Bayer Foundation Fellowships

Who can apply

Master's, PhD, or medical/veterinary-medicine student, in a field matching one of four tracks: Drug Discovery Sciences (any scientific discipline including pharmacy and data science, relevant to pharmaceutical or consumer healthcare industries); Agricultural Science (any scientific discipline including data science, relevant to crop science); Medical Sciences (human or veterinary medicine, medical engineering, applied medical sciences, data science in medicine, or public health); or Climate & Health (human or veterinary medicine, natural sciences, pharmacy, public health, or epidemiology, relevant to the health impact of climate change)
Placement direction is fixed by your current study location: if you study in Germany, the placement must be abroad; if you study outside Germany, the placement must be at a German research institution
No formal nationality restriction stated. The Foundation explicitly states it 'strongly encourages' applications from women, applicants from low- and middle-income countries, parents with childcare responsibilities, and those working in Germany with German as a second language

The direction rule that catches people off guard

The direction rule here is the detail most likely to catch someone off guard, because it’s not what you’d assume from the name. This isn’t simply “funding to come study in Germany.” If you’re already studying in Germany, you have to take your placement in a different country; the fellowship only pays for German-based placements if you’re currently studying somewhere else. Read that twice before you build an application around the wrong direction.

A supplement to an existing degree, not funding for the degree itself

At up to €10,000 for up to six months, this is a supplement to an existing degree, not a scholarship that funds the degree itself. It’s built for a research project, internship, or similar placement layered onto your current master’s, PhD, or medical studies, not a full programme of study in its own right. Plan for it to cover one placement’s costs, not your entire education.

Named for three real figures in Bayer’s own scientific history

The Drug Discovery Sciences, Agricultural Science, and Medical Sciences tracks were established in memory of three specific people from Bayer’s own history, not a generic branding exercise: Otto Bayer, a former director of research at Bayer; Jeff Schell, co-founder of Plant Genetic Systems, now part of Bayer Crop Science; and Carl Duisberg, a former Chairman of the Board of Management at Bayer. The newer Climate & Health track, added since, isn’t tied to a named figure the same way, and focuses specifically on the health of women and other vulnerable populations, cardio-renal health, neglected tropical diseases, and respiratory health.

Who the Foundation is explicitly trying to reach

The Foundation is unusually direct about who it wants to hear from: its own page names women, applicants from low- and middle-income countries, parents with caregiving responsibilities, and German-as-a-second-language applicants working in Germany as groups it specifically encourages to apply. There’s no formal nationality restriction stated, but the fields are specific, drug discovery, agricultural science, medical sciences, or the newer climate-and-health track, so check that your research area actually fits one of the four before applying.

Nothing open right now, and two programmes not to confuse this with

There’s nothing open to apply to right now. Bayer Foundation’s own page states the next application phase starts in early 2027, with no specific date published yet. Two related but separate programmes exist on the same page and shouldn’t be confused with this one: the Bayer Foundation-Lindau Fellowship (run by the Lindau Nobel Foundation, not Bayer directly, and already marked “application closed” on Bayer’s own page) and the STEM Student Teachers & Teachers Fellowship, which is explicitly “only available to applicants currently working or studying in Germany.”