Max Planck Schools – Fellows Open Call 2024

Since 2018, the Max Planck Schools have brought together Germany’s leading scientists in three interdisciplinary research fields – Cognition, Matter to Life, and Photonics – to train a new generation of outstanding and open-minded early-career researchers. As Fellow of a Max Planck School, you have the opportunity to contribute to this joint graduate program of German universities and research organizations, to establish a structured flagship program for PhD training in Germany and to advance your research by leading bright and high aiming PhD candidates to success.

Fellows of the Max Planck Schools are appointed by the Presidents of the Max Planck Society and the German Rectors’ Conference. Their main responsibilities include the supervision and scientific as well as personal support of ambitious and promising PhD candidates. Moreover, Fellows advance their respective Max Planck School by:

  • Generating new research topics;
  • Supporting selection procedures of PhD candidates;
  • Contributing to curriculum development and implementation;
  • Further developing the concept of the respective Max Planck School;
  • Promoting the overall idea of the Max Planck Schools.

For these tasks, Fellows will be appointed for four years. A renewal of the appointment by a subsequent application is possible. To become a Fellow, candidates must:

  • Have their main affiliation at a German university or research institution;
  • Demonstrate an internationally recognized scientific profile in one or more research fields connected to Cognition, Matter to Life, or Photonics;
  • Bring high levels of engagement to the support and advancement of young potentials aiming for an international research career;
  • Demonstrate interest to contribute to a highly innovative graduate program with international orientation and a lively scientific community across disciplinary, organizational and local boundaries.

The Max Planck Society and the German Rectors’ Conference together with all their partners seek to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourage women to apply.
Apply by November 18, 2024: https://mps-fs.cloud.opencampus.net/
You can find further information on the Max Planck Schools at maxplanckschools.org.

Key partner universities of the pilot phase are: Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, University of Göttingen, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), Humboldt University of Berlin, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Technical University of Munich (TUM), Heidelberg University and Leipzig University.