RISE Germany: Paid Summer STEM Internship and Who Can Actually Apply
TL;DR: RISE Germany puts undergraduates into German research groups for a summer, on a DAAD grant of EUR 992 for a full month plus insurance and a travel subsidy. The catch nobody mentions: you have to be enrolled at a university in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or Ireland. Nationality does not matter; where you study does.
RISE stands for Research Internships in Science and Engineering, and it is run by the DAAD. It matches undergraduates with German university and institute research groups for a summer placement. You are not shadowing anyone. You work on a live project with a supervisor, and the group chose you off your application.
Who can actually apply
Start here, because this is where most people are eliminated before they read another word. DAAD asks that you are "enrolled in a bachelor's degree program at a university/ college in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or Ireland" and that you have been studying there for more than 12 months by the application deadline. Your passport is irrelevant. An Indian, Nigerian or Brazilian student on a bachelor's at a Canadian or British university qualifies; an Indian student at an Indian university does not, however strong the transcript.
The other three conditions are: you are an undergraduate who will have completed at least two years of a degree programme by the time of the placement, you are studying biology, chemistry, computer science, physics, earth sciences or engineering, or a closely related field, and you can work in English. German is not required and the working language is English.
If you are enrolled in India, the honest answer is that RISE Germany is not your programme. Aim at the DAAD's funding database for a scheme that names your country, or use a research internship arranged directly with a German professor. What the DAAD funds and who is eligible is the starting point.
What the grant is worth
The scholarship is EUR 992 for a full month, and DAAD adds an insurance package covering health, accident and personal liability, plus an international travel subsidy. There is also a EUR 160 travel stipend for the RISE Germany meeting, which for the 2027 cycle is held in Heidelberg in July and is where the whole cohort meets.
That is built to cover a summer's living costs, not to fund a degree. In a mid-sized university town it goes a reasonable distance; in Munich it will not, so weigh where your project actually is. What a year in Germany really costs gives the per-city picture.
| RISE Germany | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who | Bachelor's students at US, Canadian, UK or Irish institutions |
| Duration | Three months; minimum ten weeks, maximum 90 days |
| Grant | EUR 992 for a full month |
| Extras | Insurance package, travel subsidy, EUR 160 for the RISE meeting |
| Applications | 15 October to 30 November for the following summer |
The calendar, which is the part that catches people
For the summer 2027 placements the sequence runs like this. Applications open on 15 October 2026 and close on 30 November 2026. Your referees have until 15 December 2026 to submit letters, which is two weeks after your own deadline, so line them up in October rather than assuming the extra fortnight is yours. German research groups then rank the candidates who ranked them, between 14 and 25 January 2027, and offers go out around February or March. The placement itself starts between 15 May and 15 July 2027 and runs three months, with a minimum stay of ten weeks and a maximum of 90 days.
Read that timeline backwards from your own term dates before you apply. If your semester ends in late June, a placement that has to begin by 15 July leaves you a narrow window, and the group will want to know which weeks you can actually be there.
How to apply so it lands
Applications go through the RISE portal. You browse the projects German groups have posted, rank the ones you want, and submit a motivation letter, transcript and references. The letter is where applications are won and lost. Read the project descriptions properly and tie your own experience to the specific group you are ranking, rather than sending one general statement of enthusiasm to all of them.
Do not wait for your final year, either. The rule is two completed years by the placement, and groups pick on research potential rather than seniority, so a second or third-year applicant who can point to a technique, a piece of code or a lab module that connects to the project often does better than a finalist with only grades. The application mistakes that sink otherwise good candidates covers the rest of the file.
Whether you need a visa
DAAD's own guidance is that US, Canadian and British citizens staying 90 days or less do not need a visa, and that anyone staying longer must apply for one. That is why the maximum stay is capped at 90 days rather than a round three months. If you hold a different passport, the exemption may not apply to you even though you study in Boston or Bristol, so check your own case early: an appointment queue is not something you can compress in April. The difference between a national D visa and a Schengen C visa explains which category you would be in.
What happens after the bachelor's
RISE has a second tier. RISE Professional places master's students and PhD candidates from US, Canadian, UK and Irish universities in German industrial companies, paying EUR 492 a month for bachelor's and master's students and EUR 800 a month for PhD candidates, with the same insurance package and an international travel allowance. Internships start between 15 May and 1 October, run from ten weeks up to six months, and undergraduates can only apply if they are RISE Germany alumni. There is also RISE Worldwide, which is the mirror image: German students placed in research groups abroad.
What it is worth afterwards
The grant is the smallest part of the value. You leave with real research experience, a supervisor in Germany who can write about your work, and a CV that makes a later German master's application much easier to argue. If you are already eyeing competitive programmes, which German universities are genuinely hard to get into is the next thing to read, and the English test scores German universities accept matters if a master's application follows.
And if you are not placed this year, that is not a verdict. The programme is selective and many successful applicants are on their second attempt with a sharper letter and another semester of coursework.
Sources
Wondering whether your profile is competitive? Get a free profile evaluation before you pick your projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
You probably qualify for more than you think.
Students who get evaluated find programmes they had no idea existed — at universities that charge nothing. 2 minutes, no cost. The only downside is not checking.
Want our guides higher up in Google?
Mark GradGermany as a preferred source and Google gives our pages more room when you search about studying in Germany. Takes one tap, and you can undo it any time from the same screen.
Living this, or on your way to it? Tell your story.
If you are already in Germany and finding it hard, or still fighting to get here, other students need to hear it from someone real. Share your honest journey. We help shape it, and nothing goes live until you approve it.
Free German Quiz · No Login
Can you score 10/10 on today's German challenge?
10 new words every day · 4,500+ words from A1 to C1 · takes about a minute.
