FAQ

In which subject should I have completed my Master's degree?
Our program is focused on research in experimental and theoretical cellular biophysics. To be eligible for the program, you should have completed your Master's degree in the natural or life sciences, including various branches of biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, medicine, pharmacy, neurosciences, mathematics, computer sciences, and engineering. Ideally, you have already worked on biological, biochemical, or biophysical problems in experimental or theoretical settings during your undergraduate studies.

When do I have to have completed my degree?
Our program starts on September 15. To offer you a Ph.D. student contract, we need an official proof of your Master's degree. Therefore, you should have received your official Master's certificate by September 15. In case you have completed all your course work including your thesis by September 15, but will receive your official certificate later, make a note in your application and submit a confirmation letter from your current program.

Can I also apply with a Bachelor’s degree?
In Germany, it is not common to start a Ph.D. with a Bachelor’s degree. Students holding a four-year B.Sc. may be considered in exceptional cases if they provide excellent academic records and transcripts, as well as hands-on research experience. Evaluation of the completed course work is done on a case-to-case basis and candidates may have to complete additional M.Sc. courses to be admitted to IMPRS-CBP.

Is there an age limit?
There is no age limit. We welcome applications from excellent scientists of all ages.

What are the language requirements?
Our program is in English language. You should be proficient in speaking, reading and writing English. We do not require an English language certificate, but you can attach one to your applocation. We will evaluate your English language skills during the application interviews.

Is there a minimum grade point average (GPA) for admission?
There is no formal minimum grade required for admission to the IMPRS-CBP program. Applications are evaluated based on overall academic excellence, research experience, motivation, and fit with the program. Note that individual faculty members may place different selection criteria based on their research focus. You should not convert your grade into the German grading system, rather report it exactly as shown on your official transcripts

How can I apply?
We only accept applications submitted online via our application portal. Please register in the portal with your name and email address. You will then receive a log-in link which you can use to set a password and to access, complete, and submit the online application form. You can also save your progress and continue the application form at a later time. We do not accept applications submitted by mail or email.

What documents do I have to upload?
The documents that are mandatory to upload are the certificates and transcripts of ALL your degrees and your CV. If you have not yet completed your Master’s degree, please upload the preliminary transcripts. All required documents must be submitted in German or English language (translated by a certified translator). Please upload them in one single pdf file. In addition, you can attach optional documents such as recommendation letters, publication lists, English language certificates, or certificates of scholarships, awards, or prizes.

When is the application deadline?
The deadlines for our call is March 11, 2026, at 23:59 CET. You may nominate your referees until the deadline but we recommend you to do so earlier to give them more time to complete their evaluation. Your referees will have some days after the application deadline to complete their evaluation in our application portal. They will be informed by email about the exact deadline and you will receive confirmation when they have submitted their evaluation.

What can I do if I have not received my final certificate by the application deadline?
If you have not graduated or received your certificates and final transcripts by the application deadline, please upload your preliminary transcripts. You can hand in your final certificate and transcripts later. Please note that you should have completed your studies and received your certificate by September 15.

Do I need to include both my Bachelor’s and my Master’s degree grades?
Yes, please add a new item to the “Education” section in our online portal for each degree. Please also upload the certificates and transcripts of all your degrees.

What if my university degree is neither a Bachelor's nor a Master's?
Please provide additional information about your degree in the "Course Work" section. Make sure to include information about usual duration of the degree and any known equivalency to German degrees.

Do I need to provide a proof of English language proficiency?
No, such proof is not required. However, if you would like to include your English language certificate, you can upload it as an optional additional document. Your English language skills will be evaluated during the application interviews.

Do I need to find a potential supervisor before applying?
No, neither do you need to find a supervisor nor are you expected to contact faculty members before applying. You should check our website for an overview of the faculty members who are recruiting Ph.D. students in the current application round (Recruiting Faculty). In our online application form, you must suggest four faculty members for your lab rotations. In the section “Scientific interests” you should elaborate on your choice.

May I contact the faculty members directly?
We kindly ask you to refrain from contacting the faculty members directly. If you have any research-related questions, please address them to our Coordination Office. Our Program Coordinator will answer or forward your questions.

Do I need to submit letters of recommendation?
You must submit the contact information of up to four referees together with your application. Your referees will receive a link to a 5 minutes evaluation of your skills. It is not mandatory to submit letters of recomendation, but you can choose to include them as an additional file to your application.

How many referee evaluations do I need?
You can invite up to four referees to evaluate your scientific skills. At least two referee evaluations must be submitted for us to consider your application.

Will my application be considered without any referee evaluations?
No. Applications with less than 2 referee evaluations will not be considered.

When is the deadline for the referees to submit their evaluations?
The deadline for submitting referee evaluations is after your application deadline, on March 17, 2026(CET). This date will be communicated to your referees by email as soon as you submit their contact details. Please make sure to inform and name your referees in the application portal well in advance.

How should my referees submit their evaluations?
After you have entered your referees’ contact details in our online application portal and submitted the information via the “submit”-button, your referees will receive an email inviting them to the online portal. They shall provide some general information about themselves and fill the assesment questionaire of your skills.

My referee has not received an email with instructions to submit their evalutation. What can I do?
First ask your referee to check their email's SPAM folder. If they did not receive an email from us, make sure that you have submitted your referees' information by clicking the "submit" button on the referee page. The "save" button does not trigger the automated email to your referees. Please also check whether you have entered your referee’s contact details correctly. If the information is incorrect, send an email to the Coordination Office, including the name of the referee and their correct contact details. The Coordination Office will update the contact information if necessary and re-send the invitation email.

What is the admission process to the program?
After the application deadline, our faculty will carefully evaluate all applications submitted through our online application portal. Selected applicants will be invited to the online interviews taking place in May 2026. Invited applicants will give asked to upload a short presentation outlining their research experience (e.g. during their Master thesis, Bachelor thesis or an internship) and stating an objective for their future research within the IMPRS on Cellular Biophysics. In addition, each applicant will have three interviews with our faculty members. Based on the online application and on the performance during the talk and the interviews, a decision is made whether or not an applicant is admitted to our program.

When and where will the interviews take place?
Selected applicants will be invited to participate in a round of interviews taking place in May. Please check our timeline for any updates on the interview dates. We ask all applicants to be available on these days. The interviews will be conducted virtually via video conferencing software.

When will applicants be invited to the interviews?
Applicants who are selected for the application interviews will be notified by email in late April or early May. Non-shortlisted applicants are not contacted immediately, as a small number may still be reconsidered later in the process depending on interview outcomes.

When will applicants be notified about acceptance to the program?
All candidates will be notified the outcome of the application process by the end of May or early June.

How competitive is the application process?
The IMPRS-CBP program is highly competitive and receives many strong applications each year. In recent rounds, only a small proportion of applicants could be offered a position, reflecting the limited number of available PhD places and our focus on research fit and scientific potential.

How many PhD positions are offered each year?
There is no fixed number of PhD positions offered in each recruitment round. The total number of positions depends on the selection decisions of the recruiting faculty members and on the number of excellent applications received. Offers are made based on scientific quality, research fit, and available supervision capacity, rather than on a predetermined quota.

Are there any application fees?
There are no fees in the application to the IMPRS-CBP Ph.D. program.

Are there tuition fees or additional costs?
The is no tuition related to the IMPRS-CBP program. If you enroll at the university as a student, you will have to pay the semester fee of approx. 400 €. This fee includes a public transport ticket, discounts for the university canteen, and access to cultural, sports and leisure facilities. International students should also consider the costs for the Visa. Our program includes fully funded Ph.D. positions for all students admitted. The salary usually covers the regular monthly living expenses.

Is admission to the program associated with a scholarship?
Instead of a scholarship, all Ph.D. students admitted to our program will receive working contracts to pay their cost of living. In addition, International Max Planck Research Schools are internationally renowned and stand for first-class doctoral training of outstanding students. Like a scholarship, admission to an IMPRS program is a criterion of scientific excellence.

What is the salary?
All IMPRS-CBP Ph.D. students receive a working contract according to EG 13 TvÖD (65%). This contract results in a monthly net income of approx. 2000 €. Taxes, social insurance (e.g. pension and unemployment insurance), and health insurance that are obligatory in Germany are automatically deducted from your salary before it is transferred to your bank account. In some cases, relevant previous professional or research experience may be taken into account when determining the individual salary level within the TVöD framework. However, this is not guaranteed and depends on institutional regulations.

What are Lab Rotations?
Lab rotations are a distinctive feature of the IMPRS on Cellular Biophysics. These are three-week internships completed by students at the start of their program, offering them the chance to work in different research groups within the graduate school. Through these rotations, students gain hands-on experience with various methods and techniques, explore different research areas, and start building their professional network. After the cycle of rotations, both students and group leaders make informed decisions about where students will begin their Ph.D. work.

How do I know which research groups I should pick for my lab rotations in the application form?
You should choose the groups for your lab rotations based on your research interests. You will find information about our recuiting facultu members in our website (Recruiting Faculty). For more detailed information, please visit our faculty member’s homepages. When filling out our online application form, you will be asked to select four preferred labs for your rotations. We will do our best to accommodate your choices, though preferences cannot be guaranteed.

When and how will students be assigned to their final PhD labs after the lab rotations?
Final assignment of students to labs will occur after the end of the third lab rotation. Both students and faculty members can indicate their preferences, and all decisions are made by mutual agreement between student and the faculty.

When and where does the program start?
The program starts on September 16, with some alocated time for administrative tasks. We recommend, especially to our international students, to arrive at one week in advance in order to complete the necessary bureaucratic tasks, such as registering at the citizen’s office and opening a bank account. During the first four months of the IMPRS-CBP program, all PhD students are based at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt as part of the initial training and qualification phase. After this period, students move to their selected research group for their doctoral work, which may be located in Frankfurt or Mainz.

What can I expect during the first months after program start?
The qualifying training takes place in Frankfurt. You will start with a three-months introductory training, starting with a week of lectures held by our faculty members to give you an overview of the research topics in the IMPRS on Cellular Biophysics. During this time, we will host welcome events with our current Ph.D. students. During the following nine weeks, you will complete 3 three-week lab rotations in different labs until the end of November. In December, you will participate in different workshops to learn about important methods and techniques of biophysics. After the workshops, you will then start your doctoral research in your final working group.

Is accommodation available on Campus?
The Max Planck Institutes in Frankfurt and Mainz, as well as the Goethe University, offer guest houses for short-term accommodation on campus. Candidates can rent a room for up to three months, pending availability. To arrange this, please notify the Coordination Office as early as possible prior to arrival, so they can confirm availability and assist with booking. Priority may be given to international students, as securing housing from abroad can be challenging. Since guest houses are for short-term stays only, all students are ultimately expected to find their own apartments or shared flats. We will gladly offer resources on housing search platforms and other options.

Whom can I contact for questions regarding my visa?
Please contact our International Office for assistance with your questions regarding your Visa. Our International Officer will guide your through the process and help you prepare the documents needed.

Is there additional support for incoming students before arrival?
Yes. IMPRS-CBP offers a student buddy program in which current PhD students volunteer to support incoming students before and upon arrival in Frankfurt. Availability depends on the number of volunteer buddies, and priority is given to international students.

How is my research group defined?
The IMPRS-CBP program offers the opportunity to explore different research groups during the lab rotations, seeking to create strong matches between students and supervisors. While the vast majority of participants successfully transition into their PhD projects, please note that continuation in the second phase of the program is dependant upon finding a suitable match with a research group after the rotation phase. Our faculty and coordination office are committed to supporting students throughout this process to maximize the chances of finding the right fit.

Do I have to enroll at the university?
You have to register as a doctoral student at Goethe University Frankfurt or at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz as early as possible so that you are allowed to hand in your thesis and take your doctoral exam. Enrollment as a student at the Universities is not mandatory. Both universities, as most universities in Germany, charge no tuition fees, but students do have to pay administrative fees (Semesterbeitrag) of approx. 400 € per semester. This money goes towards subsidising student accommodation and canteens. It also entitles you to membership at the students’ union, a travel card for public transportation and access to university sports facilities.

In which courses do I have to participate?
To receive an IMPRS-CBP certificate with your Ph.D., students must complete the introductory training during the first weeks of their Ph.D., including lectures and practical training on technical and transferable skills, a training on good scientific practice and ethical research conduct, a training on how to keep a lab book, at least three soft/transferable skill courses (preferably one per year) and must participate in the regular IMPRS-CBP student seminars and annual retreats. Apart from these requirements, the relevant “Promotionsordnungen” (dotoral regulations) of the respective participating universities and their “Fachbereiche” (departments) specify the formal frame of the doctoral studies.

Can I select which workshops I want to attend during the introductory training?
We offer mandatory and optional workshops in parallel, from which you can build your own path.We encourage you to attend workshops on methods and techniques that you are not yet familiar with. The aim of the workshops is to learn about the capabilities and limitations of several techniques, to understand the theory behind them, and to gain some hands-on-experience, but not to become an expert. Since the number of participants is limited in most of the workshops, we will assign the slots on a first come-first served basis.

Do I need to collect credit points?
Our students do not need to collect credit points but must complete the above mentioned courses and trainings. If the relevant “Promotionsordnungen” (dotoral regulations) of the respective participating universities and their “Fachbereiche” (departments) specify the completion of course work specified by a certain number of credit points, these regulations have to be followed.

Does the program offer German lessons?
Language courses are offered at the Universities for our students. Likewise, basic German lessons are offered at the MPI of Biophysics and through the Goethe University Graduate Center.

What is a Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC)?
Each PhD student has an individual Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) that consists of four mentors. By providing regular feedback, the TAC ensures the progress of projects and supports our Ph.D. students in their professional growth and personal development. Through its interdisciplinarity and diversity, the TAC opens up different perspectives, fosters scientific discussion, offers great networking opportunities, and supports students in achieving ambitious career goals.