PIER Short Visits

The aim of PIER Short Visits is to foster international cooperation and ex- change within the PIER research and competence fields. Recipients of PIER Short Visit grants are international researchers from the postdoc level upwards whose expertise and connections can be fruitfully integrated into the development of new ideas and/or new research cooperation in a cross-institutional context. Short visits of PhD students of international cooperation partners can be funded in duly justified cases. Besides research, recipients of PIER Short Visit grants may be involved in workshops, lectures or training of graduate students. Please note: Applications for PIER Short Visits have to be submitted by the inviting researcher(s). Eligible to submit an application are PIER Scientist(s), who are a member of DESY, UHH or UKE.

PIER Short Visits: Short visit grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for a period of 1 week to 2 months each. The weekly/monthly rates of support are as follows:

• Researchers (postdoc level and above): 500 EUR/week or 2,000 EUR/month.
• PhD students: 300 EUR/week or 1,200 EUR/month

Funding is effected by means of a non-refundable lump-sum. In addition, a reimbursement of travel expenses (economy class (flight) / 2nd class (rail)) to/from Hamburg is possible upon presentation of original receipts (maximum of 1,500 EUR).

Conditions

The applicant must be registered as a PIER Scientist (members of the PIER Helmholtz Graduate School are automatically registered as PIER scientists). Only researchers whose principle affiliation (= employment contract) is with DESY, UHH or UKE are eligible for PIER funding and can apply for a seed project as main applicants. All applications must involve at least one research partner from the other institution(s) respectively (e.g. main applicant from DESY, co-applicant(s) from UHH and/or UKE; or: main applicant from UHH or UKE, co-applicant(s) from DESY). The main applicant and his/her principle research partner may not belong to the same research group. The inclusion of researchers from other research institutions on the Hamburg Bahrenfeld science campus, such as the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD), The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the European XFEL, and others, is encouraged. Researchers from these organizations can apply for funding as co-applicants.

Procedure

Applications for PIER Short Visits can be continually submitted to the PIER Office. Please visit the PIER website for further information on application requirements and templates. The evaluation of all PIER Short Visits proposals is carried out by the PIER Executive Board.

Evaluation criteria

The evaluation criteria are as follows:

• Scientific quality and originality of the research project
• Relevance of the project with regard to the objectives and contents of the PIER research fields
• Scientific qualification and applicant’s expertise
• Support of young scientists
• Strengthening of research collaboration between DESY and UHH and/or UKE
• Potential of the project as a basis for a larger externally funded follow-up project
• Quality of the project planning and cost plan
• Adequacy of the requested funds

Reporting

A short report has to be submitted to the PIER Office six weeks after the expiration of the funding measure. In case the report of expenditure of funds cannot be completed due to ongoing settlement procedures, missing documents will have to be filed subsequently.

Miscellaneous

PIER is a partnership between UHH and DESY. PIER is not a legal entity. The financial support of funded projects will be handled by one partner of PIER, either UHH or DESY.

The submission of an application does not establish a legal claim to funding.