Application
NO GENERAL CALL FOR 2025
Since we are restructuring our admission process, there will be no general call for applications for start in October 2025!
CALL FOR 2 DAAD SCHOLARSHIPS FOR INTERNATIONALS FOR 2025
Together with the Max Planck School of Cognition we will be advertising two 4-year DAAD doctoral scholarships for international students, restricted to a number of specific supervisors and doctoral topics. These scholarships will start in September 2025.
If interested, check our website - we will post the scholarships on our start page under NEWS: www.mind-and-brain.de) - or subscribe to our mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to: mind.brain.verteiler-subscribe@lists.hu-berlin.de
You can at any point unsubscribe from the list by sending a blank e-mail to: mind.brain.verteiler-unsubscribe@lists.hu-berlin.de
POSSIBILITY: REDUCED CALL FOR 2025
At the same time, we may be publishing a reduced call, i.e. either for potential doctoral candidates who have already secured a doctoral position or other funding for start in September/October 2025, or for potential candidates who have found a supervisor with whose support they will raise funding for their doctoral project by October (e.g. through a scholarship). The Berlin School of Mind and Brain cannot provide any scholarship funds for 2025 - apart from the two DAAD scholarships for international students (see above).
Since we are in the process of restructuring and will need the coming months to discuss and define all procedures we are not yet able to say whether and when a reduced call will take place. Once we know for sure, we will publish it on the website and announce it in other ways.
In the meantime, please think about who you would like to work with for your doctorate. Once you have looked on the PEOPLE/Faculty page (https://www.mind-and-brain.de/people/faculty) and have ideas, please contact us (mb-admission@hu-berlin.de). We may be able to help put you in touch or advise you how to proceed. (Please be aware that no all listed faculty members will be available for supervision.) You would have to contact the supervisors directly with an idea for a project or for a research area in which you would like to do your doctoral thesis. And as an individual doctoral candidate, with a provisional acceptance from the supervisor, you would then have to try to apply for funding.
If you intend to write your doctoral thesis in the field of cognitive neuroscience, you should definitely apply to the Max Planck School of Cognition, with which we work closely (we share many supervisors). This school is very competitive, and they offer a four-year program and salaried positions there. The call runs until 1 December 2024! https://cognition.maxplanckschools.org/en/application
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How to apply for 2024 (cohort 18)
Please go to the page Requirements and read the page carefully. It explains the information and documents that will be requested during the application via our Online Application Tool. We only accept applications made through the Online Application Tool.
Please also read the FAQ Admission carefully. This section should answer the majority, if not all of your questions.
>> Please do not send any documents to us directly unless we specifically ask for them!
Online tool opens for applications for 2024
Thursday, 1 December 2023, 00:01 a.m. CET
Internal link to our online applicaton tool
Application deadline for applications for 2024 (cohort 18)
Monday, 15 January 2024, 23:59:59 CET
Faculty available for supervision (this list will be adjusted in October 2023 for 2024): read here (internal link)
Information on funding opportunities: read here (internal link)
Timeline for the application and admission processes in 2024
The online application tool will re-open on 1 December 2023 and close on 15 January 2024, 23:59:59.
The online interviews for applicants researching the second round will take place on 22 March 2024 (via Zoom).
Invitations and further instructions for the interview stage probably will be sent out at the end of February 2024.
Successful applicants usually will receive their confirmation of acceptance within one week of interviewing.
The teaching period for the doctoral program starts at the end of September 2024 / 1 October 2024.
Funding available for doctorates starting in 2024 (cohort 18)
- In 2024, two DAAD-GSSP four-year scholarships will be available for international students, see Funding.
- In 2024, a number of “Mind & Brain” Grant Packages will be available to the best applicants, see Funding.
- Students with an Einstein Center for Neurosciences (ECN) PhD Fellowship (separate application process, please check the ECN website) may join the school after the first six months of lab rotations within the ECN program.
- Students accepted into our program but not selected for one of the aforementioned funding sources will receive intensive advice, support and in some cases tie-over funding in order to be able to successfully apply for and join the school with external funding/scholarships.
- Students may also apply and be accepted if they bring their own funding to the school, e.g. a scholarship from a funding organization or funding through their doctoral supervisor's projects.
For details on all of the above, see our iinternal webpages: FAQ Admission and Funding