Courses offered by SGBM are held in English only. Participants can access additional courses offered by other institutions of the University of Freiburg, which may be held in German.
Consult the website: https://www.sgbm.uni-freiburg.de
The Spemann Graduate School of Biology and Medicine (SGBM) is funded by the Ministry for Science, Research and Arts of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. This international school offers a multidisciplinary research and training programme that relies on outstanding research facilities as well as the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, the Clusters of Excellence comprising the Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS), Centre for Biological Signalling Studies (BIOSS) and BrainLinks-BrainTools (BL-BT), and the Bernstein Center Freiburg (BCF). At present, the graduate school counts approx. 110 doctoral fellows.
The programme covers a wide range of disciplines: protein structure and function, synthetic biology and signalling, developmental biology, neurosciences, immunology and virology, molecular medicine, and molecular plant sciences. Admission to the school is highly competitive. Doctoral fellows are awarded a PhD degree (Dr rer nat) from the University of Freiburg. Medical doctors can also join an MD/PhD programme.
Students do their experimental work in the laboratory of one of the principal investigators. Together with the school's management, students assemble their thesis committee, which provides efficient supervision and advice. The school operates in English. If they wish, international students can attend German courses, which facilitate their daily life outside the lab.
Students attend seminars, journal clubs, lectures, and conferences. They learn to present their data to their peers, including those who work in an area unrelated to their own. They attend practical courses in novel technologies (live imaging, genomics, proteomics, etc.) and soft skills courses (scientific writing, presentation skills, intellectual property rights, project management, good scientific practice, career coaching, etc.) Support for attending conferences and workshops as well as for a short-term stay in a partner laboratory abroad is also available.
The school provides help with settling and managing daily life in Germany: accommodation, residence permit, health insurance, bank account, registration at the university, etc. Students regularly get together in the SGBM House on the campus. The yearly SGBM retreat is another occasion for exchange between the different members of the school.
At the start of the programme, students perform three one-month rotations and then decide in which of the three laboratories they will perform their doctoral work. Practical courses (live imaging, animal handling course, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, biostatistics, etc.) and soft skills courses (scientific writing, scientific presentation, intellectual property rights, project management, good scientific practice, career coaching, etc.) can be attended at any time during the three/four years of the PhD programme. In the monthly SGBM seminars, students present their results and learn to discuss them in a multidisciplinary context. Students meet the study coordinator once a year to discuss their curriculum (list of lectures and seminars attended, workshops, courses, meetings, etc.), and they meet their thesis committee members at least once a year.
180 EUR per semester:
Participants must ensure that sufficient funding is available to finance their participation in a course of study. The average cost of living in Freiburg for one month is currently approx. 850 EUR to 1,000 EUR.
Some details:
www.studium.uni-freiburg.de/en/counseling/welcome-guide-for-international-students/finance
Master's degree (in some cases, which are examined individually, also BA with honours)
Candidates with a medical degree (MD) are eligible for the MD/PhD programme.
Short-listed candidates invited for an interview have to present their Master's thesis project to the selection committee. In addition, each candidate has three individual interviews with a principal investigator of the school.
The language of the school is English. Applicants must provide proof of their English skills, but the TOEFL (or equivalent) is not required. Interviews and presentations to the selection committee will all take place in English, and candidates who are not fluent will not be considered.
Consult the website: https://www.sgbm.uni-freiburg.de
Doctoral students are expected to work on their PhD on a full-time basis. Thus, a job outside the lab is not possible.
As Freiburg is an attractive city, finding a suitable and affordable place to live can take a little while. The University of Freiburg offers all newly enrolled international students the possibility to apply for student housing via the International Office. In addition to these dormitories, which are run by the Studierendenwerk Freiburg (www.swfr.de/en), several independent residence halls are listed on the university website (http://www.housing.uni-freiburg.de). The Studierendenwerk Freiburg and the International Office also offer a list of available private rooms.
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