same collaborative research project between the CGIAR++ center and the German institute. Both will have the opportunity to collect data in the scope of their master’s thesis research. The respective MSc students constitute a junior scientist tandem.

JST is a career exploration scholarship and part of the ATSAF Academy. The program uses synergies with existing programs such as the ATSAF Academy PhD Research Scholarship. PhD projects can receive valuable additional work through master's theses. Research is an innovative and creative process that often changes as it progresses, depending on the nature of the results from each step of the research. Masters’ theses can be used to separately or additionally research individually arising aspects of a PhD project. Working within a ATSAF Academy PhD project is therefore particularly recommended.

The aim of the JST is to inspire young people for development-oriented agricultural research, to qualify them in this field in an internationally competitive manner and rejuvenate and expand the corresponding professional networks.

ATSAF supports MSc students with:

• A scholarship for a period of six months
• 5000 € for MSc students (of any nationality) enrolled at a German university staying at a CGIAR++ center
• 7000 € for MSc students from a university of an OECD-DAC partner country staying at a German research institution
• The opportunity to collect data to complete the Master of Science degree
• Administrative support from ATSAF
• A Networking & Training Platform with inception trainings, webinars, and forums

In order to be eligible for support, MSc students must fulfill the following requirements:

• Completion of at least 1 MSc semester of agricultural sciences or another development-related degree course
• Proficiency in English
• Supervisor from a German university and a CGIAR++ research center supporting the application and research topic
• International liability and health insurance
• A high degree of sensitivity towards the culture in the country of assignment
• Team playing skills
• Willingness to assume responsibility and to work independently
• Willingness to engulf in six months of research abroad
• Female students and students from universities in OECD-DAC partner countries are particularly encouraged to apply!

ATSAF is the scientific umbrella organization of German development-oriented, international research in agricultural, resource and environmental sciences. Its mandate is to link universities and research institutions in Germany with CGIAR++ centers and numerous universities in partner countries.

The program is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

If you have any questions or need help with the application procedure, please contact Beatrice Breuer or Sabine Baumgartner at jst@atsaf.de

More information:

• Application
• Structure
• Funded Projects