“It was a difficult process to select the ten candidates who are best suited for the Bertha von Suttner-Studienwerk from the many outstanding applications we received in response to our first call for applications,” said the board of the Studienwerk, which includes Anja Krüger-Chan (Humanist Association of Germany), Michael Schmidt-Salomon (Giordano Bruno Foundation), Ralf Schöppner (Humanist Academy of Germany) and Tobias Wolfram (Federal Association of Humanist Students). “We very much regret that we had to turn down so many highly gifted, multi-talented and committed people, including many straight-A students. There is no doubt that the majority of our candidates would have deserved a scholarship. However, as the humanistic Bertha von Suttner-Studienwerk – in contrast to the religiously oriented sponsorship organizations – is not yet state-funded, we can currently only award 10 scholarships per year.”
In many cases, the decision was extremely close – especially among the twenty candidates who made it to the final round and were invited to personal interviews with members of the selection committee. “We were overwhelmed by the exceptional abilities of our applicants – all young people with outstanding potential,” explains the BvS Executive Board. “This made it all the more difficult to have to make a selection in the end!” In the end, six women and four men were awarded the scholarship. They include first-year students and doctoral candidates, students of physics, computer science, biology and medicine as well as psychology, philosophy and education.
Equal funding for humanist students
“We are very much looking forward to working with our scholarship holders,” says the BvS Board of Directors. “Due to the corona measures, our first Suttner meeting this year will probably have to take place virtually, but we are very confident that we will be able to organize face-to-face events again in 2022.” Fortunately, the Suttner scholarship holders will not have to wait that long for their scholarship to be paid out: the first installment will be transferred to them in the coming days.
The Bertha von Suttner-Studienwerk (BvS), which is supported by numerous public figures, including many academics, specifically promotes humanist students who should receive the same support as their religious fellow students in an ideologically neutral state. The date for the next call for applications has already been set: from May to July 2022, talented young humanists can apply for the “Suttner Scholarship 2022”. And if the Studienwerk has received state funding by then, more than just ten applicants could well look forward to a two-year humanist scholarship for the 2022/23 winter semester.
