Friedrich Schiedel Fellowship Program for Technology in Society

Technological innovations shape our society. But how can we ensure that they are designed to serve the common good? The Friedrich Schiedel Fellowship for Technology in Society is aimed at PhD students and postdocs at TUM (see criteria below) who are actively pursuing this question through innovative projects at the interface of technology, society, and responsibility.

With the Friedrich Schiedel Fellowship, we promote practice-oriented research that has a social impact and opens up new avenues of collaboration between disciplines: from the social sciences and humanities to the natural sciences and engineering, medicine, life sciences, economics, and health research.

Core Objectives of the Fellowship Program

• Promoting excellent interdisciplinary research: With the fellowship program, we want to support PhDs and postdocs who are advancing outstanding research and building bridges across disciplines.
• Creating technology in the public interest: Our fellows are committed to developing technologies that serve the common good and the interests of society.

• Finding innovative answers to socially relevant questions: The fellowship program offers a platform for creative, forward-thinking researchers who want to achieve positive social impact through innovative projects.

  Following in the footsteps of Friedrich Schiedel's commitment as a visionary entrepreneur who had a lasting impact on corporate social responsibility, the Friedrich Schiedel Fellowship for Technology in Society aims to promote interdisciplinary and application-oriented research at the interface of technology and society.

Two grant lines – one shared vision

In the third round of fellowships, we are promoting two lines:

1. Open call for submissions

As before, we support projects from a wide range of topics and disciplines that deal with ethical, social, political, economic, and legal issues surrounding the development and use of (new) technologies.

The fellows supported in Batch #01 and Batch #02 provide an overview of the diversity of topics (see here).

2. Focus Topics

In this round, we are also calling for projects that contribute to one or more of the following topics. In doing so, we aim to create synergies with the TransforM Cluster of Excellence (more background information on the respective topics can be found on the TransforM website):

• Opportunity & Design: How can transformative technologies open up new economic and socio-political spaces? How can these spaces—in organizations, politics, and user communities—be systematically designed? How can values such as fairness and transparency be anchored in design, and how do these design decisions affect entrepreneurship and users?
• Complexity & Resilience: How can societies, markets, and politics develop anticipatory, adaptive, and resilient strategies to deal with disruptive technological consequences? What paths through technological transformation exist? What mechanisms and networks strengthen resilience and help manage complex interdependencies?
• Justice & Equity: How do transformative technologies affect dimensions such as gender, origin, class, or disability, and how can inclusive innovation processes be designed so that technologies become fairer and do not further deepen social divides?
• Responsibility & Legitimacy: How are issues of responsibility, legitimacy, and social acceptance changing in relation to transformative technologies? How does innovation legitimize itself? How can corporate and innovation governance, democratic control, and ethical design of technological change be rethought?
• Trust & Governance: How can we make institutions transparent, accountable, and participatory in order to increase trust in transformative technology? Which institutional frameworks enable trust, how can technologies be designed to be trustworthy, and what governance structures are needed to steer transformation processes democratically?

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for creative minds who want to shape technology in a responsible and impactful way. The fellowship is aimed at researchers who think across disciplines, tackle societal challenges, and tap into the potential of new technologies for the common good—with a special focus on ethical, social, political, and economic issues. As fellows, they combine social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, and economics, becoming a bridge between the TUM schools.

 

The following formal criteria must be met for an application:

• Qualification: The fellowship is open to postdoctoral researchers who have completed their doctorate within the last three years, as well as to advanced doctoral students who plan to submit their dissertation within the next 12 months.
• Affiliation: Applicants must be employed at TUM or, in the case of doctoral candidates, be enrolled or enroll at the TUM Graduate School.
• Project requirements: Applicants should propose an interdisciplinary project that combines social science perspectives with other fields at TUM, such as natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, health sciences, or economics.
• Support: Applicants need the support of two TUM professors—one from the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology and one from another TUM school.

What we offer

• Financial support: up to €20,000 for projects with a duration of 12 months
• Working environment: co-working spaces at the TUM Think Tank in the heart of Munich
• Community: a lively, interdisciplinary community of fellows at TUM and the TUM Think Tank.
• Support: access to events, infrastructure, exchange formats, and advice on third-party funding applications
• Network: a global network with partners from science, civil society, business, and politics

What we expect

• Active participation in the fellowship community and program events.
• Willingness to share knowledge across disciplinary boundaries and promote collaboration across school boundaries.
• Society-oriented research that seeks and promotes dialogue with practitioners, policymakers, and the public.

Application Process

Please submit your application as a single PDF file by January 31, 2026, via email to schiedel-fellowship(at)sot.tum.de.

Required Documents:

• Application form including financial plan (see templates below)
• Curriculum vitae (max. 2 pages)
• Two letters of recommendation from supervising professors
  For PhDs only: Letter from doctoral supervisor confirming that the dissertation is expected to be submitted within the next twelve months

APPLICATION FORM FINANCIAL PLAN

Selection Process

The selection is made by the TUM Think Tank Fellows Appointment Committee, which evaluates applications based on the following criteria:

• Scientific excellence of the project proposal
• Relevance and originality of the proposed project
• Previous academic achievements of the applicants
• Potential for societal impact beyond scientific research

Questions about the program or the call for applications? Contact us ...

… at schiedel-fellowship(at)sot.tum.de 

Background information on the program