Leverkusen, September 18, 2012 – The Bayer Science & Education Foundation is making available approximately EUR 200,000 for 49 talented young people who wish to realize international study and vocational training projects. The new scholarship recipients are students of the natural sciences, engineering and medicine, as well those training to become science teachers or young people from skilled non-academic professions. “We need dedicated and creative young scientists if we are to successfully shape the future. That’s why, with the Bayer Fellowship Program, we support outstanding and talented young people in the realization of special study and vocational training projects,” remarks Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, the Management Board member at Bayer AG responsible for Innovation, Technology and Sustainability.
The scholarship program follows the tradition of the first Bayer scholarships initiated in 1923 by Dr. Carl Duisberg, at that time Managing Director of the Bayer Group. Duisberg is regarded as a pioneer in the intensive cooperation between industry and universities, as well as in corporate social responsibility. Explains Dr. Carl-Heinz Duisberg, member of the Scientific Committee of the Bayer Fellowship Program and youngest grandchild of the program’s founder: “My grandfather wanted to provide good training opportunities for young people because he saw this as a means of ensuring long-term benefits for society. He is also quoted as saying ‘We must spend every spare penny on science – it is the best investment we can make.’”
Alongside the Otto Bayer and Carl Duisberg scholarships, the Bayer Fellowship Program also includes the Kurt Hansen and Hermann Strenger scholarships. The scholarships are targeted at students and vocational trainees in natural science and medical disciplines who would like to realize a particular foreign study project and require financial support for this. In addition to German-based applicants who would like to study abroad, the foundation supports scholarship recipients from outside of Germany who wish to realize a comparable project in Germany.
Academic disciplines receiving support this year include biology, biotechnology, chemistry, molecular biology, and human and veterinary medicine. Seven Kurt Hansen scholarship recipients are also receiving assistance for teacher training in biology and chemistry. Thanks to the Bayer scholarships, the new scholarship recipients in the coming months will be able to implement their individual projects in the following 17 countries: Australia, Argentina, Brunei, Denmark, United States, United Kingdom, India, Namibia, Nepal, Japan, New Zealand, Gabon, France, Sweden, China, Switzerland and Turkey.
These students are based, respectively, at the universities in Aachen, Bielefeld, Constance, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Freiburg, Göttingen, Greifswald, Halle, Hanover, Heidelberg, Jena, Kaiserlautern, Kiel, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Münster, Freiburg, Potsdam, Regensburg, Stuttgart, Tübingen and Würzburg, as well as at the Free University of Berlin, Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and Munich Technical University. Five further scholarship recipients from Albania, France, India, Japan and Cameroon, respectively, will spend time studying in Germany at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, the universities in Göttingen, Hohenheim and Bielefeld, and the Charité in Berlin.
The scholarships in the academic sector are being supplemented by Hermann Strenger scholarships to support young people looking to gain initial work experience abroad as part of a non-academic training program. This year, 15 young people from Bielefeld, Halle, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Marburg, Münster and Wuppertal are being sponsored. They are planning to spend time abroad in Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Ghana, New Zealand and the United States as part of their training in clerical, scientific, technical or health care fields. One recipient comes from Sofia, Bulgaria, and will realize an internship in physiotherapy in Berlin.
The Bayer Science & Education Foundation is launching the sixth round of its funding program offering targeted support for scientific exchanges and international work experience for young people. It is aimed at creative, highly motivated and socially committed young people with above-average grades.
The next round of applications starts in June 2013.
More information is available on the Internet at www.bayer-foundations.com.
Find more information at www.bayer.com.
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