The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is supporting technical Doctoral Students from Germany at CERN for a period of up to 3 years (Wolfgang Gentner Scholarships).[1] Goal of the program is to train students from German universities in an international, world-class high-tech environment with close links to industry. The German Doctoral Student Programme is fully integrated into the general CERN Doctoral Student Programme under the same employment conditions, but funded by the BMBF.
Eligibility
- German national or national of an EU country, which also needs to be a CERN Member Country (Member State or Associate Member State)
- Enrolled (or to be enrolled) at a German university during the Scholarship
- Graduated (Master degree) and eligible for doctoral studies when starting at CERN
- Good knowledge of English or French
Application
Potentially interested students apply directly at CERN for the general CERN Doctoral Student Programme. A separate application to the Wolfgang Gentner scholarship is not required. After application deadline, in a pre-selection for the award of Wolfgang Gentner Scholarships all candidates are considered, who are eligible according to the above conditions. For that purpose it is mandatory to clearly state in the application the intention to enroll at a PhD course at a university in Germany.
All applications are ultimately evaluated by the CERN Technical and Doctoral Student Committee (TSC), which takes the final decision on the selection of candiates.
- Application deadlines 2021 (2 selection rounds):
24 March 2021 (selection committee: 6 May 2021, earliest starting date: 1 July 2021), application form
18 October 2021 (selection committee: 2 December 2021, earliest starting date: 1 February 2022), application form available as of mid-July 2021
Topics
In the interest of a successful application, applicants should inform beforehand about possible topics and should contact the relevant supervisors at CERN. The list of current topics of the CERN Doctoral Student Programme is continuously adapted to the CERN work program.
It is recommended to set-up early links with the future supervisor at CERN, and the advisor at the home university in Germany. An application can also be done without giving a specific topic or supervisor. In any case, the final selection and topic assignment is make by the Technical and Doctoral Student Committee (TSC).
CERN's main task is to provide and to operated major infrastructure to perform basic research in physics at the highest energies and other frontiers of current research. This involves a large number of engineering and technical tasks and topics. Students from field of engineering are therefore strongly encouraged to apply for the Doctoral Student Programme.
Topics generally excluded from the Programme are any studies of experimental or theoretical nuclear and particle physics.
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