PhD Positions
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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Can I apply for a PhD position with a Bachelor’s being my highest degree?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: Most faculties at TUD (our parent institution that awards doctoral degrees) only accept a Master’s degree as a prerequisite for starting a PhD program. Only the Faculty of Medicine might accept a Bachelor’s degree – under the following conditions:
- Bachelor’s degree program of at least 4 years
- Bachelor’s degree from a top university
- excellent grades
- degree has to be equivalent to a German degree
- research experience and a written thesis need to be part of the Bachelor’s degree
If your degree and research interests are in the field of medicine and you meet the above requirements, it may be worthwhile applying to DIGS-ILS.
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Can I apply even if I did not receive my degree yet?
Yes. However, you must hold or anticipate receiving your university degree before starting your thesis work.
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I have an MSc in ABC and XYZ or MFG. Am I eligible to apply for a PhD in your program?
You can find the general information about requirements on this website. If you think, what you read there applies to you, we’ll be happy to receive your application. Please understand, that we cannot give you a more detailed answer to this question, based on brief information about an academic record you send us via e-mail.
In order to find out whether you are eligible to join the program eventually, we have installed a multi-level and thorough application and evaluation process. It is a highly competitive application with several hundreds of people applying each year for 20–30 PhD positions we can offer.
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Is there an age limit?
We do not have a strict age limit. However, we would like to point out that we expect a coherent career path and most of our 1st year students are on average 25 years old.
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What is the working language within the DIGS-ILS?
Our working language is English and you can follow our program without any knowledge of German. However, we strongly encourage learning German while you are here.
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What documents do I need to provide during the application process?
You need to upload the official certificates and academic transcripts (BSc, Masters) in order to complete your online application. It is not necessary to upload your CV, course certificates, language certificates, thesis, publications, a GRE result, or any other document that is not requested.
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Do I need to provide my certificates translated into English?
No. However, please provide English documents if available.
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Do I need to provide a GRE result?
No, we do not a GRE result from you. Our faculty and staff will assess your application based on your provided texts and certificates.
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Do I need to provide TOEFL or IELTS results?
No. But if available we recommend uploading TOEFL or IELTS results to your application.
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I have my own funding. Does this guarantee a place in the program?
No. All applicants must successfully pass the admission procedure in order to be eligible to join.
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I cannot login to the application system. Can you help me?
Have you forgotten your password? Please follow the Request new password routine which you can find below the login form.
Have you forgotten your username? Your username is the e-mail address you used for registration in the application system.
Does the system say, your account is deactivated? An account gets deactivated after three failed attempts at logging in. In this case, please send an e-mail to us asking to get your account reactivated. Please state the name and e-mail address exactly as you used it for registration.
Have you maybe used another e-mail address for registration? Try and remember which one that was. The e-mail address is not only your user name, it is your ID. If you have forgotten the address we cannot help you as there might be other applicants with the same name. For privacy reasons we cannot send you an e-mail address we found in the system which might not be yours.
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Can I modify my application?
You can modify your application before you submit it to us. Thereafter, changes are not possible. Note that this includes the addition of materials (certificates, transcripts, test results). No modifications or materials can be accepted outside our online application system.
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Can the PhD Office add or revise information of my application?
No. The program does not add or change information within applications.
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I have filled all application forms – but I still can’t submit my application. What is wrong?
You can easily recognise unfinished sections by the red or yellow squares in the overview of individual forms. Yellow means there are empty fields but they are not mandatory. Red means, there are mandatory fields not yet properly filled. As long as you see red squares, you can not submit your application.
If the only red square is next to the section Referees this means that we do not have two submitted references. Either you haven’t added the data for at least two referees or you have, but haven’t triggered the e-mail to them (button “Send reference request”). Or you’ve done both, but the referees or one of them haven’t submitted their reference via the form they received in the e-mail.
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I have filled all necessary fields about my two referees – but still cannot submit my application. What is wrong?
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How many reference letters are required for my application?
Your application needs to be supported by a minimum of two academic reference letters submitted to us. We can only consider recommendations that are submitted via the online recommendation form sent to your referees and not via email.
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My referee did not receive your invitation for submitting a reference letter. What can I do?
After adding a referee to your application, you will trigger the e-mail sent to them yourself in the application system. After a day’s freeze you can send the e-mail again. You can trigger the e-mail maximum three times for each referee! You need to make sure that you provide correct information and should also inform your referee about the time of sending your request to ensure they check also their junk/spam folders.
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I know the deadline to submit the application – but what is the deadline for referees?
Since you cannot submit your application without having at least two reference letters, they need to be filled and submitted in time for you to submit your application.
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Can reference letters be submitted after the application deadline?
No, this is not possible. You will not be able to submit your application without submitted references and that’s because the references will be needed to assess your application.
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What can I do if I provided faulty contact information for my referee?
If you haven’t sent the system e-mail to the referee yet, you can edit their data. If you cannot edit anymore but discover a faulty e-mail address, delete the referee and add them again.
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How will I know whether my referee submitted a recommendation letter?
The online application will give you the status of the recommendation letters.
The list of forms gives you a brief colour-coded overview of the status of each form. A red square in front of the name of a form tells you that something is missing. In case of the referees a red square means you don’t have enough submitted (!) reference letters – even if you might have added the data for at least two referees and had the system send the e-mails to them. The references need to be submitted!
Opening the “Referees” form gives you more details about the status of each reference: confirmed on [date/time] means the reference is submitted. Please note that you will only be informed about the status and not see the recommendation letter itself.
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Do I need to contact research group leaders before applying?
No, it is not necessary to contact group leaders. You will be applying to the program as a whole, not to a particular group. However, in the online application you will find a form in which you can list up to six research groups you are interested in.
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Which group leaders are currently offering thesis projects?
We publish a list of group leaders looking for PhD candidates. However, please note that this list is subject to constant modification due to probable changes in the group leaders’ funding situation. Thus, during your application, you are not limited to the groups from that list.
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What happens to my application if I select a group leader of interest who isn’t listed as recruiting?
When an application is submitted, it will be evaluated following a series of assessment steps. Candidates with successful applications will be contacted within four to eight weeks and will be invited to participate in a video interview with the Admission Panel. Those who pass this step qualify for one-to-one interviews with group leaders, and therefore, to enter our PhD program upon finding a hosting group for their PhD.
If the group leader of interest does not yet have a vacant position, they will be contacted to see if there is mutual interest with the candidate and any possibility of him/her joining the lab. If this is not the case, the candidate will be given the opportunity to find another suitable project and lab within up to six months. We believe that this system offers everyone the flexibility and possibility to find the right host lab within DIGS-ILS.
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After submitting my application: When will I be informed whether I will be invited for interviews?
We will inform you whether you qualify for an Admission Committee interview approximately 5 weeks after the end of the application period. The Admission Committee interviews are generally scheduled for the sixth or seventh week after the application period. You can find the dates for the current round on our website’s PhD Positions pages.
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Admission Committee interviews: How do they work?
Specific instructions regarding the contents of the Admission Committee interview will be sent to the candidate together with the interview invitation. Invited candidates will receive a scheduled time and a link to connect to our videoconferencing system.
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Admission Committee interviews: Can the date be shifted?
For organizational reasons, we expect candidates to make arrangements to accommodate a 20 minutes interview at the allocated time. We do consider time zones when scheduling. However, if there are justified reasons, we will try and find alternative dates or times for the interview.
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Admission Committee Interviews: When will I be informed about the result?
You will be informed about the result 1–3 days after the interview. However, this is not yet an invitation to the interview week. There will be an internal shortlisting among the list of candidates who passed the Admission Committee interviews, in which group leaders go through the successful applications to check which ones are suitable for their current projects.
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Admission Committee Interviews: What happens after passing?
Candidates passing the Admission Committee interview, are in principle qualified for admission to our PhD program and to be invited for the interview week, given that there are suitable groups that are interested in your application for their current projects. Candidates not passing the Admission Committee interview cannot be further considered for admission to our PhD program.
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When will I be informed whether I will be invited for the interview week?
You will be informed in the week following the Admission Committee interviews.
PhD Winter Selection 2026
call is closed
video interviews with admission committee:
8–12 December 2025
interview week:
3–6 February 2026
PhD Summer Selection 2026
call opens 13 February 2026
call closes 5 May 2026
interview week:
25 – 28 August 2026
Contact
Once a year, for our Winter/Spring Selection, we open a joint call with our partner program
This means even more opportunities for you – with just one application!