Universität zu Köln 

The application form consists of 6 pages and 13 sections. Please fill in all the sections with short and compact informations about yourself. Any additional information you may include in your CV or attach as an additional statement/ document. 

Please fill in your family and given name. Because of differences in the naming system in European and non-European countries we would ask you to fill in your as many names as possible. 

For example, many candidates of Indian nationality have Kumar as one of the names and many of the Chinease candidates - Chen. Please add additional names (of your father etc.) so that we know who you are and which documents belong to you.

Do not fill in only your initials!

What is the difference between the current and permanent address and why we ask for both?

We need your address to send you an invitation for the selection workshop and in further procedure - the fellowship offer. In case you are about to move out of your current address within 3-4 months from the time of your application, you must give us an address for correspondence. It should be either the one where you can get the courier letter yourself (personal pickup only!) or - if that is not possible - your family address where your mother, futher or other close relative can sign the delivery note. 

Please be aware that we send the invitations only once. Please make sure to fill in the right address.

Please fill in the details of your academic education starting with the current/ recent one.

In case you are not done with your Master's studies and the date when your degree is awarded is in the future, please fill in the expected date. 

GPA (Grade Point Average) - it is calculated by your university. In case your studies haven't been completed yet you may ask your university's administration to calculate it accordingly to your current results or fill in: "expected in Month/Year"

These are any other universities/ colleges you attended to in the past or in parallel to the current one. 

Please do not fill in details about your secondary school education (high school, gymnasium, lyceum etc)

In both sections you have a space limited to 250 characters including spaces.

Please note: if you want to use the space you cannot format your text. Don't make bullet points, headline etc. Write your text continuously till the end of the line/ frame. 

Any characters outside the text frame cannot be seen by us.

It is not required to have any language competence certificates to apply to our program. 

However, if you have any, please fill in accordingly.

When applicable, please fill in details of your stay abroad: what did you study? how long? where? name of your supervisor/ tutor... Only short information. Do not exceed the space provided. Keep your text non formated and write continuously till the end of the line/ frame.

This is the most important part of the application form. Please take your time to fill it in properly. This section is not about writing your cover/ motivation letter. It is also not about summarizing your lab experience gathered so far! In this section you have to choose 3 research groups from the IGS DHD faculty where you wish to do your PhD.

How to proceed?

1. Go on the Research page and read about currently available project proposals. Some of the groups are marked as not available for applications. You cannot choose any of these groups as your choice. Some of the groups do not present any defined project proposal but are available for applications. In such case go on the homepage of the research group and read about the current research topic in the lab.

2. It is very important to read about the research in the lab of your interest. Please read recent papers published by the group as well as any other relevant for the topic. Read carefully about the research aims and methodology of the groups of your interest.

3. Choose 3 groups out of all open for applications, which interest you. Rank them as your "top priority" - the one where you wish to do your PhD the most, "first alternative" - the one where you wish to do your PhD on the second place, and finally "second alternative" - the one where you wish to do your PhD on the third place.

4. Write a short explanation why you have chosen each of the groups. You have a space limited to 500 characters including spaces. Use unformatted text writing always till the end of the line/ frame. Use no headlines, no bullet points etc. 

5. Write a mini project proposal for the top priority research group. You have space limited to 4000 characters including spaces - part of it on the page number 5 and part of it on the last page. Please use only unformatted text writing always till the end of the line to use up all the space available.  

This field is not for your cover/ motivation letter, neither it is for your recent research experience or a description of your last project. Based on the publications and information from the "top priority" group's homepage you should write a paragraph indicating what you consider the most important questions to be answered and how you think they should be approached experimentally. 

You should show your critical thinking and ability to design experiments to answer main scientific questions asked in the project of your choice. 

Here you can indicate whether you have applied for any scholarship not related to IGSDHD.

The IGSDHD offers yearly 10 fellowships. By applying to our program you automatically apply for our fellowship which is then awarded to candidates accepted to the program.

However, it is possible to apply to our program with financing independent of our program, like DAAD or Humboldt etc. scholarship.

Fill in contact details to 2 scientific referees using BOTH fields (one person per field). Please indicate:

1. Name and a degree/ title/ position occupied

2. Relation to this person: Master thesis supervisor, tutor during your studies, supervisor during your internships etc.

3. Address: full correspondence address

4. work email - no hotmail, yahoo or any other commercial email addresses will be accepted!

5. phone number including country and city prefix 

Please do not try to fill the field with your recommendation letters!

Please indicate where did you hear about our program.