STEP UP! Fellowship programme for early career scientists

As part of the STEP UP! Fellowship programme run on a 2-year cycle, the Deutscher Wetterdienst awards fellowships to early career scientists to work on a research project during a guest stay at the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) at the ECMWF site in Bonn. The Early Career Fellows will work together with experienced scientists from different teams of the ECMWF and with CESOC.
During their stay, the Early Career Fellows are assigned a supervisor who provides support in all matters of personal and professional development and integrates the Fellow into the communication and know-how exchange processes of the Centre. In addition, the Early Career Fellows receive scientific support through a mentorship with one of the institutions of the Center for Earth System Observation and Computational Analysis (CESOC), i.e. the universities of Bonn and Cologne and Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ).
An important component of the STEP UP! Fellowship programme is the development of professional competencies. The programme therefore includes a further education programme, which is financed by the DWD. Besides participation in one (international) science conference per year, the further education programme offers specialist training units and job shadowing at the DWD. The specific content of the further education modules is coordinated individually in line with the specialist focus of the Fellow’s research activity.
In order to enhance exchange and networking, a guidance programme is planned with half-day events at the beginning, half-time and conclusion of the Fellowship, bringing together all stakeholders of the project and guests of the participating project parties.

Fellowship benefits:

- The financial support awarded through the Fellowship amounts to EUR 2,900 per month for a period of 2 years, plus the individual travel expenses and publication costs as set out in the funding principles. The Fellowship grant also includes the participation in one (international) science conference per year, a specialist training and one day of job shadowing at the DWD.

Application requirements:

- Successfully completed scientific or technical university degree (Bachelor, Master), preferably in physics, mathematics, environmental sciences, hydrology, oceanography and meteorology
- Confident knowledge of written and spoken English (at least level B2 CEFR)

Currently available fellowships:

You can now apply for places on the Fellowship programme starting in 2025 here.

• Fellowship project 1: Interfacing with Digital Twins
• Fellowship project 2: Generative Machine Learning (ML)
• Fellowship project 3: Investigate GNSS-R observation usage over land surface
• Fellowship project 4: Discerning the effect of the Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) on flood forecasting
• Fellowship project 5: Using observations to improve cloud and precipitation processes for numerical weather prediction

More information and a first overview of the programme can be found here:
Information sheet on the STEP UP! Fellowship programme

For questions about the STEP UP! Fellowship programme, please write to fellowship@dwd.de.

Deutsche Version

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