Application

There are several ways to join the SGBM doctoral program. The availability of open positions is determined by the funding source and it changes throughout the year.

 

SGBM is looking to select international candidates for up to 4 PhD positions funded by the DAAD in the frame of the Graduate School Scholarship Program 2025/2026.

The scholarship comprises:

  • a monthly scholarship of EUR 1,300
  • a travel allowance based on your country of origin
  • a combined health, accident and liability insurance
  • a study and research allowance of EUR 460 per year
  • a rent and/or family allowance if applicable

The scholarship is for up to four years, contingent upon the successful completion of each year.

 

Selection process

The scholarship awardees will be selected in a multi-step process. After applying to SGBM, eligible candidates will undergo online interviews and, if selected, will be nominated for the DAAD scholarship. Nominated candidates will be then asked to submit a separate application to the DAAD (via the DAAD portal). The DAAD is ultimately responsible for awarding and administering the scholarships.

 

Eligibility criteria

Candidates who are to be nominated for a GSSP scholarship must meet the following criteria:

  • excellent academic profile. At the starting date of the scholarship/preparatory German course, the nominees must have completed their studies with a master's degree in life sciences or equivalent,
  • have an excellent command of the English language,
  • at the time of nomination, applicants must not have been resident in Germany for more than the last fifteen months prior to the nomination,
  • as a rule, applicants should not have graduated any longer than six years before the time of nomination (Possible exceptions are listed in the “Important information for scholarship applicants” in section A, point 2).
  • must not have completed a PhD previously

 

Application procedure

1. Register: the first step is to register here, to create an account and access the application form.

2. Select “Track 1” to apply for the positions funded by the DAAD GSSP scholarships.

3. Fill out the application form: The information that you enter in the various fields is NOT saved automatically. You need to save your progress before logging out. To continue with the application at a later time point, you have to re-enter your login data, click on "SGBM menu" and "My Application" to access again your application form. 

The section "Research interest" is particularly relevant for the selection procedure and should receive careful attention. You can select up to three supervisors/projects in your application. You can check here the list of supervisors offering a project.

Relevant documents can be uploaded. Please carefully select the documents you decide to upload and do not fill your application with unnecessary material. Kindly make sure that the documents you upload are not secured or protected, otherwise they will not be processed correctly by the system. Also, if you copy/paste texts into the fields (e.g. thesis abstract), make sure you paste unformatted text. 

4. Submit your application: Once you have filled out all relevant and required fields, you will need to press the submit button to complete the application process. Please note that you will NOT receive a confirmation email. When you press the submit button, an automatic email will be sent to your referees, inviting them to submit their reference online by clicking on a link. They will have time until two weeks after the deadline to submit their references. You will be able to check whether they have submitted their references in the "My Application" menu. 

 

Timeline of recruitment

Application deadline: March 9, 2025
Online interviews: early May 2025 (dates tba)
Nomination of selected candidates to the DAAD: end of May 2025
Earliest possible PhD start date (pending decision by the DAAD): October 2025

 

Apply here

 

List of supervisors/projects

 

Track 1 positions are funded directly by SGBM. Funding covers the 3-week rotations in three labs at the beginning of the program as well as 34 months of research on the thesis project (36 months in total). It also includes consumables for the lab in which the doctoral work takes place. Afterwards, PhD fellows are financed by their supervisor's grants. 

Doctoral students who are in the very beginning of their PhD work (first six months) at the University of Freiburg and who have secured funding by their supervisor via other sources may apply to join SGBM as Track 2. Their supervisor must be a Principal Investigator member of SGBM. Applicants for Track 2 should clearly indicate in the application form that they have funding. 

Track 2 candidates can apply any time, but they should contact sgbm-info@sgbm.uni-freiburg.de in parallel to make the management aware of their application.

CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biology Signalling Studies - is an Excellence Cluster at the University of Freiburg. CIBSS studies signalling processes across biological scales. Doctoral fellows funded by CIBSS are eligible to become members of SGBM via the CIBSS Track.  

Currently there is no open call for the CIBSS Track. More precise information about the opening dates will be communicated in due course on this page and on the CIBSS website

Collaborative Research Centers (or Sonderforschungsgemeinschaften in German) are research initiatives funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG). 

In the course of the past few years, SGBM has developed - together with new CRCs established in Freiburg - a collaboration model that aims at integrating doctoral fellows funded by the CRC into our doctoral program. So far, doctoral fellows of four CRCs have become members of SGBM, i.e. SFB1381, SFB1425, SFB1453 and SFB/TRR 384.

Currently there is no open application call for any of our collaborating CRCs/SFBs.

Detailed information about upcoming application calls will be communicated in due course on this page.

Degrees
Applicants must hold an excellent recent university degree (Master or German Diploma) in either biology, biochemistry, chemistry, molecular medicine, pharmacy or biotechnology, or related fields. Candidates about to obtain such a degree are also welcome to apply. A Master degree is required to register for doctoral studies at the University of Freiburg. 
Candidates with a medical degree (MD) are eligible for the MD/PhD program. If they are admitted to the school, their affiliation to SGBM will entitle them to register for a doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.) at the Faculty of Biology. 

English proficiency
The entire program is run in English so that fluency in both written and spoken English is essential. The thesis will be written in English and defense of the thesis takes place in English. Tests such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and CPE (Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English), while not mandatory, are recommended for candidates whose first language is neither English nor German. Applicants who have taken such tests should upload the corresponding document where indicated in the application form. 

MD/PhD program
SGBM closely cooperates with the MOTI-VATE program for which information can be found here. We offer several courses for medical students that are interested in research. At the moment, the lectures, seminars and practical courses in molecular cell biology are only available for students in the MOTI-VATE year in order to prepare them for the MD/PhD program.

1. Register: If you wish to apply to SGBM, you have to first register here to create an account and access the application form.

2. Select your Track: The first step is to select the Track you want to apply for. Depending on which Track you select, the application mask that you will have to fill out will differ slightly. Please check which Track you are eligibile for before continuing (see above). 

3. Fill out the application form: The information that you enter in the various fields is NOT saved automatically. You need to save your progress before logging out. To continue with the application at a later time point, you have to re-enter your login data, click on "SGBM menu" and "My Application" to access again your application form. The section "Research interest" is particularly relevant for the selection procedure and should receive careful attention. Relevant documents can be uploaded. Please carefully select the documents you decide to upload and do not fill your application with unnecessary material. Kindly make sure that the documents you upload are not secured or protected, otherwise they will not be processed correctly by the system. Also, if you copy/paste texts into the fields (e.g. thesis abstract), make sure you paste unformatted text. 

4. Submit your application: Once you have filled out all relevant and required fields, you will need to press the submit button to complete the application process. Please note that you will NOT receive a confirmation email. When you press the submit button, an automatic email will be sent to your referees, inviting them to submit their reference online by clicking on a link. You will be able to check whether they have submitted their references in the "My Application" menu. 

 

Click here to apply