How to Apply

Who can apply?

  • German students: Apart from University of Siegen we accept applicants from: University of Cologne, TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Cologne (Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln), University of Bonn, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS), Folkwang University of the Arts, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Hochschule Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Justus Liebig University Gießen. If your university is close to the above but not listed, drop us an email and we might consider it.
  • Palestinian students: We can only accept applicants from Birzeit University.
  • Participants from previous years of YALLAH! are welcome to apply again.

YALLAH! is open for all courses of study. Bachelor/Master/PhD students are welcome to apply.

Palestinian Students: Please note, that your preparation week and your stay in Germany will take place during the summer semester. Hence, you will not register for the summer semester at Birzeit University.

Contents of your Application

All contents should be in English and apply for both German and Palestinian students.

  • Certificate of Enrollment.
  • Curriculum Vitae (max. two DinA4 pages).
  • References of any kind of pre-existing experience made in hackathons, hack trips, exchange programs, civic hacking, (h)activism, project work and/or academic research or publications.
  • Motivation letter/video/etc.: It should further include your motivation in participating in YALLAH! and why you are the perfect candidate. How you convince us is up to you. We accept traditional motivational letters (max. two DinA4 pages), video messages (max. 5 minutes in the usual formats) or any other fancy way you come up with – all in English. And if you already have an idea what you are interested to work in, please tell us about it too.
  • State in which project area you would like to work in.

Your personal profile

  • You respect other people, especially their culture and political view.
  • You are an empathetic, and open-minded person and you are willing to understand other people’s positions, you can “agree to disagree” without a problem.
  • You are an easy-going person that is willing to live in shared flats. This means you clean up after yourself and keep everything tidy. This also includes the shared hardware, tools and so on.
  • Moreover, you are curious and have a drive to understand different ideas, cultures and views.

Your professional profile

  • You are motivated to work in multi-national and intercultural teams and can handle challenging situations.
  • You are willing to learn new research methods, apply them and document your work.
  • You speak English very well and can communicate without problems.
  • You are curious, critical, willing to learn and apply new skills and methods.
  • You are willing to learn about new technologies and apply them if needed.

What we expect from you

  • To “get shit done” – your team might be asked for regular standups, planning/coordinating your project.
  • Document your project work in text/photo/video/sketches/etc. throughout both exchange phases.
  • Write a field diary throughout both exchange phases.
  • After each exchange phase, write a short project documentation/report (max. 2 DinA4 pages, to be written team-wise) and hand in some photos regarding documentation.
  • Taking part in group, preparation and work sessions before, during and after the two exchange phases (Creative Sessions, Workshops, Hackathons etc.).
  • Be a good host to your guests visiting.
  • As you can see, two main exchange phases make up most of the project, one in Palestine, one in Germany. Between the exchange phases you should try to continue working on your project. If you sign up for YALLAH!, please note that you sign up for both exchange phases. During your exchange phase as ‘host’, taking part in activities as well as working on group projects is mandatory.

What will you get?

  • A great time, while working on cool projects with awesome people
  • Funding for your living and travel expenses
  • Funding to accomplish your projects
  • The opportunity to publish papers with experienced researchers
  • Get academic credit
    • Bachelor/Master project or thesis
    • (NOT YET – We are working on it) ECTS in module “Spezielle Aspekte der HCI” (for HCI/business informatics students )
    • ECTS for an internship (for HCI/business informatics students )
  • A participation certificate & internship certificate
  • We want to attend re:publica in 2019 (We aim for Berlin, but Dublin and Thessaloniki are also options) again, you can continue your work on talks, workshops etc with which we will apply for conference (this will be funded for you)

What is our goal?

  • Have projects that are sustainable and expandable (i.e. get research grants, cf. Amari Computer Club)
  • Publish research papers in respective venues with you
  • Have a big exhibition about YALLAH! in 2018 presenting all our experiences and work of three years in the field
  • Be at re:publica with at least one talk and workshop

Please send your application to sarah.rueller@uni-siegen.de.

The coordinators remain the right to exclude participants at any given point, if the assumption arises that the aims of the program will not be met. Your application will be shared amongst all participants (Germany, Palestine) to allow a first step to getting to know each other and to lay a foundation for open collaboration. By applying for YALLAH! you explicitly agree that sharing your application information with other participants and the YALLAH! Team is ok for you.

There will be an information event at University of Siegen on Thursday, November 9th at 6 pm at US-D 207 (altes Stadtkrankenhaus). Address: Kohlbettstr. 15, 57072 Siegen. In the meantime, you are welcome to contact us if you have any questions.

Application Deadlines

There will be three rounds of application. After each deadline, we will “fill the participation slots”. Please note, that your chances are better if you submit early and that these are hard deadlines. If the teams for German/Palestinian side will be full after the first or second deadline, we will announce it here.

Round #1 deadline: November 15th 2017, 11.59 pm CET.
Round #2 deadline: November 30th 2017, 11.59 pm CET.
Round #3 deadline: December 10th 2017, 11.59 pm CET.

There is a two-level application procedure. We will contact you within a week after each deadline to inform you if you are invited for a personal interview with us. After the interviews, you will get notification about acceptance to the program.

All final participants will then be invited to a kick-off meeting on January 15th to share further information, answer potential open questions and start our collaborative preparation for the exchange. The room and exact time will be announced.