Germany–China Research Exchange and Collaboration Funding

Selected funding routes for research visits, workshops, and collaborations between Germany and China.

This page collects selected funding routes for research exchange and collaboration between my group at TU Dresden/ScaDS.AI and partners in China. It is intended as an orientation page, not as official funding advice. Eligibility, deadlines, budgets, internal nomination rules, and administrative requirements may change; applicants and collaborators must check the current official programme pages.

Last checked: July 2026.

Funding Routes

Route Best fit Typical use Concrete note
DFG – Initiation of International Collaboration First bilateral step between research groups Project-related trips abroad, guest visits in Germany, exploratory workshops Good for preparing a joint topic, paper, workshop, or larger proposal; not meant as full project funding.
Sino-German Short-Term Workshops for Students and Early-Career Researchers Structured workshop with students, doctoral researchers, and early-career postdocs from Germany and China Training sessions, seminars, summer-school-like formats, early-career networking Time-limited call; use the linked 2026 call as reference and check whether a current call is open.
PROMOS – TU Dresden TU Dresden students going abroad Study stays, thesis-related stays, specialist courses, summer schools Suitable for shorter student mobility, including stays in China, subject to TUD rules.
FOSTER / STATA – TU Dresden TU Dresden student research Conference and meeting costs, student research activities Not China-specific, but useful for student projects with a travel, meeting, or dissemination component.
TU Dresden Graduate Academy Travel Grants TU Dresden doctoral candidates, postdocs, TUD Young Investigators, junior professors Short research stays abroad, summer/winter schools Relevant for outgoing early-career researchers from TU Dresden.
DAAD Research Grants in Germany Doctoral candidates and early postdocs from China or other countries Research stay in Germany with a German academic host Requires a concrete research project and host fit.
Sino-German CSC–DAAD Postdoc Scholarship Programme Early postdocs from China Longer postdoctoral research project in Germany Particularly relevant for Chinese applicants planning a 6–24 month stay.
Humboldt Research Fellowship Excellent postdoctoral and experienced researchers from abroad Independent research stay in Germany Strong option for applicants with a very good publication record and a well-developed project.
DAAD-K.C. Wong Postdoc Fellowships Highly qualified Chinese postdoctoral researchers Research visit in Germany Especially relevant for Chinese postdocs in natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, agriculture, and medicine.
NSFC Invitational Visiting Fellowship for European Scholars Europe-based researchers visiting China Seminars, workshops, lectures, summer-school courses, and collaborative activities in mainland China Host-driven route: the China-based applicant must usually hold an eligible ongoing NSFC project.
China-side host-institution schemes German researchers visiting China Foreign Expert Programmes, university-level internationalization funds, faculty-level seed funding, Shanghai or other regional schemes The Chinese partner should check internal eligibility, nomination procedures, deadlines, and required documents.

Suitable Collaboration Topics

Potential topics should fit the research profile of my group, for example:

  • artificial intelligence, natural language processing, information retrieval, and knowledge graphs;
  • trustworthy, evidence-grounded, and citation-aware language models;
  • AI for science, education, digital humanities, and language technologies;
  • human-centered, explainable, and responsible AI systems.

Students looking for possible thesis or project topics may also consult the student thesis topics page.

Practical Checks Before an Invitation

Before preparing invitation letters, host confirmations, or funding documents, the following points should be clear:

  • research topic and expected scientific output, such as paper, proposal, dataset, software, workshop, or thesis;
  • planned duration, preferred time window, and funding route;
  • roles of the German and Chinese partners;
  • data, software, model, publication, and intellectual-property constraints;
  • possible legal, ethical, export-control, dual-use, privacy, or institutional approval requirements.

What to Send

Please do not send only a generic fellowship request. A useful first email should include:

  • CV and publication list;
  • current academic status and institution;
  • short project sketch, ideally 1–2 pages;
  • intended funding programme and deadline, if known;
  • preferred time period and duration;
  • expected output;
  • explanation of how the topic connects to my group’s research.

For contact details, please use the Contact page.