University of Freiburg Phd Economics Scholarships 2027 Open

If you have a Master’s degree in economics and want to pursue a paid PhD in Germany, the University of Freiburg has just opened a particularly interesting route: instead of asking you to first win a separate scholarship, the university is recruiting a Doctoral Researcher in Industrial Organization and Competition Economics on an employment contract.

The scholarship position is based at the Chair of Economic Policy, especially Competition Economics, and the official deadline is August 31, 2026. The DAAD PhDGermany database lists it as a funded, English-working-language PhD requiring a Master’s degree.

There is one detail applicants should understand immediately: this is not a normal DAAD scholarship. You are applying for a salaried doctoral researcher job at the University of Freiburg. That distinction changes how the funding works—and makes this opportunity considerably more interesting for applicants looking for a PhD with employment income.

How Much Does This University of Freiburg PhD Actually Pay?

You will be employed at 65% of the German TV-L E13 public-sector salary scale for up to three years. The university explicitly states that successful candidates will receive a contract corresponding to 65% of a TV-L E13 position.

Under the 2026 TV-L scale, a 65% E13 position is roughly €3,094 gross per month at Step 1, with the amount increasing at higher experience steps. The exact salary you receive therefore depends partly on the experience level recognised when your employment contract is prepared.

That is an important distinction from a €1,200–€1,500 scholarship stipend: you are entering an employment relationship and conducting your doctorate alongside research and limited teaching duties.

You should not, however, treat the gross figure as your take-home salary. German income tax, health insurance, pension, unemployment insurance and other deductions can reduce the amount deposited into your bank account.

Can International Applicants Apply?

Yes. The vacancy does not state a nationality restriction, so international applicants who meet the academic requirements can apply.

Your bigger question should therefore not be your passport. It should be whether your academic background matches what Professor Germain Gaudin’s research group is actually looking for.

The strongest profile would normally include:

• an excellent Master’s degree in economics or a closely related quantitative discipline;
• good training in microeconomics;
• solid econometrics;
• strong quantitative and analytical abilities;
• an interest in industrial organization or competition economics;
• excellent written and spoken English.

The university specifically gives quantitative marketing as an example of a related discipline. Experience with Stata, R, Python or Julia is desirable rather than stated as an absolute requirement. So if your Master’s is in economics, econometrics, quantitative marketing or another strongly quantitative field, this vacancy deserves a closer look.

If your degree is mainly business administration with very little econometrics or microeconomic theory, however, the degree title alone may not make you competitive.

Can You Apply While Finishing Your Master’s Degree?

Yes. You do not necessarily need to have formally graduated before submitting the application. The university explicitly says applicants who are close to completing their M.Sc. studies are welcome to apply.

That is good news if your thesis or final examination is still pending.

But “close to completion” should not be interpreted as “I have another year left.” You will ultimately need to satisfy the Faculty of Economics and Behavioral Sciences’ doctoral admission requirements before progressing as a doctoral candidate.

If you are finishing your Master’s in late 2026 or early 2027, the flexible starting dates announced for this position may be particularly useful.

Do You Need IELTS for This PhD?

The researcher’s scholarship vacancy requires excellent written and spoken English, but IELTS, TOEFL and a minimum English-test score are not included in the advertised application-document list. German is described only as desirable.

That means you should not invent an IELTS requirement that the vacancy itself does not contain.

There is, however, a second layer to the answer.

The Faculty of Economics and Behavioural Sciences states that foreign doctoral applicants may, where applicable, need to demonstrate sufficient proficiency in the language in which their dissertation will be written.

So the practical answer is:

No fixed IELTS score is advertised for applying for this job, but your English ability still matters and formal language evidence could become relevant during doctoral admission depending on your circumstances.

What Would You Actually Research?

This is not a general economics PhD where you apply first and decide on your research area much later. Your work should fit industrial organization and competition economics. Potential research areas named by the university include:

• competition policy and antitrust economics;
• market structure and firm behaviour;
• digital markets and platform economics;
• innovation and market dynamics;
• regulation and public policy;
• consumer behaviour and market outcomes;
• empirical industrial organization;
• applied microeconomics.

The group is also open to theoretical, empirical and experimental research as well as numerical simulations. This gives you quite a bit of intellectual room—but your cover letter should still demonstrate why your previous training and future research interests belong in this particular chair.

A generic “Germany has excellent universities and I am passionate about economics” motivation letter would waste that opportunity.

What Documents Do You Need?

The application is relatively compact, but your research evidence matters.

Prepare:

• a cover letter explaining your research interests and motivation;
• curriculum vitae;
• academic transcripts and degree certificates;
• your Master’s thesis, if available, or another representative research paper;
• contact information for academic references, listed as optional in the vacancy.

The university asks applicants to submit the documents in English and as a single PDF. The application should quote vacancy reference 00005118.

Your Master’s thesis or research paper could be particularly important here. This is one of the clearest opportunities to demonstrate that you can move beyond coursework and actually formulate, analyse and communicate an economics research problem.

Is There an Application Fee?

No application fee is stated for applying for the doctoral researcher vacancy at University of Freiburg. There is another cost issue international candidates often confuse with PhD applications in Baden-Württemberg.

International doctoral candidates at Freiburg are not charged the €1,500-per-semester international-student tuition fee that applies to certain Bachelor’s and Master’s students. Freiburg says doctoral candidates instead pay the normal semester contribution if enrolled; the current contribution is €190 per semester.

There is an additional advantage for this particular vacancy: doctoral candidates employed by the University of Freiburg for at least half of a full-time position may apply to be exempted from mandatory enrolment. Since this contract is advertised at 65%, the employment percentage is above that threshold, although the university would make the formal exemption decision.

That is a detail worth checking after selection rather than assuming you must automatically pay semester fees for all three years.

When Would the PhD Start?

Do not be confused by the October 1 date shown in the DAAD summary—the university gives three possible starting dates.

DAAD currently displays October 1, 2026 as the beginning date. The more detailed University of Freiburg vacancy says the successful candidate can begin on: October 1, 2026; March 1, 2027; or April 1, 2027.

The final date will be agreed with Professor Germain Gaudin. That flexibility could make the position much more realistic for international applicants who need additional time to graduate, relocate or complete immigration formalities.

How Do You Apply?

You apply directly to the University of Freiburg rather than through a DAAD scholarship application.

Submit one PDF containing your application documents electronically to the address specified by the Chair of Economic Policy. Your email subject and PDF filename should refer to reference number 00005118. The official Freiburg job advertisement should be treated as the controlling application page.

Do not wait for a university-wide PhD admission round. This is a specific researcher vacancy with its own closing date.

Application Deadline

The last date to apply for the Doctoral Researcher in Industrial Organization and Competition Economics position at the University of Freiburg is August 31, 2026. Both the university’s vacancy page and the current DAAD PhDGermany listing confirm this deadline.

Should You Apply?

Yes—if you have strong economics training and can demonstrate genuine research potential in industrial organization, this is the kind of German PhD vacancy worth prioritising.

You receive doctoral supervision, access to doctoral courses, opportunities for conference participation and professional development, while simultaneously working under a salaried TV-L E13 employment contract. Limited teaching duties are part of the job.

But do not apply simply because it says “funded PhD in Germany.”

The real selection question is much narrower: can your Master’s training, thesis, quantitative skills and proposed research direction convince an industrial-organization economist that you are ready to become a researcher?

If you are unsure about your chances, compare your profile against those four things rather than worrying first about nationality or IELTS.

Applicants with unusual backgrounds—such as finance, business, marketing, statistics or another quantitative subject—should look particularly carefully at their microeconomics, econometrics and research experience. That is where the borderline between “related degree” and “not a strong enough fit” is likely to matter most.