Career measures can be funded to promote diversity in science and the humanities (e.g. for first generation academics, researchers with a disability or a long-term illness, or for refugee researchers). Career measures might include the following: 

• mentoring, networking with role models, coaching,
• soft skills courses and workshops to broaden individual career perspectives,

• research-specific communication and language courses, providing equivalent courses are not offered by the institution (e.g. courses in academic writing, leading and working in research teams and academic environments (including courses to expand research-specific specialist vocabulary), teaching and committee work; academic self-governance, and German courses for international researchers, including those in early career phases, in order to support their integration in the university environment).

  General language courses at levels A1 to C2 and the associated certification costs cannot be funded.

• Additional conference travel, please note the applicable conditions on the website Career Development Measures for Female Researchers(interner Link).

Example:

Researcher X comes from a country in the Global South to join the research network and wishes to attend an additional workshop that will support their further academic career and is offered over and above the regular training provided within the research network. The costs incurred in attending the workshop may be funded, such as travel expenses and participation fees. The network may not fund participation in the workshop for project members who do not have a comparable dimension of diversity. The required self-declaration by the office responsible for third-party funding must be obtained using DFG form 52.140(interner Link) and retained on site with the other documentation, such as invoices.

• Counselling/support/discrimination counselling by external experts.
• Orientation/welcome events, networking events, introduction event to academia in Germany/the German research system, aimed at international researchers who are new to it.

• In certain constellations, support/relief staff can be financed from the Standard Allowance for Equity and Diversity in the case of absences due to parental leave(interner Link) or long-term illness(interner Link) (or see information relating to special personal circumstances(interner Link)). Other compensation options are available beyond the Standard Allowance for Equity and Diversity, too. These are available both to overall project managers (or those in charge of individual projects) and the research staff employed on a project. See the above links for details.
• Academic relief staff (student assistants/research assistants), e.g. for researchers with a disability or a long-term illness, in accordance with the framework conditions set out under “Measures that Serve to Promote the Compatibility of Research and Family” and “Financing of Support/Relief Staff”, providing a rejection notice has been issued by the integration authority. Please also refer to the further information on the measures that serve to promote the compatibility of research and family(interner Link).

Example:

Researcher X has a long-term illness and reduces their research activity for one year, meaning that they work part-time due to illness. An application to the responsible integration authority for funding an assistant was rejected. Following consultation between the project leader and the HR department, a student assistant may be financed from the Standard Allowance for Equity and Diversity to perform routine tasks. The specific tasks to be performed in order to provide X with effective relief or support must be agreed in advance, set out in writing and documented. DFG form 52.140(interner Link) and the rejection notice issued by the integration authority must also be retained on site, although sensitive data in the notice must first be redacted. The student assistant’s working hours reflect the relief required by X during the period of illness-related absence or impairment. 

• Travelling expenses for persons accompanying researchers with a degree of disability of 50% or more, unless the additional requirement is covered by the integration authority/employment agency responsible. Under German legislation, a person accompanying a disabled person can sometimes travel with them free of charge, but this does not apply to all means of transport and not always in the event of travel abroad. Additional costs may also be incurred for accommodation and catering for an accompanying person. Such costs can be covered by the Standard Allowance for Equity and Diversity or other DFG funding, providing German social welfare benefits are utilised first and the applicable travel expenses law allows people with disabilities to claim travel expenses for accompanying persons. Your travel expenses office can advise you on this matter. As a rule, costs incurred must be substantiated by receipts if these are available to the employee. 

  Example:

  According to X’s disability card, Researcher X is entitled to be accompanied by another person when travelling (code B). Under the travel expenses legislation applicable locally, the employer may cover the accompanying person’s travel and accommodation costs on business trips. These legally reimbursable costs may instead be financed from the Standard Allowance for Equity and Diversity. The required self-declaration issued by the office responsible for third-party funding must be obtained using DFG form 52.140(interner Link) and retained on site.

• Project-specific additional requirements for disability-friendly workplace fittings. Such requirements can only be met in exceptional cases, since the social welfare system (the employment agency, the integration authority, the health insurance company or the pension insurance) generally only covers benefits and additional requirements for equipping a workplace for a severely disabled person, the granting of a status equal to a severely disabled person, or fulfilling the needs of a person with a long-term illness; such benefits must be fully utilised as a matter of priority (supremacy of social welfare legislation). The DFG can only fund this kind of special disability-related, project-specific and research-specific requirement if a negative decision has been issued by the responsible social welfare authority and this authority does not provide funding. Please also check with your employer whether they offer individual benefits. 

  Example:

  Researcher X requires a specific magnifying device in order to perform project-related laboratory work because of a long-term eye condition. The project leader applied to the integration authority for the necessary funding, but the application was rejected. Without the magnifying device, X cannot perform the necessary project work. The magnifying device can be financed from the Standard Allowance for Equity and Diversity. The rejection notice issued by the integration authority must be retained on file, but any sensitive data it contains relating to X must be redacted. DFG form 52.140(interner Link) must be used for the self-declaration issued by the office responsible for third-party funding to document the link to the project and the use of the funds for the intended purpose. This must likewise be retained on site with the accounting documentation.

It is possible to obtain (pro rata) funding for an office assistant or a coordination office to organise equity and diversity measures for researchers within the network with the aim of meeting additional requirements incurred by equity and diversity measures applied within a DFG-funded project. The project-specific requirements must be plausibly documented. To this end, the additional requirements must first be presented internally in summary form, both numerically and descriptively. In a second step, a record must be made of the individual services to be provided by the office assistant or coordination office which are likely to be used by the research network or research project.

However, under no circumstances should the majority of the allowance be spent on this measure.