Corona virus: Information for researchers

Information for applicants and funding recipients with regard to the corona pandemic:

https://www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/corona_information/info_applicants/index.html 

To apply for an extension, researchers require a signature from the university. The following procedure has been established for this:

Individual grants and Emmy Noether:

Please send your extension requests together with the original request to sonja.grossmannspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de (humanities and social sciences) or christina.buergerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de (natural sciences).

Joint projects: CRC, RTG, RU

Please get in touch with your contact person in the Research support team. They will then obtain a signature from the President's office for you.

Natural sciences:
CRCs and RU: anke.scholzspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de 
RTGs: caroline.gabrielspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de 

Humanities and social sciences:
sonja.grossmannspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de 

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has temporarily extended the conditions for project funding:

• extension for the submission of expenditure reports or interim reports.
• additional funds for travel and events that had to be cancelled due to the corona virus

For clarification of your specific concerns, please get in touch with your contact persons at the BMBF or the respective project management organization. Further information: https://www.bmbf.de/de/informationen-fuer-zuwendungsempfaenger-11389.html (in German only)

Unfortunately, there are currently no extensions or increases for project funding: https://www.daad.de/de/corona-daad-projektfoerderung/ (in German only)

For information for scholarship holders and ERASMUS grant holders, see https://www.daad.de/en/coronavirus/

What extension options are available for fixed-term scientific contracts, temporary civil service contracts and fellowships in the context of the Corona pandemic? Who should I contact for this? We have prepared a brief summary for you here:

Scientific employees According to § 2 para. 1 of the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (WissZeitVG) (German Act on Temporary Scientific Contracts)

Due to the current situation, the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (WissZeitVG) has been supplemented by the following two temporary regulations:

The maximum fixed-term limit for scientific personnel in the qualification phase who had a fixed-term employment relationship pursuant to Section 2 (1) WissZeitVG (qualification) at a time between March 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020 is extended by 12 months due to the pandemic-related restrictions on university and scientific operations.

The maximum fixed-term limit for scientific personnel in the qualification phase who newly enter/entered an employment relationship limited in time according to § 2 para. 1 WissZeitVG (Qualification) between October 01, 2020 and March 31, 2021 is extended by 6 months.

Attention: A claim for extension of the existing employment contract or an automatic extension is not connected with this regulation. This requires a request from the responsible supervisor(s). For further information on the regulations and the procedure for contract extension, please refer to Circulars No.11/2020 and No. 16/2020 [login required; https://uni- tuebingen.de/en/20088].

Scientific employees according to § 2 para. 2 (third-party funded fixed-term contracts)

For third-party funded employees, third-party funders have taken different measures to respond to pandemic-related delays and changes in project progress. For projects funded by the German federal government, the EU and, under certain conditions, the DFG, delays in project implementation can be accommodated by extending the duration of the project. In some cases, additional funds can also be requested for position extensions or approved funds can be used in a more flexible manner. For more information on the individual measures, see here.

Temporary civil service contracts for scientific qualification

As a result of the amendment to the LHG that came into force on 23/12/2020, the extension option has now also been expanded to up to twelve months for temporary civil service relationships. Thus, temporary civil service relationships of all junior professors, junior lecturers and temporary academic councilors who have been in a civil service relationship between March 01, 2020 and March 31, 2021 can now be extended by up to twelve months upon application. As already communicated in the circular of 10.07.2020, it is not possible to be reappointed to a civil service relationship if civil service relationships have already ended. Only existing civil service relationships can be extended accordingly upon application. For detailed information on implementation, see Circular No. 3/2021 dated 27.1.2021 (https://uni-tuebingen.de/de/20088; login required). If there has already been an extension within the scope of the previously possible up to six months, these must be deducted from the now total up to twelve months.

Scholarship holders

Extension upon application by the scholarship holder to the respective funding organization.

If cancellation of events and trips results in cancellation costs or similar, the University asks that these be financed initially from the funds originally earmarked for this purpose. In case the planned funds are not sufficient in total, an application for one-time funding can be submitted to the President's Office. This application must be supplemented by the original financial plan for the event.