Candidates submit their applications annually directly to the respective BZKF location. Contact information for the relevant staff members is provided below. Applications may generally be submitted to the respective BZKF location by June 30 of the current year (please note the deadline at the respective location, if applicable).

Funding amounts to a maximum of €100,000 for 12 months. The review process consists of two stages: 

• Stage 1 (organized by the respective BZKF location): Applications are reviewed by the local coordination team at the BZKF location, and up to 5 candidates per location are selected.
• Stage 2 (organized by the BZKF office): The selected candidates present their project in a 10-minute virtual presentation (followed by approximately 5 minutes for questions) before an evaluation committee. The committee selects one candidate per location.

Application Requirements: The
following requirements must be met for the application:

• The project must be based at one of the universities, university hospitals, or CCCs in the BZKF network and provide long-term benefits to cancer patients in Bavaria.
• PhD (must have been submitted to the doctoral office) up to a maximum of a W1 professorship.
• Clear oncological relevance of the project
• Applicants must be employed at one of the six Bavarian BZKF locations and should ideally be associated with BZKF projects, study groups, or flagship initiatives in terms of content.
• Experience in oncology research, demonstrated by the publication of at least two scientific papers within the past 5 years in an internationally recognized journal with a peer-review system.
• Medical professionals (human, dental, or veterinary physicians) should, if possible, be released from clinical duties for approximately 50% of their time for research work for the duration of the project (a letter of commitment from the department/institute director must be included with the application materials).
• The applicant’s most recent university or state examination must not have taken place more than five years ago (specialized subject examinations do not count toward this requirement). For applicants caring for one or more children under the age of 18, this period may be extended by two years per child. A doctoral degree or undergraduate degrees may be cited. If the applicant has completed multiple degree programs (e.g., multiple master’s programs), the date of completion of the most recent degree program applies.
• A letter of support for the application to the BZKF Young Scientist Fellowship from the director of the clinic, department, or institute.
• Project proposals in which commercial enterprises have a direct economic interest in the results are excluded from funding.

Contacts at the locations:

Augsburg: ccca-bzkf@uk-augsburg.de

Erlangen: Calls for Proposals - CCC | University Hospital Erlangen; sarah.cunningham@uk-erlangen.de or laura.bernhardt@uk-erlangen.de

LMU: Calls | Munich Cancer Talks, Mohamed.Schumann@med.uni-muenchen.de or Stephanie.Weigl@med.uni-muenchen.de

TUM: corinna.stemplinger@mri.tum.de

Regensburg: Contact: daniela.bieber@ukr.de or Jennifer.Jehl@klinik.uni-regensburg.de

Würzburg: BZKF Young Scientist Fellowship - Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research, Riese_J@ukw.de or meir_j@ukw.de

Previous Fellows

The BZKF travel grant for research stays enables young scientists from the fields of medicine and life and health sciences to undertake research stays in Germany or abroad for a limited period of time.

Funding content
Projects that involve learning new methods, carrying out central experiments or acquiring special expertise at an external location, for example, are eligible for funding if these are not available or only available to a limited extent at the home location.
The duration of the travel grants is limited to 1-3 months. The funded research stay must be completed within one year of the grant being awarded.

Application requirements
The following requirements must be met in order to apply:

• Completed degree in medicine and/or natural or life sciences (doctorate not required)
• Maximum W1 professorship
• Oncological relevance of the project
• Applicants must be working at one of the six BZKF locations.
• The last university or state examination must not have been completed more than five years ago (extension by two years per child for applicants who are caring for one or more children under the age of 18). Please note that the specialist examination does not count here. Doctorates or degrees can be mentioned. If there are several courses of study, e.g. several Master's courses, the date of completion of the last course of study counts.

Submission procedure and funding volume
To apply for a travel grant for research stays, the following documents must be submitted in the BZKF application tool at https://antraege.bzkf.de/ (in German or English):

• 1-2 page application letter (see contents of application letter)
• curriculum vitae
• Letter of recommendation from the project management of the BZKF location
• Confirmation letter from the host institution stating that the host institution will cover the research-related costs
• Detailed list of costs

Once the travel grant has been approved, the BZKF office will issue a travel grant agreement that regulates the reimbursement of costs.
The BZKF's assumption of costs is limited to proven and reasonable travel expenses; the maximum amount for stays abroad is specified in the BZKF flat rates for stays abroad. Travel, accommodation and visa costs incurred can be covered up to a maximum of this amount. Travel insurance cannot be covered.

Assessment procedure
Scholarships are awarded twice a year by members of the BZKF Board of Directors. Up to 5 scholarships are awarded per BZKF location per year, with priority given to applications for the locations of the cooperation partner ACCN (Vienna, Graz and Innsbruck). The call for applications is open on an ongoing basis. Applications can be submitted at any time. The documents received will be evaluated on March 31 and September 30 of each year. The scholarships are awarded after these deadlines. Scholarship holders are selected from all applications received by the deadline that meet the formal application requirements. Applications received after the deadline will be reviewed on the following deadline, e.g. applications submitted on April 2 will be reviewed on September 30. Unused scholarships expire; they will not be credited to subsequent calls for applications or credited to other BZKF locations.

Since 2023, the BZKF has been awarding the Publication Award, worth 2,000 euros, for outstanding scientific publications in the field of cancer research. The call for applications is issued once a year directly at the BZKF sites. Early-career researchers affiliated with one of the six BZKF sites may apply with recent scientific publications bearing the BZKF affiliation “Bavarian Cancer Research Center (BZKF).”
The next call for applications will be issued in May 2026.

Contacts at the sites:

Augsburg: ccca-bzkf@uk-augsburg.de; nina.fischer@uk-augsburg.de

Erlangen: sarah.cunningham@uk-erlangen.de or laura.bernhardt@uk-erlangen.de

LMU: Calls | Munich Cancer Talks, Mohamed.Schumann@med.uni-muenchen.de or Stephanie.Weigl@med.uni-muenchen.de

TUM: corinna.stemplinger@mri.tum.de

Regensburg: Contact: daniela.bieber@ukr.de or Jennifer.Jehl@klinik.uni-regensburg.de

Würzburg: Riese_J@ukw.de or meir_j@ukw.de