Munich International Youth Fellowships 2027/2028: €1,300 Monthly Stipend, Eligibility and Deadline

The Munich International Youth Fellowships are the research fellowships of the International Youth Library (Internationale Jugendbibliothek) in Munich. They pay €1,300 a month for a research stay of six weeks to three months in the library’s reading room at Blutenburg Castle, for non-German researchers working on children’s and young adult literature.

The deadline for 2027 stays was 30 September 2026, so that round is closed, and the library says the 2027 results will be released in November or December 2026. If you missed it, the deadline is 30 September 2027 for stays in 2028, and the library accepts 2028 applications from spring 2027. Here is what the fellowship pays, who can apply and how to build an application the jury will take seriously.

Munich International Youth Fellowships: key facts

What the fellowship covers and what you pay yourself

The €1,300 is a living allowance. Some sites describe the fellowship as fully funded, and that is wrong. The library states that travel costs and health insurance are the fellow’s own responsibility, and a funding database listing adds liability insurance to that.

Munich is one of Germany’s most expensive cities for rent, so treat the stipend as a contribution. If you need a Schengen visa for a stay under 90 days, the embassy will want proof of funds and travel health insurance with at least €30,000 cover, and the fellowship award letter helps with the first part.

Watch the length. A full three-month stay can run past 90 days depending on the dates. A Schengen short-stay visa allows at most 90 days in any 180, so if the jury gives you three months, count the days. Above 90, most non-EU nationals need a German national visa instead, which takes longer to get.

Who can apply for the International Youth Library fellowship?

1. Citizenship: any nationality except German.
2. Career stage: graduates, doctoral candidates and PhD holders, early-career researchers, and authors who need international sources for a publication on a specific topic. A PhD is not required.
3. Topic: a defined research project on children’s or young adult literature that needs the library’s holdings.
4. Language: enough German and/or English to work with the staff. No test certificate is asked for.

Suitable projects range widely: picture books and illustration, translation of children’s books, comparative studies across languages, the history of children’s publishing, reading culture, and representations of childhood. The deciding question is whether you need this library specifically. A project you could do from your own university library will not get far.

Eligibility edge cases

• You live in Germany but are not a German citizen: the rule on the library’s page is about citizenship, not residence. It does not exclude non-German residents, but the programme is built around travelling to Munich, so explain in your cover letter why a funded stay at the library still matters.
• You hold German and another citizenship: the page does not address dual citizens. Email the fellowship contact before you apply.
• You are a master’s graduate, not a PhD student: graduates are named as eligible. Your project still needs a clear research question and planned output.
• You are an author or illustrator, not an academic: the library names authors who want to consult international works for a publication. Frame the project around a specific book or article.
• You were a fellow before: the page says nothing about repeat fellows. Ask first, and expect a new project to be judged on its own merits.

How to apply for the Munich International Youth Fellowships

Applications go through the online form on ijb.de. Prepare these five items first.

1. Search the catalogue: look up the IYL online catalogue and list real titles, editions or collections you will consult. This is the part most applicants skip.
2. Write the project description: state your research question, your method, the work you have already done, and the exact material you need in Munich.
3. Propose a length and period: six weeks to three months. Tie the length to how much material you will read.
4. Submit before 30 September: the form opens in spring for the following year’s stays. For 2028, that means spring 2027 to 30 September 2027.
5. Wait for the jury: IYL librarians and children’s book specialists decide, and results come out in November or December.
6. Plan the stay: once accepted, arrange travel, insurance and a visa if needed, and ask the library for help with accommodation.

For questions, the fellowship contact is Rebecca Wilhelm, the Director’s Assistant, at direktion@ijb.de. I would email before applying if your topic sits on the edge of children’s literature, to ask whether the holdings support it.

How to write the cover letter and project description

The library does not publish a scoring rubric. What it does say is that the cover letter should introduce you, explain the project and show why a stay at the IYL matters, and that the project description must explain the relevance of the holdings with example titles. That tells you what the jury of librarians reads for: a real need for this collection.

For the three-page project description, this order works:

1. Research question: one paragraph, as narrow as you can make it.
2. Work done so far: what you have already read, written or published on it.
3. Why Munich: the languages, editions or collections you cannot get elsewhere, with five to ten named titles from the catalogue.
4. Work plan: week by week for the length you request.
5. Output: the article, chapter, thesis section or book the stay will feed into.

An example opening, my own illustration rather than a past application: “My thesis compares how six West African and four Scandinavian picture books from the 1970s show children at work. Three of the Scandinavian titles survive in only a handful of libraries, and the IYL holds first editions of all three alongside their translations.” It states the question and proves the need for this library in two sentences.

Common mistakes

• Describing a general interest in children’s books with no defined question.
• Not naming any titles from the IYL catalogue.
• Asking for three months without a plan that fills them. The jury sets the length and can give you less.
• Listing every publication you have, including those unrelated to children’s literature.
• Assuming the stipend covers rent and travel, then running short in Munich.
• Leaving the visa until after results in December for a stay that starts early in the year.

What happens after you apply

After 30 September, the jury of IYL librarians and children’s book specialists reviews applications, and results are released in November or December. The jury also decides how long your stay will be, which may differ from what you asked for. Once accepted, you agree dates with the library, arrange travel and insurance, and ask for help finding a room.

During the stay you work in the scientific reading room and present the state of your research at a poster session. The library’s page lists no written report or other obligations after the stay.

How it compares with similar research fellowships

Munich is the only one of these built around a single specialist collection, and the only one open to graduates without a doctorate. If you need a longer funded stay in Europe, the Slovakia programme funds researchers from any country for up to ten months. For a full master’s in Europe with a monthly stipend, Erasmus Mundus degrees like MARIHE are worth a look.

Who should apply, and who should not

Apply if you are a non-German researcher, doctoral student or author with a defined project on children’s or young adult literature, and you can name material in the IYL collection that you cannot reach at home. It suits translation scholars and anyone comparing books across languages, because few libraries hold so many languages in one place.

Skip it if you hold German citizenship, if your topic is not children’s literature, or if you need full funding. With travel, insurance and Munich rent on top, the fellowship works best for people who have some savings or a home institution that can add travel money.

Munich International Youth Fellowships FAQ

Is the International Youth Library fellowship fully funded?

No. It pays €1,300 a month for living costs. You cover travel, health insurance and liability insurance yourself.

When is the deadline for the Munich youth library fellowship?

30 September 2027, for research stays in 2028. The 2027 round closed on 30 September 2026.

Do I need a PhD to apply?

No. Graduates, doctoral candidates and authors can apply, as long as they have a defined project on children’s or young adult literature.

Do I need to speak German for the fellowship?

No. Good English is enough to work with the staff, although German helps with much of the collection.

Sources and updates

The stipend, length of stay, eligibility, documents, deadline, results timing, number of fellows, funder, programme history, poster session and contact come from the International Youth Library’s fellowship programme page and its fellowship news item. Liability insurance as a fellow’s cost comes from the foundation’s listing in the reflecta funding database. The Schengen insurance minimum and the 90-day rule are standard EU visa rules. The project structure, sample opening and mistakes list are my own guidance. Information checked on 24 October 2026. I will update this post when the library opens the 2028 round.

Jude Chinecherem

I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.