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Offered study programs

The Graduate School of Life Sciences offers three programs for students with different prior education. 

PhD program:

This is the very core program of the Graduate School. Students - typically with a MSc degree in the life sciences - join the lab of one of the over 200 principal investigators affiliated with the GSLS for their PhD research project. While the project leader is also the primary supervisor of the doctoral researcher, he/she is joined by two more principal investigators to form the personal thesis committee to guide the doctoral researcher toward graduation. Doctoral researchers benefit from an extensive transferable skill program, travel funding and administrative support from the GSLS team from the day of admission to the day they hold their graduation certificate. The typical duration of a PhD project is 3-4 years with a first author publication of original research in an international peer reviewed journal being a requirement for graduation.

If you want to join us for the PhD program, please see our Admission Requirements.

MD program:

Since March 2013 the GSLS also offers structured training for medical students to achieve their MD degree through active research. Medical students looking for this chance to become involved in clinical research are required to have a MD fellowship from the Faculty of Medicine or the GSLS and have completed the first pre-clinical examination. MD students have full access to our transferable skills workshop program and are eligible for travel funding from the GSLS. The full time research commitment for this program is at least 9 months with a (co-)authorship being a requirement for successful graduation.

Medical students interested can find detailed admission information here.

International MSc program FOKUS Life Sciences:

The faculty of Biology in collaboration with the GSLS offers a fast track master program to enable excellent students with a bachelor degree to enter the PhD phase after just one year. Students are offered a special lecture program preparing them for independent scientific research. All lectures of this program are held in English. Successful fast track students will complete their master thesis in the second semester and can transition immediately into their PhD research, which earning the remaining credit points required for the master degree through electives during their PhD phase. 

Interested students will find more information on the FOKUS Life Sciences Homepage.