OREANDA-NEWS. The Bayer Science & Education Foundation is making available approximately EUR 332,000 for 70 talented young people who wish to realize international study and vocational training projects. The new scholarship recipients are students of the natural sciences, agriculture and medicine, as well those training to become science teachers or young people from skilled non-academic professions. “We need dedicated and creative young scientists if we are to successfully shape the future. That's why with the Bayer Fellowship Program we are helping talented young people to participate in special study and continuing education projects abroad,” says Kemal Malik, Bayer Management Board member responsible for Innovation.

The scholarship program follows the tradition of the Bayer scholarships initiated back in 1923 by Dr. Carl Duisberg, at that time Managing Director of the Bayer Group. Duisberg is regarded as a pioneer in the intensive cooperation between industry and universities, as well as in corporate social responsibility. Explains Dr. Carl-Heinz Duisberg, member of the Scientific Committee of the Bayer Fellowship Program and youngest grandchild of the program’s founder: “My grandfather wanted to provide good training opportunities for young people because he saw this as a means of ensuring long-term benefits for society. He is also quoted as saying ‘We must spend every spare penny on science – it is the best investment we can make.’”

Alongside the Otto Bayer, Jozef Schell and Carl Duisberg scholarships, the Bayer Fellowship Program also includes the Kurt Hansen and Hermann Strenger scholarships. The scholarships are targeted at students and vocational trainees in natural science and medical disciplines who would like to realize a particular foreign study project and require financial support for this. In addition to Germany-based applicants who would like to study abroad, the foundation supports scholarship recipients from outside of Germany who wish to realize a comparable project in Germany.

New in the Bayer Science & Education Foundation's program this year is an additional special budget for six selected students from African countries who are planning a project in Germany. Bayer’s roots in Africa go back to 1920, when it first began marketing its products there. Today Bayer is represented throughout the continent, from Casablanca to Cape Town. The scholarships underline the mission of the Bayer foundation to work with young people and the next generation of scientists and opinion-leaders and to strengthen interest in the major challenges facing our society, such as health and agriculture.

Academic disciplines receiving support this year include the life sciences, chemistry, agriculture as well as human and veterinary medicine, with a total of 42 scholarships being awarded. Three Kurt Hansen scholarship recipients are also receiving assistance for teacher training in the natural sciences. Thanks to the Bayer scholarships, the new scholarship winners in the coming months will be able to implement their individual projects in 21 different countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Japan, New Zeeland, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Uganda, UK and the United States. Other scholarship recipients from Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lithuania, Nepal, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Africa and the United States will spend time studying in Germany.

The scholarships in the academic sector are being supplemented by Hermann Strenger scholarships to support young people looking to gain initial work experience abroad as part of a non-academic training program. This year, 19 young people from Germany are being supported who are planning a period abroad in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, UK and in the United States, as part of their commercial, technical or health profession training.

The Bayer Science & Education Foundation thus is launching the ninth round of its funding program, which offers targeted support for scientific exchange and international work experience for young people. It targets creative, highly motivated and socially committed young people with above-average grades.

The next round of applications starts in June 2016.