BAM junior research groups
Within the framework of its ‘Menschen – Ideen’ programme, BAM offers in its focus areas junior researchers from all over the world with proven excellence the opportunity to set up their own independent junior research group at BAM and establish themselves in the community.
As the leader of a BAM junior research group, you receive a tenured position at BAM.
In addition, BAM provides funding for staff and other costs for five years. This allows you to establish a competitive research group, usually consisting of 2–3 PhD students and/or postdocs. The specific conditions are call-dependent.
Depending on the focus of your research group and your career plans, you will conduct research in close cooperation with a university and/or industrial company.
Target group
BAM junior research groups are targeting outstanding junior researchers with international research experience who have received their doctorate in the last two to five years before the short proposal deadline. Periods of childcare and employment in industry are taken into account.
2025 call for proposals
For the 2025 call for proposals, the following topic has been selected:
"Sustainable additivated polymeric materials"
The transformation of the chemical industry into a circular economy challenges the current concepts of polymer additivation to grant safety features such as flame retardancy or the durability of properties. The use of renewable raw materials, CO2 as a raw material, and recycled materials as additives and polymers, amounts to a revolution which would replace our fossil fuel-based linear polymer chemistry. Further recyclability, biodegradability, and compostability now become key properties determining future polymeric materials. Discussing additivated polymeric materials directs the topic beyond carbon toward rethinking the sources for organophosphorus in flame retardants or for hindered amides as antioxidants. What is more, additives seem to be a challenge for recycling of pure grades, while tailored additivation is vital for promoting the properties of recyclates. Enhanced and designed lifetimes using the proper additives represent important milestones on our way to future sustainable polymeric materials. Sharing crucial aspects with the most important tasks in current polymer science, focussing on safety-relevantly additivated polymers such as sustainable flame-retardant materials will make this group important for science, industry, and society.
Application process
Junior research groups are selected in a two-stage process. In the first stage, candidates submit short proposals. Selected candidates are invited in a second stage to submit a full proposal and present it to an interdisciplinary selection committee.
The deadline for submissions of short proposals in the 2025 call for proposals is 30 June 2025. Only short proposals submitted via the BAM application portal by the deadline will be considered.
All information on the 2025 call for proposals is contained in the call description, please find them as well as templates for the research outline and the letter of motivation at the end of ths page.
Information on BAM’s focus areas is available here, while BAM’s departments and divisions, including contacts, are presented here.
If you have any specific questions regarding the 2025 call for proposals, please contact Mr. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Rogge at Andreas.Rogge@bam.de or Tel: +30 8104 1700. For general questions regarding the BAM junior research groups, please email juniorresearchgroups@bam.de or contact Mr Gunnar Tan at: +49 (0) 30 8104-1011 .