IZN International Graduate Program Information for Incoming Graduate Students

Before you start

If you are interested in joining the Heidelberg Neuroscience community as doctoral student you should first check whether you meet the eligibility requirements of Heidelberg University for doctoral studies.

If you meet these principal entrance requirements, you will then need to find an IZN principal investigator in one of the participating Institutions who is willing to offer you a doctoral project or even a doctoral position. Please note, that the IZN-IGP does not provide a centralized admittance procedure for prospective doctoral students. Interested students should approach potential doctoral supervisors directly and discuss potential opportunities and arrange their interviews individually.

Please also visit the webpage of the Graduate Academy of Heidelberg University. This centralized service unit for all doctoral students of Heidelberg University offers services and support on several important topics, such as advice on doctoral fellowships and other funding opportunities for doctoral students. The Graduate Academy also provides information about potential immigration regulations that may apply according to your country of origin.

REGISTERING YOUR DOCTORAL PROJECT

Enrollment in a graduate program is now mandatory for all doctoral candidates in Baden-Württemberg. After you have been admitted to your faculty as a doctoral candidate, you must complete a three-step process of acceptance and admission to the university.

Admission to the faculty (requires pre-approval from a doctoral program)
Admission to a structured doctoral program
Enrollment at the University

As soon as you have started your doctoral work in your chosen lab in Heidelberg/Mannheim you should discuss with your supervisor (1) with which Faculty you will register your doctoral project and (2) which of their structured doctoral programs might suit your project best. Most students chose the Faculty of Biosciences or Engineering (Dr.rer.nat. or Dr.ing.) of Heidelberg University, but some also chose the Medical Faculty Heidelberg (Dr.sc.hum.). Please ensure that you approach the respective doctoral offices within the first 6 weeks after starting the project in order to initiate your registration process with one of these faculties! The offices will assess your eligibility to join the faculty as doctoral student based on the certificates you provide for your prior degrees and your relevant experience.

Depending on the level of equivalence of your degrees and your experiences compared to someone who has obtained a typical degree in Germany, you may be required to pass an aptitude test to demonstrate your knowledge base in the natural and life sciences prior to acceptance by your faculty of choice.

If you are eligible to join Heidelberg University as doctoral student you will have then be required to provide your chosen faculty's doctoral office with a letter of pre-approval from your chosen structured doctoral program (e.g., IZN-IGP, HBIGS) certifying you are eligible to join this program. This is the time to contact IZN-IGP office (follow the link at right to request IZN-IGP pre-approval) with the following documents:

CV
project outline (max. 3 pages) including:
- a work plan covering the next three years of your project
- your intended affiliating faculty
- your direct supervisor
- your supervising IZN investigator (may also be your direct supervisor)

If applicable, we will issue a pre-approval for your admission into IZN-IGP. This will allow you to finalize your registration with your faculty of choice (1), and subsequently, also finalize your registration with our graduate program (2).

There is one last mandatory step that all admitted and registered doctoral students (1,2) of Heidelberg University must complete: enrollment as doctoral candidate at Heidelberg University through the online heiDocs system (3). In addition to ensuring that, once you have successfully defended your dissertation, the university will confer onto you a doctoral degree, enrollment also offers some everyday benefits, such as student discounts in public transportation, housing in the student dormitories, a multifunctional student ID card, child care services, legal and psychological counselling etc.,…

Note that doctoral students who have an employment contract for ≥ 50% with Heidelberg University or Heidelberg University Hospital can apply for an exemption from the mandatory enrollment at Heidelberg University.

General Information

Table

Thesis Supervision	In addition to day-to-day supervision, each doctoral student has a Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC), which consists of the principal investigator in which most of the thesis work is done and two additional advisors who supervise the student's research. The two additional advisors must each have a doctorate, but may come from institutions outside the University, such as the Max Planck Institute, the German Cancer Research Center, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, or the Central Institute for Mental Health. Each student is required to submit a progress report to their TAC and to give an oral presentation of their work once each year.
Financial Support	Full-time doctoral students are funded by predoctoral fellowships, e.g. from the Heidelberg University, Heidelberg University Hospital, the German Research Foundation, a collaborative research center of the German Research Foundation (e.g., SFB1158, SFB1389), HBIGS, or by fellowships applied for and obtained by the student individually. In addition, the Graduate Academy of Heidelberg University may help you to locate funds to support travel to conferences and workshops.
Teaching	The IZN-IGP has no formal teaching requirements. You may be asked by your supervisor, however, to act as an advisor for practical courses or seminars.
Collaborations	Doctoral students may collaborate with members of other groups within the IZN as well as with members of groups from other institutes in order to acquire particular methodological expertise required for their thesis work.
Language	Foreign students are encouraged to take advantage of German language courses offered by the Internationales Studienzentrum.
Graduate Academy	The Graduate Academy of Heidelberg University supports and fosters Heidelberg University doctoral candidates and postdocs. It is the central coordinating body for all support services related to general advising, professional and academic development and financial assistance for doctoral candidates and postdocs at Heidelberg University. On their website, you can find information about doing a doctorate at the University, the courses offered by the Graduate Academy, sources of funding for doctoral students and postdocs, and many other relevant topics.