Applications process

• The primary aim of UKUDLA is to develop MSc students' expertise in sustainable and resilient food systems and applied data science. Applications from disciplines that integrate both themes are particularly encouraged.
• Only MSc-Thesis projects with the partnering countries and institutions of the UKUDLA African-German Centre can be financed. The number of scholarships is limited / year. The availability will be indicated at our website: www.ukudla.uni-hohenheim.de.
• Grants are awarded to highly qualified students studying in a MSc study program at the University of Hohenheim in a scientific field relevant to research topics of the UKUDLA Centre in the area of Food Systems and Data Science. The UKUDLA Management Committee will select the MSc thesis research projects based on the results of the review process and candidate’s application.
• Applications can be submitted any time but latest 2 months before the intended begin of travel, a retroactive approval is not possible. Applications including all documents (see below) are to be submitted in a single pdf document to ukudla@uni-hohenheim.de. Application forms can be retrieved from the webpage www.ukudla.uni-hohenheim.de. Only formally correct applications will be considered.
• The duration of stay in the target country should be planned for 3 months. Longer or shorter (but not less than 2 month) research periods may be accepted only in exceptional and well justified cases. The research stay must be completed in 2025.
• Scholarship benefits: The scholarship includes travel costs to the partner institution (flights & local travel as well as expenses for visas), a lump sum for accommodation & health insurance will be granted country specific (e.g. South-Africa = 1.175,00 EUR / month; Malawi, Namibia =1.225,00 EUR / month).
• Contact: Dr. Marcus Giese (project management), e-mail: ukudla@uni-hohenheim.de

Required documents

The following documents are required:

1. Completed application form, including project proposal and time schedule (see applica-tion form), duly signed by the applicant and supervisor. The time schedule must be designed so as to warrant that the thesis work can be successfully completed within the time frame prescribed by the respective examination regulations (6 months).

2. Transcript of records of the Master’s degree program (issued by examination office)
Study progress/focus of studies: Applicants should have completed all lecture mod-ules and all exams in their respective study programme before starting their thesis work. Qualification: Applicants must have a grade point average (GPA) across all modules of 2.5 (“good”) or better. Applicants who have not yet completed all mod-ules/exams, the average mark or GPA will be calculated from those results available.

3. Curriculum vitae in tabular form (one page with date and signature).

4. Letter of recommendation from the supervisor (who must be a lecturer at the University of Hohenheim), which explicitly states:
- the acceptance of the applicant as a Master thesis candidate,
- the scientific concept behind the project proposal,
- the feasibility of the MSc research project, making clear statements on the working pos-sibilities and supervision by the partner organisation abroad, indicate financial support and how research costs are covered.
- the qualification and suitability of the applicant,
- the relevance of the proposed project in regard to the objectives of the UKUDLA centre of excellence. Options for transfer of results to stakeholders. Networking, synergies with other activities and co-operation with partners of the Centre.

5. Signed letter of invitation from the partner organisation linked to the UKUDLA Centre, indicating the possibility to carry out the proposed research project during the envisaged period and the readiness of a local supervisor to support the scholar. Contacts to partner institutions at the UKUDLA Centre can be mediated via the project management.

Organisational Processing of Applications

Applications for a MSc-Thesis scholarship should be submitted by the candidates to the UKUDLA African German Centre (ukudla@uni-hohenheim.de).

1. Decision: The decision on acceptance or rejection of applications is based on two re-viewer’s comments and their final recommendations (accepted, revision, decline).
2. Notification of acceptance/rejection: Applicants whose applications are rejected will re-ceive a notification of rejection. Applicants whose applications are accepted will receive a letter of acceptance. Applicants may be requested to comment and consider the reviewer’s suggestions in case of revisions before a decision will be taken.
3. Acceptance of the grant by the applicant: The letter of acceptance must be completed and duly signed by the applicant and returned to the UKUDLA Centre. By this the applicants accepts the condition of the grant. The applicant will receive a letter of award.
4. Payment of the grant: The grant will be paid in one lump sum upon receipt of all documents mentioned above. Airline tickets will be purchased by the UKUDLA Centre.

Obligations of the grantees

With the acceptance of the grant, the grantee commits to:

1. Take out a health insurance including an air emergency insurance and an accident insurance while they are abroad.
2. We strongly advice considering the recommended vaccinations and disease prophylaxis as well as to follow the most recent safety, warning and travel advices provided by the Federal Foreign Office (www.auswartiges-amt.de) for your target country. Non-German speaking scholarship holders obligate themselves to re-ceive an up to date translation of the website mentioned above.
3. Collect the original ticket or boarding passes and any other receipts related to the project for accounting purposes,
4. Submit a bound copy of the Master-thesis to the UKUDLA Centre (as submitted to the examination office).
5. The thesis must be written in English language.
6. The thesis is expected to contain a (brief but reasonable) chapter showing how your results may be used to transfer knowledge to stakeholders in the project re-gion or in a broader sense.
7. Hand in a word document including the title/cover page, abstract and summary of your project. Please provide a selection of at least 3 pictures including captions illustrating the MSc project. The applicant agrees that this material including the pictures will be used for internal and external documentation including websites.
8. Prepare the following acknowledgement on the title/cover page of the thesis: This work was carried out in the frame of the German-African Centre for Food Systems and Data Science (UKUDLA) at the University of Ho-henheim funded by DAAD with funds from the Federal Foreign Office.
9. Submit a digital copy of the Master-thesis to the partner organisation abroad. This is the responsibility of the grantee’s supervisor at the University of Hohenheim.

To foster alumni networking, grantees are kindly requested to inform the Institute of Agri-cultural Sciences of any change of address even after leaving the University of Hohenheim.