Scholarship for advanced research on social innovation

1.    Type of funding

The Hertie School (Hertie School) grants a scholarship for advanced research on social innovation. The Hertie School solicits applications for a scholarship on social innovation to deepen and continue original research on understanding innovation and scaling processes in social sector organisations and the role of innovation in generating impact.

The scholarship is connected to an ongoing research project on “Organisational Capacity for Continuous Innovation in the Social Sector” that has the ambition to engage different scholarly and practitioner audiences both in the US and Europe.

2.    Duration of Scholarship

The duration of the scholarship is 10 months.

3.    Amount of Scholarship

The total amount of the scholarship is € 50.000 to be spent over the course of 10 months. The scholarship is paid in monthly installments of € 5.000. No additional payments will be possible.

4.    Tax treatment

As long as scholarships do not exceed the amount stated in para. 3. and as long as no other income is available, scholarships are normally exempt from income tax within the scope of the provisions of § 3 No. 44 Einkommenssteuergesetz (EStG). The final assessment is carried out by the responsible financial authority. The Hertie School will forward a control report to the responsible financial authority.

5.    Status of Scholarship Holder

In accordance with § 3 No. 44 EStG, the grant of the scholarship is not bound by the obligation to a certain scientific consideration or to a work activity. The scholarship holder is obliged to report to the Hertie School any further / secondary activities. Such activities must not prevent the scholarship holder from devoting himself/herself to the scholarship programme.

The scholarship holder is subject to the reporting obligation to the Hertie School as well as to the obligations arising from the relevant regulations of the Hertie School and adheres to the rules of good scientific practice.

The scholarship does not constitute an employment relationship.

The scholarship holder is responsible for matters of health and liability insurance and other risks.

6.    Target group and requirements

The applicant must hold a doctorate. The successful applicant leverages research experience across disciplines and builds on an existing stream of research on social sector organisations with a focus on social enterprises. He/she brings a deep understanding of organisational realities and social innovation processes across different geographies and different sectors. Experience in reflecting on and articulating differences between organisations from the civic-, private-, and public sectors is particularly helpful.

Further requirements are:

• A proven track record of developing research-, teaching- and practice-oriented research outputs.
• Scholarly background in the social and natural sciences.
• Deep understanding of and/or exposure to organisations carrying out social innovation in the developed and developing world. 

7.    Applications

A complete application for the scholarship consists of the following documents, all of which must be submitted to the Hertie School at mair[at]hertie-school[dot]org: CV, academic achievements, motivation letter including proof of the conditions stated in para 6. of this Directive.

8.    Procedures

The grant of the scholarship is provided by a Scholarship Commission. The Scholarship Commission consists of the Management and a Professor of the Hertie School. The Commission decides on the allocation and the successful candidate. The decision has to be made consensual and is final.

Application deadline is 15 August 2017 and the applicants will be informed by the end of August.

Incomplete and/or belated applications will not be considered.

The application documents will not be returned but will remain with the Hertie School. They will not be used by the Hertie School for any other purpose than this selection process.

9.    Revocation

The Hertie School reserves the right to revoke the funding in full or in part and to assert a claim for reimbursement if information requirements are not complied with, the funds are not used appropriately, the prerequisites of the grant are omitted or other exceptional circumstances in the person of the scholarship holder make the continuation unreasonable.

10. Work results

The scholarship holder provides the Hertie School with the work results that he/she produces in line with the substance and duration of the scholarship and grants the Hertie School an irrevocable, non-exclusive, gratuitous, universal as well as materially and temporally unlimited right to use these results.

11.  Confidentiality

The scholarship holder is obliged to observe confidentiality about all matters relating to the project and the organisation that are referred to as "confidential" or are recognizable as such. This also applies after the termination of the scholarship.