Applications are now open for MAXMINDS 2.0, the Max Planck Society’s mentoring program for researchers affected by war or natural disasters. It is open to researchers at MA level and above, including doctoral students, postdocs and more senior scholars, from any nationality. The program is not funded, so it does not pay a scholarship or stipend.
Instead, it connects you with a Max Planck mentor who guides you on applications, your CV and building academic networks. The application deadline is 18 October 2026, and mentoring runs from November 2026 to March 2027. The announcement does not mention an application fee. You can check out BS, MS, PhD and postdoc positions here.
Key Details:
- Organization: Max Planck Society
- Program Type: Mentoring program
- Host Country: Germany (Max Planck Society)
- Application Deadline: 18 October 2026
- Open to All Nationalities: Yes
- Application Fee: Not mentioned in the announcement
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What This Program Offers:
- You get a Max Planck mentor who understands your field and guides you based on your research interests.
- You receive help with internship, scholarship and fellowship applications, so you can submit stronger ones.
- Your mentor helps you improve your CV and present your background professionally.
- You build connections in the Max Planck Society and the wider academic community, which can lead to future opportunities.
- Regular check ins give you steady support during a difficult time.
- Your mentoring can focus on Max Planck positions, fellowships or guest programs.
- Mid career and senior researchers get fellowship information and can apply directly for open positions listed by some Max Planck groups.
Eligibility Criteria:
- You are a researcher at MA level or above.
- You are in acute danger of displacement, or were recently displaced, because of war or a natural disaster.
- You have limited access to research resources and institutional support.
- Any nationality is welcome.
Other Opportunities for Disadvantaged Scholars
If you are not eligible for MAXMINDS 2.0, or want more options, these programs may help.
Within the Max Planck Society
- MAXMINDS: Works alongside many existing programs for scholars in difficult situations.
- Max Planck Israel Program: Lets doctoral students and postdocs continue research at Max Planck institutions. It also includes fellowships for researchers from Israel and the Palestinian territories.
- EIRENE Max Planck Ukraine Cooperation and Mobility Fellowship: Supports young Ukrainian scientists working with Max Planck Institutes.
- CaCTüS Program: Paid internships for students facing personal, financial, regional or societal barriers. It is run by the MPI for Biological Cybernetics, MPI for Intelligent Systems and the Tübingen AI Center.
- ARTEMIS Mentorship Program: Connects mentors at Max Planck Institutes with mentees at African universities.
- Indian Mobility Grant: Support for researchers from India.
- TALENT+ Training Program: Builds advanced research skills for underrepresented talents.
- COMP@SS Program: Research projects in condensed matter science for undergraduates from the Global South, run by the MPI for Solid State Research.
- International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS): Funded PhD projects at most Max Planck Institutes.
- Max Planck Job Board: PhD and postdoc positions open throughout the year, not tied to an academic calendar.
Outside the Max Planck Society
- SAFE by EURAXESS: European Commission funded support for displaced researchers.
- DAAD: German exchange service listing DAAD and university scholarships.
- Hilde Domin Program: For students and doctoral candidates denied educational or other rights in their home countries, to study or research in Germany.
- IIE Scholarships: More than 200 programs with participants from over 180 countries.
- Scholar Rescue Fund: Research fellowships for threatened scholars worldwide.
- PSSAR Network: Support network for students and scholars at risk.
- Scholars at Risk Network: Global network for threatened scholars, originating in the US.
- OWSD PhD Fellowships: For women scientists from the Global South doing PhD research in STEM.
- PARC Fellowships: For Palestinian scholars doing field based humanities and social science research on Palestine.
- IMU Breakout Fellowships: International Mathematical Union fellowships for mathematicians from developing countries.
- NAWA Ignacy Lukasiewicz Scholarships: Polish government scholarships for researchers from selected developing countries.
- Science en Exil: Quebec funding for researchers in exile because of an emergency in their home country.
- Programme Pause: French support program for scholars at risk.
- France Excellence PhD Scholarships: For PhD students from the Near East, from the French Institute of the Near East.
- Safe Haven Fellowship: Netherlands based fellowship for scholars at risk because of conflict or war.
- Cara’s Fellowship Programme: For academics from any country forced to flee because of imminent imprisonment, injury or death.
- ICWA Fellowships: Funding for research, travel and living costs during two years of cultural immersion for displaced academics.
- Harvard’s Scholar at Risk Programme: Dedicated fellowships for scholars at risk at Harvard University.
- HESPAL Scholarships: British Council scholarships for Palestinian academics and researchers.
- Said Foundation Scholarships: Educational opportunities for young people from the Middle East.
- Shireen Abu Akleh MA Scholarship in Palestine Studies: One year of MA funding at the University of Exeter for students who want to study Palestine.
Research Fields:
Humanities Section
Department of Prof. Dr. Ralf Michaels (MPI for Comparative and International Private Law)
- Location: Hamburg
- Research Interests: Private International Law, Comparative Law, Private Law Theory, Law and Globalization
Department of Prof. Dr. Anne Peters (MPI for Comparative Public Law and International Law)
- Location: Heidelberg
- Research Interests: Legal History, Global Animal Law, Global Governance, Global Constitutionalism
Department of Social Demography (MPI for Demographic Research)
- Location: Rostock
- Research Interests: Population Health, Fertility, Wellbeing, Labor Demography
Department of Digital and Computational Demography (MPI for Demographic Research)
- Location: Rostock
- Research Interests: Migration, Mobility, Population Dynamics, Sustainable Wellbeing
Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology)
- Location: Leipzig
- Research Interests: Developmental, Cross Cultural and Comparative Psychology
Department of Human Origins (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology)
- Location: Leipzig
- Research Interests: Cranial Evolution and Development, Stone Tool Origins, Ape and Human Biomechanics, Postcranial Functional Morphology, Dental Evolution and Development
Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology)
- Location: Leipzig
- Research Interests: Primate Genes and Behavior, Molecular Ecology, Skeletal Genomics, Social Microbiome, Statistical Demography
Department of Adaptive Rationality (MPI for Human Development)
- Location: Berlin
- Research Interests: Simple Heuristics, Search and Learning, Collective Intelligence, Lifespan Development of Decision Making, Boosting Decision Making, Cognition in Online Environments
Department of Environmental Neuroscience (MPI for Human Development)
- Location: Berlin
- Research Interests: Acute Effects of Environmental Stimuli, Interiors and Architecture, Long Term Effects of Outdoor Living Environments, Extreme Environments
Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research (MPI for Human Development)
- Location: Berlin
- Research Interests: Computational Models of Individual Differences and Causes of Psychiatric Disorders
Center for Humans and Machines (MPI for Human Development)
- Location: Berlin
- Research Interests: Behavioral AI Safety and Ethics, Cooperative Artificial Intelligence, AI Mediated Communication, AI, Work and Government, AI Driven Cultural Evolution
Department of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (MPI for Innovation and Competition)
- Location: Munich
- Research Interests: International Competition Law; German, European and International IP Law; European and International Economic Law; European Civil Law, Consumer Protection, Media and Information Law
Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MPI for Innovation and Competition)
- Location: Munich
- Research Interests: Innovation Research, Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, Empirical Economics, Industrial Economics, Corporate Finance, Empirical Methods, Econometrics, Statistics, Economic Policy
Multimodal Language Department (MPI for Psycholinguistics)
- Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Research Interests: Multimodal Language Grammars and Typology, Multimodal Language Processing, Multimodal Interaction, Multimodal Language Transmission
Neurobiology of Language Department (MPI for Psycholinguistics)
- Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Research Interests: Production, Comprehension and Acquisition of Language
Language Development Department (MPI for Psycholinguistics)
- Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Research Interests: Language in the Brain, Language Across the World, Language Over Development
Cryptographic Engineering Group (MPI for Security and Privacy)
- Location: Bochum
- Research Interests: Design and Secure Implementation of Cryptographic Primitives
Data Science for Humanity Group (MPI for Security and Privacy)
- Location: Bochum
- Research Interests: Data Science and Computational Social Science
Security and Privacy Engineering Group (MPI for Security and Privacy)
- Location: Bochum
- Research Interests: Trustworthy Systems
Embedded Security Group (MPI for Security and Privacy)
- Location: Bochum
- Research Interests: Trustworthy Systems, Cryptography
Foundations of Security and Privacy Group (MPI for Security and Privacy)
- Location: Bochum
- Research Interests: Cryptography, Trustworthy Systems, Formal Methods and Verification
System Security Group (MPI for Security and Privacy)
- Location: Bochum
- Research Interests: Societal Impacts of Technology, Privacy and Data Protection, Trustworthy Systems, Data Science and AI
Department of Anthropology of Politics and Governance (MPI for Social Anthropology)
- Location: Halle
- Research Interests: Techno Optimism, Wellbeing, Ecological Transformations
Department of Anthropology of Economic Experimentation (MPI for Social Anthropology)
- Location: Halle
- Research Interests: Common Concerns, Social Repair, Mobility, Repositioning Global Thinking
Department of Law and Anthropology (MPI for Social Anthropology)
- Location: Halle
- Research Interests: Human Rights, Interconnectedness of Law and Religion, Integration of Anthropological Research and Legal Practice
Department of Knowledge Systems and Collective Life (MPI for the History of Science)
- Location: Berlin
- Research Interests: Unknowing Environmental Crisis, Troubling Exposure, Living Knowledge
Department of Criminology (MPI for the Study of Crime, Security and Law)
- Location: Freiburg
- Research Interests: Theoretical Innovation, Methodological Innovation and Technology, Putting Crime Science into Practice
Personality, Identity, and Crime Research Group (MPI for the Study of Crime, Security and Law)
- Location: Freiburg
- Research Interests: Self Knowledge and the Desire to Change One’s Personality, Personality and Prosocial Behavior, Criminal Behavior and Personality, Relation Between Self Perception and Other Perception
Department of Political Economy (MPI for the Study of Societies)
- Location: Cologne
- Research Interests: Politics of Growth Models, International Political Economy of Growth Models, Political Economy of the Euro
Department of Economic Sociology (MPI for the Study of Societies)
- Location: Cologne
- Research Interests: Sociology of Markets, The Future in Economic Action, Climate Change and Society, Wealth and Social Inequality
Chemistry, Physics and Technology Section
Department of Graph Algorithms (MPI for Informatics)
- Location: Saarbrücken
- Research Interests: Dynamic, Distributed, Streaming, Parallel and Quantum Algorithms
Foundations of Programming Group (MPI for Software Systems)
- Location: Saarbrücken
- Research Interests: Realistic Theory of Modularity
Distributed Systems Group (MPI for Software Systems)
- Location: Saarbrücken
- Research Interests: Understanding, Designing and Building Computer Systems
Social Computing Systems Research Group (MPI for Software Systems)
- Location: Saarbrücken
- Research Interests: Social Computing Systems
Department of Solid State Spectroscopy (MPI for Solid State Research)
- Location: Stuttgart
- Research Interests: Physics of Strongly Correlated Electron Systems
Biology and Medical Sciences Section
Department of Algal Development and Evolution (MPI for Biology)
- Location: Tübingen
- Research Interests: Algal Development and Evolution, Reproductive Isolation and Speciation in Brown Algae, Development in Red Algae
How to Apply:
- Check that you meet the eligibility criteria above.
- Prepare your CV and a short description of your research interests and your current situation.
- Email your questions and application request to [email protected] before 18 October 2026.
- Visit the official MAXMINDS website at maxminds.mpg.de to check for an application form or updated instructions.
- Wait for the selection result, which you will receive by 30 October 2026.
- If selected, join the onboarding and matching process in November 2026.
