Excellent young talents
Well-trained young scientists are a pre-condition for securing research competence, innovative capacity and academic education in the long term. The University of Bonn and the members of BORA cooperate in teaching through joint chairs and in-depth courses. The cooperation is particularly multifaceted in the qualification of young scientists. For example, colleagues from BORA member institutions participate in graduate programs based at the University of Bonn (Bonn International Graduate Schools, BIGS), the university is involved in cooperative programs such as International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) and Leibniz Graduate Schools, and in the graduate programs of the Clusters of Excellence (Cluster Schools), the university and non-university research also work closely together. Strategic further development based on this program density is a common goal in BORA.
Graduate programs by and with BORA members are based in five thematic areas: (1) Astronomy and Physics, (2) Mathematics, (3) Economics, (4) Medicine, Health, Life Sciences, and (5) Sustainable Futures.
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Graduate Programs in BORA
7
Bonn International Graduate Schools (BIGS)
5
Graduate Programs in Clusters of Excellence
Graduate Programs
Bonn International Graduate Schools (BIGS)
For doctoral students, the University of Bonn has established so-called Bonn International Graduate Schools (BIGS) in its designated areas of research excellence. The BIGS are closely linked to large-scale research projects (e.g. Collaborative Research Centers of the German Research Foundation) and partly also to non-university research institutions. The BIGS have numerous collaborations with renowned research partners around the world. In 7 of a total of 12 BIGS there are collaborations with BORA members.
International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS)
The research schools are established by one or several Max Planck Institutes. However, these IMPRS work in close cooperation with universities and other – sometimes foreign – research institutions. This provides an extraordinary framework for the graduate students to work in, and is a great advantage in interdisciplinary research projects, or in projects that require special equipment. There are 4 IMPRS in BORA: IMPRS for Astronomy and Astrophysics, IMPRS for Brain and Behavior, IMPRS for Moduli Spaces and IMPRS on Behaviorally Smart Institutions.
Doctoral Programs by Topic
1. Astronomy and Physics
The Bonn-Cologne Graduate School for Physics and Astronomy BCGS is a joint program of graduate studies between the universities of Bonn and Cologne. The program leads students with a bachelor's degree through an MSc phase to doctoral studies. Students with MSc degrees are admitted directly to the PhD stage.
The BCGS provides mentoring and research internships, scholarships and travel funds, and a vibrant research environment at the forefront of modern physics. Research areas at the two departments of Bonn and Cologne span almost the entire range of current physics; from astrophysics, biophysics and condensed matter research to particle physics, quantum optics and string theory.
The BCGS was funded from 2007 to 2019 by the German Excellence Initiative and the Universities of Bonn and Cologne. Since 2020 the funding comes from the two universities.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (MPIfR)
The school offers a broad spectrum of topics in observational and theoretical, galactic and extragalactic astrophysics, observational and theoretical cosmology, fundamental physics with astronomical tools and instrumentation. In addition to the main expertise in radio and (sub-) mm astronomy of the MPIfR, there are PhD topics in a broad range of contemporary astrophysics, techniques, methods and energy bands.
The partner institutions within the IMPRS are the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn, the Argelander Institute for Astronomy (AIfA) of the University of Bonn and the 1st Physics Institute of the University of Cologne.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (MPIfR)
Over the last few decades, computer hardware has become smaller and smaller, but their technology remains more or less the same. Slowly, this development is reaching its limits.Thus, we need new technologies that satisfy our growing hunger for even more powerful hardware.
Quantum physics could be a solution.
Together with the University of Cologne and the RWTH Aachen, Bonn researchers want to work on making this new technology usable. To achieve this, quantum bits or even qubits - the quantum counterpart to our previous bits - quantum communication channels that build networks and error correction methods have to be explored from the ground up. As part of the Excellence Initiative, the Bonn-Cologne Graduate School of Physics and Astronomy (BCGS) offers a doctoral program with an integrated honors program.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (MPIfR)
2. Mathematics
Located at the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics and supported by Germany’s Excellence Initiative, BIGS-M is home to all of the University’s doctoral candidates in mathematics and contributes to Bonn’s excellent international reputation in the field.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (MPIM)
In cooperation with the University of Bonn, the renowned Bonn Max-Planck-Institute for Mathematics offers a PhD program with a special focus on the study of moduli.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (MPIM)
The goal of the Hausdorff Center of Mathmatics is to identify and address mathematical challenges of the 21st century, to advance groundbreaking fundamental mathematical research worldwide, and to develop the mathematical methods and tools required by science and society.
Part of the Hausdorff Center is also a graduate school: The Bonn International Graduate School of Mathematics (BIGS-M) hosts all doctoral students of mathematics and contributes to the outstanding international reputation of the university in this field. The duration of the program is usually 3 years, and the doctorate (Dr. rer nat.) can be earned as a degree.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (MPIM)
3. Economics
Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE) offers a structured program that is tailored to the needs of doctoral candidates, including an internationally recognized research network.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Collective Goods (MPI Collective Goods)
Institutions are ubiquitous. All human behavior is embedded in and guided by formal and informal institutions. The discipline of economics models individuals as having well-defined preferences, and as maximizing their personal well-being. In this perspective, institutions are constraints.
In our research program, the following questions will guide us: How can one help institutional analysts and designers make more adequate definitions of the problems that call for intervention? And how can one help them design interventions that are more effective, and ideally also less intrusive? How can this program of making institutional design smarter come to life? The answers will not be found in the silo of one discipline.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Collective Goods (MPI Collective Goods)
The ECONtribute researches the functioning of markets as well as reasons for their failure. In doing so, the cluster goes beyond traditional analyses by systematically combining model-based theoretical approaches and behavioral explanatory models while incorporating legal and political frameworks. Within the cluster, the Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE) offers doctoral students a tailored structured doctoral program that includes an internationally recognized research network.
Involved BORA Institutions
Max Planck Institute for Collective Goods (MPI Collective Goods)
4. Medicine, Health, Life Sciences
BIGS Neuroscience offers a structured 3-year PhD in a top-level, internationally competitive program. The school takes an interdisciplinary approach to this rapidly developing field, focused on understanding the molecular and cellular processes underlying complex behavior as well as studying disorders of the central nervous system to discover their mechanisms and develop new treatments. The program provides access to the Bonn Neuroscience community working on topics ranging from molecular and cellular neurobiology, behaviour, computational neuroscience to psychology. Students can use advanced technology platforms and core facilities. Our affiliated scientists come from the Faculties of Medicine, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and Arts of the University of Bonn, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases within the Helmholtz Association (DZNE), and the Max Planck Society’s Caesar Research Institute.
Involved BORA Institutions
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Helmholtz Association
Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar (MPINB)
IMPRS for Brain and Behavior is a collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar (MPINB), the University of Bonn, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn, Germany. The program aims to recruit outstanding doctoral students and immerse them in a stimulating environment that provides novel technologies to elucidate the function of brain circuits from molecules to animal behavior.
One of the central questions of biology is how brain circuitry enables animals to make sense of their environment by integrating relevant sensory signals to generate appropriate behaviors. Establishing the link between brain circuits and behavior is known as ‘neuroethology’, which aims to understand how the collective activity of the vast numbers of interconnected neurons in the brain gives rise to the diversity of animal behaviors. To gain a full understanding of brain circuitry underlying a specific behavior requires the combination of research approaches focusing on different levels of detail - ranging from the anatomical reconstruction of neural circuits to the quantitative behavioral analysis of freely moving animals and natural behavior. The IMPRS for Brain and Behavior is unique and distinguishes itself from other graduate schools in the field of neuroscience by focusing its efforts on providing theoretical and methodological training in neuroethology and modern neuroscience methods.
Involved BORA Institutions
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Helmholtz Association
Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar (MPINB)
BIGS-LIMES offers a graduate program for Bonn PhD students in biochemistry, life sciences and biomedicine leading to the PhD degree Dr. rer. nat. The research groups of the LIMES Institute are members of several Collaborative Research Centers and the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation and are thus strongly funded by third parties. Therefore, PhD positions are continuously offered at the LIMES Institute. These positions are usually filled by students trained at LIMES. PhD applicants have the opportunity to gain experience in biomedical research in an interdisciplinary and technically very well equipped environment.
Beteiligte BORA Institutionen / Strukturen
Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (b-it)
Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM)
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Helmholtz Association
Welcome to the Bonn International Graduate School Clinical and Population Science. BIGS Clinical and Population Science offers a structured 3-year PhD program covering a wide range of research activities in both individual and population health areas. As an interdisciplinary research program, BIGS Clinical and Population Science combines the resources of two different Faculties, (Medicine and Agriculture) and also works in close collaboration with top-level independent research institutes located in Bonn, such as the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE).
This program offers diverse research opportunities with a methodological emphasis on genetics, imaging, and biostatistics. In this world-class research environment, our students work with excellent scientists on highly relevant projects, learning the latest techniques.
Beteiligte BORA Institutionen
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Helmholtz Association
The Bonn International Graduate School (BIGS) Immunosciences and Infection, was established in 2016 on the basis of the Graduate Program International Immunology Training Program Bonn (IITB) developed by ImmunoSensation. The BIGS Immunosciences and Infection now provides a unique framework for all PhD students in the fields of immunology and infectious disease in Bonn. Furthermore, BIGS serves as an umbrella for other structured PhD programs in immunology, e.g. the International Research Training Group (IRTG) 2168 between Bonn and Melbourne.
Involved BORA Institutions
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Helmholtz Association
The NRW Forschungskolleg One Health and Urban Transformation – identifying risks and developing sustainable solutions is a transdisciplinary graduate school seeking integrated interventions to attain optimal health for humans, animals, plants and the environment.
One Health and Urban Transformation graduate school is hosted in Bonn (Germany), at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in cooperation with multiple institutes of the University of Bonn, the International Centre for Sustainable Development (IZNE) of the University of Applied Science Bonn Rhein-Sieg (HBRS), and the United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).
Currently, the graduate school is conducting research in four metropolitan regions all over the world: the Ruhr Metropolis (Germany); Ahmedabad (India), Accra (Ghana), and São Paulo (Brazil).
The NRW Forschungskolleg One Health and Urban Transformation is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, MKW).
Involved BORA Insitutions
United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
ImmunoSensation2 aims to continue the success story of the existing ImmunoSensation cluster. While the emphasis so far has been on fundamental research in particular of the innate immune system, now the mechanisms of immune intelligence are to be uncovered, i.e. the question of how the body succeeds in adapting immune responses to specific situations and then remembers this in order to be optimally prepared for similar challenges in the future. The cluster's graduate school, the Bonn International Graduate School (BIGS) Immunosciences and Infection offers a structured, three-year doctoral program.
Involved BORA Institutions
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Helmholtz Association
5. Sustainable Futures
Further information yet to come.
Involved BORA Institutions
Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Research Museum Koenig
Increasing agricultural production despite limited land while reducing the ecological footprint of agriculture - this is one of the challenges of our time. For this reason, the University of Bonn and Forschungszentrum Jülich are jointly developing methods and new technologies to observe, analyze, better understand and more specifically treat plants. We support graduate students through an interdisciplinary portfolio of offers through our Graduate Training Program. Our offers span from research-oriented courses on mobile robotics to soft skills courses on video production. The program is tailored to our PhD students’ needs and encourages interdisciplinarity within our Cluster.
Involved BORA Institutions
Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS
Individual doctorate with BORA members
The Individual Doctorate
In addition to the structured doctoral programs, the members in BORA also offer individual doctorates. Here, cooperation takes place individually, e.g. through joint doctoral supervision across institutional boundaries.
Here you can find information about doing a doctorate at
Doctorate within the framework of Research Projects
In addition, a doctorate is possible within the framework of specific research projects (usually third-party funded). Doctoral positions are regularly advertised at the member institutions via their job portals:
Doctoral positions with BORA members
Junior scientists who undertake doctoral research profit from working in an environment that offers a stimulating blend of applied basic research, contract research and further training. At Fraunhofer, our aim is to provide doctoral candidates with first-class facilities and equipment, an open, all-round, creative working environment and fully transparent employment conditions. Doctoral candidates receive support from their personal supervisor and working groups as they strive to develop innovative solutions to complex questions and bring their research project to a successful conclusion. In accordance with the principles of good scientific practice, this also involves a high degree of autonomy and self-reliance.
The Helmholtz Centers are excellently equipped and have excellent international networks. We attach particular importance to intensive supervision of our doctoral students.
We ensure the quality of our training through the Helmholtz Doctoral Guidelines:
- As a rule, doctoral students are supervised by three scientists with a doctorate (doctoral committee).
- Tasks and responsibilities during the doctorate are clearly defined in an agreement at the beginning.
- The content and procedure of the doctorate are designed in such a way that it can usually be completed after three to four years.
- As a rule, doctoral students are employed by us on a social insurance basis. The duration of the contract should be aligned with the estimated duration of the doctorate.
- The doctoral candidates regularly exchange information with their supervisors on the progress of their project. In addition, a meeting with the entire doctoral committee takes place at least once a year.
- In addition, PhD students can further their education in special courses of the Helmholtz Research Schools and in graduate schools. Programs for international networking and career counseling are also offered there.
Doctoral researchers at the DZNE
Currently, over 150 doctoral researchers are working on PhD projects at the DZNE. Collectively, their work represents a great many different research areas and methodological approaches. PhD projects at the DZNE normally run for 3 to 4 years, depending on the research field and dissertation topic, and are carried out in cooperation with universities and graduate schools close to the relevant site. Many research group leaders also have professorships at a local university. Where this is the case, a PhD candidate's entire doctoral program can be guided and supervised "from one source."
At the beginning of a doctoral researchers’ doctoral program, the candidate, their program supervisor and the DZNE enter into a supervision agreement that outlines the framework for the candidate's research at the DZNE. This is done in each case, in the interest of ensuring that doctoral projects are of high quality and are properly structured. In addition, during the course of the candidate's projects, the DZNE encourages the facilitation of regular thesis advisory committee meetings in support of the progress and refinement of the candidate's PhD project.
As a rule, all positions for doctoral researchers are advertised on our job portal.
When it comes to training and supporting doctoral students, Max Planck institutes have a wealth of experience to call on. They cooperate closely with the universities through which the doctorates are officially awarded.
At any given time almost 4,000 young people are researching at Max Planck institutes in preparation for their dissertation; one in three are members of an International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS). Together with their partners at universities and other research institutions, the IMPRS offer a structured graduate training programme with a defined curriculum. With the Max Planck Graduate Centers and in particular the Max Planck Schools as larger units, the funding concept has been further expanded in 2018.
Around 4,000 PhD students are supervised at Leibniz Association Institutes in collaboration with partner universities. 2,600 of them are directly affiliated with a Leibniz Institute and most have public service employment contracts. It is possible to complete a PhD in any of the disciplines covered by the Leibniz Institutes. A PhD at a Leibniz Institute opens up a wide range of career paths.
All Leibniz Institutes offer the opportunity to complete a PhD as a regular Institute employee. These positions are advertised on the Leibniz jobs portal or on the jobs portals of the Institutes in question.
ZFMK International Graduate School (ZIGS)
Leibniz Graduate School on Genomic Biodiversity Research (GBR)
BICC (Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies)
The disciplines represented at BICC include peace and conflict research, political science and economics, sociology, ethnology, geography and regional science. The qualification of young academics in these relevant subject areas is an important concern of the Institute. Doctoral theses are currently supervised by two professors: Prof. Dr. Conrad Schetter (Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Bonn) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinemann-Grüder (Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Bonn).
BICC reports on ongoing doctoral studies in its annual reports.
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
The German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) is committed to generating and disseminating knowledge at a high level of scientific quality. The recruitment, training and promotion of highly qualified young researchers have a high priority for the institute. High quality dissertations present the key to excellent research. For this reason, the IDOS requires its young researchers to work towards obtaining a PhD, providing them with particular support in this endeavour. As a non-university research institute, the IDOS cooperates with a range of universities. PhD candidates are free to choose a university within Germany or in Europe that fits their particular profile and research theme. As a general rule, dissertations are part of the on-going research at the IDOS. Many excellent dissertations have emerged in this context in the past years. They showcase successful collaborations with different universities.
United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
There may be doctoral opportunities at UNU-EHS, in collaboration with a wide range of international universities. PhD students are usually integrated in ongoing research projects at UNU-EHS and are free to select a corresponding international university, such as the University of Bonn, the University of Barcelona or Kings College in London. Upon graduation, students are awarded a doctoral degree by their supporting international university.
UNU and the corresponding university combine their scientific expertise to offer a collaborative programme approach. This provides future leaders in the field of environment and human security with the analytical tools necessary for analysing the different dimensions of vulnerability and risk, ecosystem services and migration issues, while focusing on the unique characteristics and challenges of developing countries. PhD project positions are internationally advertised, and can be found under vacancies.
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Planning a Doctorate
Our mission at the University of Bonn is to deliver the highest level of education and support for PhD students, and to provide an environment conducive to free academic discussion.
Doctoral Programs
Each of our structured doctoral programs offers a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary curriculum designed to help you realize your full potential and prepare for a successful career.
Postdoc
As a postdoc at the University of Bonn, you have every opportunity to achieve academic independence, pursue your career path and reach for the stars.