Application opportunities/PhD positions at Jülich
In order to submit your application for one of the vacant positions at Forschungszentrum Jülich, you should follow the link in the advertisement and register on our online application platform. You should also have at your disposal the information on the position, your personal details, and the documents you wish to upload as attachments to your application.
Funding organizations as well as graduate and research schools have their own application forms. If you apply directly to one of our institutes, you should provide your application documents including a motivation letter explaining why you are applying to this institute.
It is important that you use the first lines of the letter to clearly state your motivation. You should outline the areas in which you are interested and specialized, and attach the corresponding documents. There is a special section with recommendations on how to make a successful application on our website.
Tips on Applying for a Job
Vacant positions
You will find job offers on our website including the contact details for your application. We are often looking for specialists to take up a position on one of our project teams. At Forschungszentrum Jülich, research often involves large-scale projects being carried out by interdisciplinary and international teams. In many cases, partners from industry are involved.
Career Portal
Speculative applications
Should you have a specific area of research in mind, you can also contact one of our institutes directly and send them a letter of motivation, your application documents, and testimonials. If you have already developed a research idea together with a doctoral supervisor at university, or if you have a sponsor for your research topic, you are welcome to apply to a suitable institute and provide us with detailed information on your research interests and all other relevant information.
Each institute is responsible for deciding which doctoral researchers they admit. They are interested in highly qualified and motivated applicants. The topic of your thesis is agreed upon together with your doctoral supervisor, research supervisor(s) at the institutes, and the head of institute.
Our institutes
Programmes at graduate schools
Forschungszentrum Jülich runs graduate and research schools that have close links to universities and offer special conditions and structured training programmes for doctoral researchers. The HITEC Graduate School for Energy and Climate offers doctoral researchers the opportunity to work on interdisciplinary issues in the field of energy and climate research. Partner universities of Forschungszentrum Jülich in this venture are RWTH Aachen University, Ruhr University Bochum, the University of Cologne, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, and the University of Wuppertal. HITEC is open to graduates with a master's degree or equivalent in science or engineering, and for certain topics with a degree in the human sciences. All PhD students accepted by Jülich’s Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK) are automatically enrolled in the HITEC programme.
The International Helmholtz Research School of Biophysics and Soft Matter (IHRS BioSoft) connects the research disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics to conduct research on biophysical issues and soft matter. As a doctoral researcher you work in teams together with researchers, the university partners in Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the Center of Advanced European Studies and Research (caesar) in Bonn. BioSoft offers three-year PhD projects and financial support. Applicants should hold a master's degree in biology, chemistry, physics, or related subjects. Projects for PhD theses can be selected from a list of research areas and techniques.
Some institutions also issue calls for research work or funding programmes. Forschungszentrum Jülich regularly publishes such calls.
Cooperations with partner from science
Jülich coordinates funding programmes
Forschungszentrum Jülich coordinates several programmes provided by national and international funding organisations. Programms you might apply for will be listed here soon.