Financial Information

Each fellow will be a full-time employee of the University of Siegen for the entire duration of their fellowship (including secondments and possible outgoing phases) receiving full social security coverage (health insurance, pension payment) in accordance with national German law. They will receive a salary (Researcher Costs) that allows for a good standard of living. For the implementation of the individual research/training projects, each researcher is granted additional funds (Research, Training and Networking Costs) to cover e.g. consumables, travel activities, conference fees, publication costs.

Researcher Costs (salary)

The Researcher Costs will consist of a) Living Allowance, b) Mobility Allowance, and if applicable c) a Family Allowance amounting to the following numbers, defined as being the employer gross salary:

Researcher Cost EUR/person-month
Living Allowance 4,880*
Mobility Allowance 600
Family Allowance (if applicable) 500
* The Living Allowance will be adjusted through the application of a country correction coefficient to account for differences in the cost of living in the country of the host organisation. For the INCOMING scheme and during the return phase of the OUTGOING scheme, the CCC for Germany will apply (97%; 4,733.60 EUR‬). The Living Allowance will not be adjusted during secondments.
The Mobility Allowance will be paid to every fellow as part of their salary to account for costs related to the fellows mobility.
The minimum amount of the sum of Living Allowance (after correction) and Mobility Allowance will not fall below 3,836 EUR.
The Family Allowance will be paid to fellows who have at least one of the following family obligations: a) marriage, b) relationship with equivalent status to marriage, or c) dependent children maintained by the researcher. Eligibility for the Family Allowance will be established at the date of the respective STAR-call deadline and will not be revised during the fellowship.
The net salary of the fellow is calculated after deduction of all mandatory (employer/employee) social security contributions and direct taxes.
Example: Your employer´s gross salary is 5833,60 EUR (Living Allowance, Mobility Allowance and Family Allowance). From this, about 20% are deducted of costs that must be paid by the employer (employers part of health insurance, accident insurance…). So your employees gross salary will be about 4600,- EUR. Various costs are deducted from this amount before you receive your net salary. The actual costs differ from person to person due to the tax class you fall into (which is determined, for example, by your marital status and whether you have children), if you are member of the church, what health insurance you have, etc. A rough calculation of your net salary would amount to about 2700,- to 3200,- EUR per month in the above mentioned case.

 

Research, Training and Networking Costs

In addition to your salary, each researcher receives an amount for Research, Training and Networking Costs (RTNC). This will cover all expenses related to the individual research and training project of the fellow (e.g., consumables, equipment costs, travel and accommodation within the research/training project incl. secondments, networking costs, publication costs, costs for additional training courses, visa-related fees, etc.). For the RTNC, STAR will provide up to 800 EUR per fellow-month. Fellows must be able to conduct their research/training project based on this amount (a budget plan is a mandatory proposal component). Unused funds can be pooled or transferred to following months after consultation with the STAR-project manager.

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