The IMPRS for Astronomy and Astrophysics and its partners, the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, the University of Bonn and the University of Cologne, offer PhD research contracts funded for three years, which include attractive benefits. Funding is available to attend workshops and conferences. Training in professional skills such as presentation techniques is part of the curriculum. IMPRS researchers have their work place at one of the three partner institutes.
The Max Planck Society seeks talented, creative, and enthusiastic individuals and encourages all to apply, regardless of their gender, nationality, religion, disabilities, age, cultural background, or sexual identity. To qualify, candidates must hold or be close to obtaining (before November 1, 2025) a degree equivalent to a German university Diploma or Master of Science, including a written thesis in Astronomy, Physics, Engineering, or a related field. Applicants must have knowledge of astrophysics and be skilled in the English language. Individuals with disabilities are particularly welcome to apply and may mention any such conditions in their application.
Please note
Applications received until November, 1, 24:00 CET will receive full consideration. The research contract can start at any time during the following year. You should be familiar with the research projects offered at our website. You are encouraged to contact beforehand the supervisors of your preferred research topics by email. You may also contact our IMPRS office (imprs@mpifr.de) or present IMPRS students, who are happy to answer any questions related to studying in Germany.
The application process is through our electronic application portal.
Our application portal will guide you through the application process and will ask in particular for descriptions of your research experience, your motivation to pursue a PhD and your skills. It will also ask you about your preferred research projects. When applying, please ensure you have at hand the following information and PDF documents (in English).
- Your CV; this document should be named surname_CV.pdf.
- Names and email addresses of two or three professional references, who know you well and who have agreed to write a recommendation letter (recommendation letters received by November, 15 will receive full consideration). We will instruct them where to upload their recommendations. You will receive a confirmation once your referees upload their letters.
- Bachelor transcripts, Master transcripts (in English or German, please provide a translation to English for other languages, an official translation is not necessary at this stage).
- Optional: Any publications including theses that resulted from your previous research concatenated to one pdf file. This document should be named surname_docs.pdf.
The application round for 2024/2025 is ongoing. The application deadline expired on November 7, 2024 and no further applications will be accepted for this round. The application portal remains accessible to all applicants who have submitted an application.
- Applications are evaluated by our Selection Committee.
- The top-ranked applicants are invited (via online-video-conference) to an interview and an oral presentation of their thesis work (January).
- The Selection Committee recommends a final ranking to the IMPRS board. This list still may contain more candidates than PhD thesis that can be offered.
- Supervisors will start negotiations with the most highly ranked applicants.
- You will be notified whether or not your application has been successful. Please be aware that the admission to our IMPRS is very international and highly competitive, so that we sometimes have to reject candidates with an excellent CV.
This video shows you how to do your research at a Max Planck Institute.
PhD Projects and Supervisors
PhD projects at the IMPRS for Astronomy and Astrophysics are listed here. Mention in your application, which projects attract you most, and how you could contribute. We encourage you to contact the PIs of the projects for any questions or suggestions.
If a supervisor is not faculty of of the U of Cologne or Bonn, you normally need a faculty member as co-supervisor.
These students can be contacted for any questions applicants have on living conditions, studies, research conditions etc.
Partner universities
University of Bonn
University of Cologne
Established in 1388, the University of Cologne (German: Universität zu Köln) is one of the oldest universities in Europe and, with about 50,000 students, one of the largest in Germany. [more]