Klaus Tschira Boost Fund

A joint program by GSO and Klaus Tschira Stiftung offering flexible funding and career development to promote researchers in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geosciences, Mathematics, Neurosciences and Physics.

Contact

Dr. Birte Seffert (she/her)
GSO e. V.
Friedrichstrasse 60
10117 Berlin

Phone: +49 (0) 30 2067 9967
ktboost(at)gsonet.org

Application

We accept applications starting 2 June solely via the online application form.

Please familiarize yourself with the online form before you upload and submit your application. Completing the form takes time.

The application deadline is 1 October, 2025, 23:59 (CEST).

Projects can start between 1 May and 1 October, 2026. 

Flexible Funding and Career Development for Researchers in the Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science.

Idea

Through the Klaus Tschira Boost Fund, we promote excellent researchers by providing

  • flexible funding for independent, explorative, risky, and interdisciplinary projects;
  • support in building (international) collaborations and networks;
  • targeted mentoring and advice on professional and personal development.

The Boost Fund gives postdoctoral researchers greater flexibility in shaping their career paths, accelerating their careers, and promoting early independence.

The Klaus Tschira Boost Fund was developed by GSO – Guidance, Skills & Opportunities for Researchers e.V., which manages the program and is the main contact for fellows and alumni. The Klaus Tschira Stiftung generously provides funding.

Additional information


We encourage you to attend the KT Boost Fund info webinar on 7 July, 2025, 16:00 (CEST). Registration via Eventbrite starting 2 June, 12:00 (CEST).

Check our career resources website for valuable peer advice on grant applications.

Program Information

For the 7th KT Boost Fund, we fund 15 new fellows. Projects can start between 1 May and 1 Oct. 2026.

It is possible to apply for funding of up to 120,000 for a period of up to 24 months. Funding can be used for all types of costs, but no more than € 67,000 gross for the fellow’s salary.

In addition, fellows profit from a 4-part career development workshop series on

  • Linking Purpose and Career (6h in person)
  • Being an Effective Manager
  • Practicing Self-Care and
  • Assessing your Capacity to Lead (each 3,5h online)

Fellows also get free access to GSO’s career advice & coaching services, and become members of the exclusive alumni network AlumNode, which focuses on

  • Leadership & Career Development
  • Science Communication & Advocacy
  • Projects & Collaborations

AlumNode offers access to knowledge transfer and sharing, promotes and supports independent projects, peer mentoring, as well as numerous other opportunities for advice and professional development.

The program addresses postdoctoral researchers who

  • are employed at a state-funded (public law) university or university of applied sciences (= öffentlich-rechtliche Universität or HAW), a Fraunhofer, Leibniz, Max Planck, Helmholtz, DLR institute or at EMBL in Germany at the latest at the start of your project,
  • conduct non-clinical research in one or more of the following areas: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geosciences, Mathematics, Neurosciences and Physics,
  • do not yet have a permanent or tenured position,
  • did not successfully apply to one of the the junior research group programs listed on p. 3 of the program information.

If the application is successful, the fellow

  • and applying institution agree to the Conditions of Grant Approval, and
  • is expected to attend the Welcome Event for fellows & alumni in June 2026, in Berlin, and the 4-part career development workshop series

Funding must be requested by the institution and made freely available to the fellow. All funding must be used under the submitted and approved budget plan. All expenses must be documented in a yearly proof of funds to be submitted to GSO. There is no legal entitlement to funding. Funding is subject to the availability of funds from the Klaus Tschira Stiftung.

We accept applications starting 2 June solely via the online application form.

Please familiarize yourself with the online form before you upload and submit your application. Completing the form takes time.

The application deadline is 1 October, 2025, 23:59 (CEST).

Projects can start between 1 May and 1 October, 2026. 

Our Fellows & Alumni

Thanks to the generous funding of the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, we have so far been able to support 75 Fellows in their research and academic independence in six cohorts.

Portrait of the KT Boost Fund Fellow Cipriana Anghel-Stan.
Cipriana Anghel-Stan
University of Göttingen / Mathematics
Portrait of the KT Boost Fund Fellow Yitzchak Ben Mocha.
Yitzchak Ben Mocha
University of Konstanz / Ethology
Portrait of the KT Boost Fund Fellow Tamir Eliav.
Tamir Eliav
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence / Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Neuroethology
Portrait of the KT Boost Fellow Florian Hubrich.
Florian Hubrich
Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) and Saarland University / Natural Product Biosynthesis
Portrait of the KT Boost Fellow Pascal Hunziker.
Pascal Hunziker
Heidelberg University / Plant Biology
Portrait of the KT Boost Fellow Björn Klaes.
Björn Klaes
Trier University / Earth Surface Biogeochemistry
Portraif of the KT Boost Fellow Anthodesmi (Anthi) Krontira.
Anthodesmi Krontira
Helmholtz Center Munich and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München / Neurodevelopment
Portrait of the KT Boost Fund Fellow Sanne Maas.
Sanne Maas
RWTH Aachen University / Cardiovascular Research
Portrait of KT Boost Fund Fellow Katrina Meyer.
Katrina Meyer
Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics / Molecular Biology
Portrait of the KT Boost Fellow Mirja Mittermaier.
Mirja Mittermaier
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin / Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health in Respiratory Medicine
Portrait of the KT Boost Fund Fellow Mariia Nesterkina.
Mariia Nesterkina
Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland / Pharmaceutical Technology
Portrait of the KT Boost Fund Felow Jan Pennekamp.
Jan Pennekamp
RWTH Aachen University / Interdisciplinary Application of Security and Privacy
Portrait of Felix Sauer, KT Boost Fund fellow.
Felix Sauer
Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine / Ecology
Portrait of the KT Boost Fund fellow Sam Thiele.
Sam Thiele
Helmholtz Center Dresden Rossendorf / Geology, and Data Science
Portrait of the KT Boost Fund Fellow Timothy Warwick.
Timothy Warwick
Goethe University Frankfurt / Biology
Lorenz Adlung
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf / Systems Biology
Domenico Azarnia Tehran
Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie Berlin / Neurobiology
Stefanie Bärthel
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) Heidelberg and Munich / Translational Cancer Research and Experimental Cancer Therapy
Sabrina B. Bennstein
Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf / Immunology
Youssef El Mouali
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) Braunschweig / Microbiome
Bennet Fischer
Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology Jena / Photonics
Clarissa Glaser
University of Bonn / Hydrology
Christin Katharina Kreutz
TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences / Computer Science
Deniz Kumral
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg / Cognitive Neuroscience
Eunbi Kwon
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence Martinsried / Field Ornithology
Alice Mockford
Christian Albrecht's University of Kiel / Ecological Entomology
Vahid Nasirimarekani
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Göttingen / Origin of Life
Henri Niskanen
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics Berlin / Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics
Frederic Alexander Römschied
ENI-G, A Joint Initiative of the University Medical Center Göttingen and the Max Planck Society / Computational Neuroethology
Maria-Elena Vorrath
Universität Hamburg / Geochemistry
Jingyuan Xu
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology / Sustainable Energy Technology
Casey Paquola
Forschungszentrum Jülich / Neuroscience
Hilary Noad
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids/ Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
Inmaculada Martínez-Reyes
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine / Molecular Immunology and Gene Therapy
Oya Cingöz
Robert Koch Institute / Infection and immunity
Renate Sachse
Technical University of Munich / Computational and structural mechanics
Sam Sanders
Ruhr University Bochum / Mathematics & Computer Science
Susanne Wintzheimer
FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg / Materials Chemistry
Svetlana Klementyeva
University of Tübingen / Inorganic Chemistry
Zahra Razaghi-Moghadam
University of Potsdam & MPI Molecular Plant Physiology / Systems Biology
Ignacio Rodríguez Polo
University of Göttingen / The Francis Crick Institute, London / Developmental Biology
Anna Schulz
Technical University of Munich/ Animal Physiology and Immunology
Christoph Heyl
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY & Helmholtz-Institute Jena / Laser Physics
Claudia Bizzarri
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology/ Photoactive metal complexes for catalysis and bioimaging
Daniel Carlson
Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon/ Oceanography
Emmanuelle Quemin
Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology/ Structural Virology
Felix M. Key
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology/ Evolutionary genetics
Florian Loebbert
University of Bonn/ Theoretical Particle Physics
Georgios Gkatzelis
Forschungszentrum Jülich/ Atmospheric Chemistry
Katharina Baum
Hasso Plattner Institute/ Network-based data analysis
Matthew Agler
Friedrich Schiller University of Jena/ Microbial ecology & Plant-microbe interactions
Mine Altinli
Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine/ Molecular Entomology
Miriam Menzel
Forschungszentrum Jülich/ Neuroimaging
Christian Hering-Junghans
Leibniz Institute for Catalysis Rostock/ Inorganic Chemistry, Catalysis
Claudia Alfes-Neumann
Bielefeld University/ Pure mathematics
Marcel Pawlowski
Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam/ Astronomy, Astrophysics
Merle Röhr
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg/ Computational Chemistry, Theoretical physics, Quantum biology
Paola Carrillo-Bustamante
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology Berlin/ Computational Biology, Infectious Diseases
Pauline N. Fleischmann
University of Würzburg/ Neuroethology
Penelope R. Whitehorn
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology/ Pollinator Ecology
Romy Lorenz
Max Planck Institute Leipzig/ Cognitive neuroscience
Sabine Becker
Technische Universität Kaiserslautern/ Metalloneurochemistry
Walter Bronkhorst
Institute of Molecular Biology Mainz/ Developmental Biology, RNA Biology
Wilhelm Palm
German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg/ Cell Biology, Metabolism, Cancer
Darjus Tschaharganeh
DKFZ Heidelberg / Cancer Research
Dermot Harnett
HU Berlin, BIMSB/ Computational Biology
Florian I. Schmidt
University of Bonn/ Innate Immunity, Cell Biology, Virology, Nanobody engineering
Jan Rennies-Hochmuth
Fraunhofer IDMT Oldenburg/ Speech Intelligibility
Julia Grosse
GEOMAR Kiel/ Marine Biogeochemistry
Lena J. Daumann
LMU München/ Bioinorganic Chemistry
Lysanne Snijders
Assistant Professor / NWO-Veni Fellow / Animal behaviour
Matthias Schröter
UFZ Leipzig/ Ecosystem services
Nadja Klein
HU Berlin/ Applied Statistics
Patrina S. P. Poh
Charité Berlin/ Bone Tissue Engineering, Additive Design & Manufacturing
Tuan Leng Tay
Assistant Professor in Biology and Anatomy & Neurobiology