Program Overview

Immunological and Cellular Strategies in Metabolic Disease (King's and Technische Universität Dresden) PhD

Key information

Award: PhD Study mode: Full time

Program Description

The IRTG 2251 is focused on the metabolic disease diabetes mellitus, including both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, with the aim to apply the most recent laboratory and clinical techniques to achieve results of the highest quality and relevance in both basic research and clinical application.

Program Structure

• The IRTG offers PhD and MD positions at TU Dresden and King's College London.
• The IRTG-ICSMD qualification programme for the PhD students is a three-year curriculum and can be extended maximally to 4 years.
• The PhD programme is embedded within the DIPP (Dresden International PhD Program), which combines two powerful partners dedicated to first-class doctoral training: the International Max-Planck Research School for Cell, Developmental and Systems Biology (IMPRS-CellDevoSys) and the Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering (DIGS-BB) established at the TUD.
• The IRTG-ICSMD qualification programme for the MD students is embedded in the curricular structured “Carus Promotionskolleg Dresden (CPKD)” of the Faculty of Medicine at the TUD and offers MD students an ambitious one-year training programme that ensures completing the methodical and experimental parts of their theses.

Application Procedure

1. Application Requirements
   • Graduates with Master’s degree in Life or Natural Sciences, Applied Mathematics or Engineering for the Dr. rer. nat./PhD track and medical students for the Dr. med./MD track, respectively.
   • MD applicants are demanded to hand in a motivation letter to the CPKD together with their resume and the certificate copy of the first section of the state examination.
2. Application Process
   • Applications for the PhD programme are solely accepted via the DIPP’s online application system.
   • Applicants are requested to complete the online application form including details about their resume, education, scientific research experience as well as preferred research groups, motivation, and supporting documents.
   • Two recommendation letters are needed to be provided directly by the referees.
   • PIs from both Dresden and London sites are involved in the student selection throughout.

Funding

• The IRTG2251 is funded by the “German Research Foundation” / Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG.
• First funding period: 01.04.2017 to 30.09.2021
• Second funding period: 01.10.2021 to 31.03.2026

Entry Requirements

• Graduates with Master’s degree in Life or Natural Sciences, Applied Mathematics or Engineering for the Dr. rer. nat./PhD track and medical students for the Dr. med./MD track, respectively.

Application Deadlines

• February 2025 entry – 20 October 2024 for Overseas fee status and 20 November 2024 for Home fee status
• June 2025 entry – 20 March 2025 for Overseas fee status and 11 April 2025 for Home fee status
• October 2025 entry – 25 July 2025 for Overseas fee status and 25 August 2025 for Home fee status
• February 2026 entry – 20 October 2025 for Overseas fee status and 20 November 2025 for Home fee status
• June 2026 entry – 20 March 2026 for Overseas fee status and 11 April 2026 for Home fee status

Joint PhDs - Application Advice

• Applicants for the Joint PhD programme must contact the relevant departments at both universities before submitting an application in order to discuss the suitability of their topic for the joint programme and to locate potential supervisors.
• Applications should initially be submitted to the proposed home institution only, i.e., where the student will start and finish their programme.
• Students should note that acceptance onto the programme may take slightly longer than for single-institution PhDs because of the additional steps involved.

Study Environment

• Please see the TU Dresden webpage for full details.