Working language: English
Doctoral researchers can join the programme anytime.
Summer selection: 15 May
Winter selection: 15 December
The DKFZ International PhD Programme in Cancer Research at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg offers state-of-the-art research opportunities at the forefront of basic, computational, epidemiological, and translational cancer research. DKFZ PhD students receive a doctoral degree from the Biosciences, Medical, or Physics Faculty of the prestigious University of Heidelberg, the oldest university in Germany.
The DKFZ is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. Around 500 PhD students in over 100 divisions and research groups carry out research to unravel the causes and mechanisms of cancer development and to identify novel tools for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. In recent years, researchers at the DKFZ have been responsible for major advances both in basic research and in the development of novel methods for clinical application. Two researchers of the DKFZ have been awarded the Nobel Prize, namely Harald zur Hausen in 2008 and Stefan Hell in 2014. As part of the Helmholtz Association, the largest research organisation in Germany, the DKFZ has an international and dynamic work environment and provides its scientists with access to state-of-the-art research facilities.
Research at the DKFZ is highly interdisciplinary, which is reflected by the fact that PhD students have an academic background in (molecular) biology, (bio-)chemistry, (bio-)physics, mathematics, computational biology, computer science, epidemiology/public health studies, and related fields. Projects frequently cross traditional research boundaries and draw upon expertise from multiple scientific and clinical disciplines.
Based on a long tradition of scientific interaction between the DKFZ and the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel, the Graduate School has partnered with the Feinberg Graduate School of the WIS to establish the German-Israeli Helmholtz Research School in Cancer Biology.
For more information, have a look at our website.