NRW Return Programme – Current Call for Applications (2026/27)

The 2026/27 application round under the thematic focus "AI, digital sovereignty, and trustworthy information infrastructures" is now open.
Submission deadline: 8 January 2027, 4:00 PM (CET).

Further information on the programme can be found here:

•  Website of the NRW Ministry of Culture and Science (MKW.NRW)
•  Programme call (2026/27)
•  Online application portal
•  Programme FAQs
•  GSO application tips

For enquiries regarding the programme, please contact: Service Point for Scientific Staff, Medical Faculty (SerWiM)

The Ministry of Culture and Science’s "Programme for the Promotion of the Return of Top Early Career Researchers from Abroad" targets outstanding early career researchers who wish to contribute, through their exceptional ideas, to analysing, contextualising, and shaping the societal transformations of our time.

The University of Münster and the Medical Faculty welcome this call, offering returning top-tier researchers the opportunity to realise their own research project and lead an independent early career research group. Münster’s Medical Faculty provides an optimal environment for excellent early career researchers, characterised by forward-thinking and internationally competitive cutting-edge research.

We offer:

• An attractive research environment where synergies can be harnessed from cutting-edge fundamental and patient-oriented research, particularly within our research foci.
• The necessary infrastructure, including faculty-specific funding programmes.
• Outstanding local collaborators with proven expertise.
• Established externally funded research groups and early career researcher groups offering opportunities for collaboration.

NRW Return Programme Group at the Medical Faculty:
Since November 2015, Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Gerd Meyer zu Hörste has been leading his early career researcher group at the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster. Previously, he worked for several years (2012–2015) at Harvard Medical School (Boston) and the MIT (Cambridge, MA, USA). His research was funded as an NRW Return Programme Group (2015–2020).

For further information on the Medical Faculty and the University of Münster, please visit the following links:

• Homepage of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Münster
• Homepage of the University of Münster