Research School Application Procedure

The exact application process for a PhD position at the Research School depends upon whether you wish your home institute to be the DKFZ or the Weizmann Institute.

For PhD candidates of the Research School wishing to have the Weizmann Institute as their home institute, they should apply according to the procedures of the Feinberg Graduate School. More information about this application process can be found here.

For PhD candidates of the Research School wishing to have the German Cancer Reearch Center as their home institute, they should apply by following the link for the project they wish to apply for on the Current Open Projects webpage. Further information about the admission requirements and the application procedure can be found below.

The admission requirements for candidates wishing to have the German Cancer Research as their home institute are the same as for the Helmholtz International Research School for Cancer Research. These can be found here under "Language" and "University Degree".

Details of open PhD positions for the Research School can be found on the Current Open Projects webpage.

Please go to the webpage of the project that you wish to apply for and click on the "Apply now" link at the bottom of the page. This will direct you to a second "DKFZ Job Openings" webpage listing the details of the project. At the bottom of this second page you will find a further link to apply online.

When you click this link you will be directed to a web-based form where you should enter  your general information and then upload the required documents. Please include only the following documents, compiled as single PDF files not exceeding 5MB for each section:

• Cover letter: Please provide a letter of motivation (not exceeding 500 words) stating why you are applying for the position and your future plans.

• Curriculum vitae: Please provide details of your academic history employment, details of any honors, scientific publications and awards and outline any research stays. Please also briefly detail your outside interests. Finally, please provide the names and contact details of the 2 referees who will provide us with a letter of recommendation to support your application (see below).

• Certificates: Please upload as one document your high school certificate, your degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) and your proof of English (if applicable). If you have a GRE certificate, please also include this here.

• Other documents: Please provide the title and a description of your masters (thesis) research or equivalent (introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion). Indicate its significance and aims and specify your contributions. If you have carried out other research prior to or after your masters, please describe it briefly in a separate paragraph. If any work resulted in publication, please list these. Please do not exceed 1 page. If you have not yet started your masters research project, please provide details of another research project that you have recently carried out.

In parallel to submitting your application online as described above, please contact your two referees, who should each email a letter of recommendation in support of your application to the DKFZ supervisor of the project before the application deadline. IMPORTANT: Please ask them to clearly state that this is in support of your application to the German-Israeli Helmholtz Research School in Cancer Biology in their email. The referees should also mention the project name in their email!

Please note that candidates who wish to apply for other PhD projects at the DKFZ, in addition to those of the German-Israeli Helmholtz Research School should also submit a general application to the Helmholtz International Graduate School for Cancer Research.