DAAD doctoral scholarships 2025-2029
About these scholarships
(I) The Max Planck School of Cognition and the Berlin School of Mind and Brain (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) jointly advertise two four-year doctoral scholarships for doctoral projects conducted through the Max Planck School of Cognition (MPSCog) and the Berlin School of Mind and Brain (M&B). These doctoral positions will be funded for up to four years by the Graduate School Scholarship Programme 2025 (GSSP) of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
(II) Successful candidates are expected to initiate their doctoral research work in Germany in October 2025 in one of the two advertised projects (below) supervised by Fellows linked to both English-language graduate doctoral programs. During their research, candidates will be affiliated with both doctoral programs and benefit from the well-established doctoral research, education, and training programs offered by both doctoral programs. A selection of courses from the two programs will be tailored to the candidates' individual needs and interests.
(III) These scholarships are available to international applicants only (non-German nationalties) - see also below under (V).
(IV) Though it is the DAAD's main goal to provide funding and support for international students who are in Germany for the first time, it is admissible to have resided in Germany previously or to have completed a degree in Germany - see details below under (V).
(V) Before applying, applicants must ensure they meet the DAAD's general eligibility criteria:
(1) Excellent academic profile.
(2) International background, i.e. non-German nationality.
The DAAD wishes to support primarily those international students who will be in Germany for the first time. However, there are the following exceptions:
(a) Already in Germany? International applicants are eligible if their Master's degree is from abroad and they have not been resident in Germany for longer than 15 months immediately prior to nomination in May 2025, i.e. not before March 2024. => In cases of doubt, the DAAD will review each case individually.
(b) German degree? Although the DAAD primarily supports international students who are or will be in Germany for the first time, a previous study stay or completed Bachelor's degree in Germany is permitted if (i) applicants have conducted their subsequent Master's degree abroad and are now applying from abroad, and (ii) they have not had a place of residence or study in Germany at least 15 months immediately prior to nomination in May 2025 (i.e. not since March 2024). => In cases of doubt, the DAAD will review each case individually.
(c) Dual citizenship? Internationals with dual citizenship must apply from their country of origin. As a rule, the "country of origin" is the country in which the applicant has spent the majority of their life. If the second citizenship is German, the applicant should have lived abroad (i.e. not in Germany) for at least 10 years or for at least five years in the case of strong ties (e.g. through a permanent employment contract, a second citizenship, an unlimited residence permit) to the country of residence - and if they fulfill the application requirements for that respective country (type of degree, etc.). => In cases of doubt, the DAAD will review each case individually.
(3) At the starting date of the scholarship (and/or preparatory German course) in October 2025, applicants must have completed their studies with a master's degree or equivalent.
(4) Applicants Master's degrees must not be older than six years (i.e. not completed before September 2019).
(5) Applicants must not have completed a PhD or any other doctoral degree previously.
(VI) The four-year DAAD-GSSP scholarships include:
- Scholarship payments of currently € 1,300 a month;
- A travel allowance from their home address to Germany and back;
- Payments towards health, accident, and personal liability insurance cover;
- A research allowance of currently € 460 per year (for scholarship holders from countries listed in the DAC List of ODA recipients), or € 260 per year (for scholarship holders from other countries);
- A material resources and supervision allowance of currently € 1,000 per year (to be paid out upon application by the supervisor to the host institution, for use for the candidate's doctoral project).
(VII) Under certain circumstances, grant holders may receive the following additional benefits:
- Monthly rent subsidy (calculated individually, usually about € 50 to € 125 per month);
- Monthly allowance for accompanying family members (about € 200 child allowance per child and about € 275 marriage allowance);
- In the case of a disability or chronic illness: subsidy for additional costs which result from the disability or chronic illness and are not covered by other funding providers;
- A preparatory German language course (if available, applicable and feasible, taking into account the starting date of the scholarship); proficiency in German is not required for these scholarships.
(VIII) For the difference between doctoral scholarships and salaried doctoral positions, please see here (internal link).
SCHOLARSHIP TOPIC 1 (2025-2029)
Doctoral Research Topic 1:
"Heart and Brain: How does heart function impact on cognition and emotion?"
Supervisor: Professor Dr. med. Arno Villringer
Contact: villringer@cbs.mpg.de
Website: http://www.cbs.mpg.de/employees/villringer
In recent years it has become clear that heart function is closely linked to emotions and cognition. For example, our current emotional processing, sensory perception, including the perception of pain, is continuously modulated by each heartbeat and by the level of blood pressure. Over longer time scales, this is thought to have implications for cognitive and mental health. While these relationships are currently being explored in experimental settings in specific laboratories or for longer time scales in epidemiological studies, the proposed project aims to test these relationships in real-life settings and virtual reality. The overarching hypothesis is that alterations in heart-brain relationships are early indicators of impending mental health disorders. Specifically, we will take advantage of continuous monitoring by wearables (rings, watch, head caps) coupled with assessment of emotion and cognition.
Academic requirements Topic 1:
- Strong background in cognitive neuroscience;
- Master's degree in a relevant field;
- Interest in brain-body relationship, clinical neuroscience and mental health;
- Experience with advanced data analysis and/or analysis of neuroimaging data;
- Intermediate (or better) programming skills;
- Willingness and aptitude for interdisciplinary interaction and collaboration;
- Proficiency in English.
DAAD requirements, terms and conditions:
see under “About these scholarships” above the requirements (II) to (V) !
Applications for Topic 1 must include:
(1) Proposal for a doctoral project in research topic 1: "Heart and Brain: How does heart function impact on cognition and emotion?" (max. 5 pages in Arial 11, single spaced, plus max. 3 pages references);
(2) Meaningful Letter of Motivation (max. 2 pages);
(3) Full academic Curriculum Vitae;
(4) Copies/scans of Bachelor's and Master's certificates + certificates for annual examinations taken at the home university (transcript of records) including grades + explanation for the home university’s grading system;
(5) If still incomplete Master's degree: Please provide Transcript of records from your current Master's degree program - at the starting date of the scholarship (and/or preparatory German course) in October 2025, applicants must have completed their studies with a master's degree or equivalent.
(6) Copies/scans of your passport / identity card;
(7) List of publications;
(8) Non-native English-speaking applicants must provide evidence of their English language proficiency (see FAQs 1.11-1.12) (external link);
(9) Schedule for the planned research work including information about possible field studies/stays outside Germany;
(10) Any documents certifying completed practical work (internships, etc.) - optional.
Please send the above in one PDF file of no more than 7 MB.
Please name the file as follows: YourLastName_DAAD_Topic1
Application address: mb-admission@hu-berlin.de
Deadline for applicants: 15 March 2025
(11) Two letters of reference
Referees should send their letters of reference directly to: mb-admission@hu-berlin.de
Guidelines for references (Applicants: Please download, send to your referees, ask them to fill in the form and to send the form back to us): Guidelines (docx) / Guidelines (pdf)
Deadline for referees: 31 March 2025
References to be sent directly to: mb-admission@hu-berlin.de
SCHOLARSHIP TOPIC 2 (2025-2029)
Doctoral Research Topic 2:
"Autoimmune encephalitis as a network disorder – studying longitudinal structural and functional connectome alterations and their relation to cognitive deficits"
Supervisor: Professor Dr. med. Carsten Finke
Contact: carsten.finke@charite.de
Website: https://neurologie.charite.de/metas/person/person/address_detail/prof_dr_med_carsten_finke-1/
Autoimmune encephalitis is a severe neurological disorder caused by autoantibodies. Different subtypes have recently been identified including anti NMDA receptor encephalitis and limbic encephalitis with LGI1 autoantibodies. Many patients recover well from the disease but suffer from persistent cognitive deficits.
We have previously shown that patients with NMDA receptor encephalitis and LGI1 encephalitis show atrophy and impaired microstructural integrity of the hippocampus as well as impaired hippocampal functional connectivity. These alterations correlate well with individual memory deficits, but cannot explain additional deficits of attention and executive function. Interestingly, we recently observed more widespread brain changes in both disorders, including alterations of brain-wide functional and structural networks that are associated with these additional deficits.
However, the exact nature and interplay of these structural and functional network changes currently remains unclear. We are specifically interested in the following research questions:
(a) Do structural changes drive changes in functional networks alterations?
(b) Do functional network changes reflect successful compensatory mechanisms or maladaptive mechanisms, or both?
(c) What is the longitudinal trajectory of these network changes?
(d) Can we predict good vs. impaired long-term outcome from the network alterations?
To answer these questions, you will work with the interdisciplinary and international team of the Cognitive Neurology Lab at Charité Berlin. We have access to large patient cohorts through international collaborations and have established advanced imaging analysis pipelines for structural and functional network studies, including novel and highly promising in house-developed measures of structural topology and functional complexity.
Potential ramifications of this project included analyses of MRI markers in association with virtual reality assessments developed in the lab as well as translational comparative analyses with network alterations in mouse models of these disorders
Academic requirements Topic 2:
- Master’s degree in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Biology, Computer Science or related disciplines with excellent results;
- Proficiency in English.
Desirable: Programming skills (e.g., Matlab, Python or R); Experience with acquisition and analysis of MRI data, e.g. using tools like FSL, SPM, or Freesurfer
DAAD requirements, terms and conditions:
see under “About these scholarships” above the requirements (II) to (V) !
Applications for Topic 2 must include:
(1) A proposal for a doctoral project in research topic 2: "Autoimmune encephalitis as a network disorder – studying longitudinal structural and functional connectome alterations and their relation to cognitive deficits" (max. 5 pages in Arial 11, single spaced, plus max. 3 pages references);
(2) Meaningful Letter of Motivation (max. 2 pages);
(3) Full academic Curriculum Vitae;
(4) Copies/scans of Bachelor's and Master's certificates + certificates for annual examinations taken at the home university (transcript of records) including grades + explanation for the home university’s grading system;
(5) If still incomplete Master's degree: Please provide Transcript of records from your current Master's degree program - at the starting date of the scholarship (and/or preparatory German course) in October 2025, applicants must have completed their studies with a master's degree or equivalent.
(6) Copies/scans of your passport / identity card;
(7) List of publications;
(8) Non-native English-speaking applicants must provide evidence of their English language proficiency (see FAQs 1.11-1.12) (external link);
(9) Schedule for the planned research work including information about possible field studies/stays outside Germany;
(10) Any documents certifying completed practical work (internships, etc.) - optional.
Please send the above in one PDF file of no more than 7 MB.
Please name the file as follows: YourLastName_DAAD_Topic2
Application address: mb-admission@hu-berlin.de
Deadline for applicants: 15 March 2025
(11) Two letters of reference
Referees should send their letters of reference directly to: mb-admission@hu-berlin.de
Guidelines for references (Applicants: Please download, send to your referees, ask them to fill in the form and to send the form back to us): Guidelines (docx) / Guidelines (pdf)
Deadline for referees: 31 March 2025
References to be sent directly to: mb-admission@hu-berlin.de
Queries / Contact
The M&B Admission Team
mb-admission@hu-berlin.de
