Admission
PhD positions
Once per year BIFOLD seeks 10 PhD students (fully-funded, TV-L E13 Berliner Hochschulen) to join the Graduate School in October.
The next call for applications is scheduled for winter 2024/25, positions will start in October 2025. All information will be posted here.
We look for early stage researchers who want to earn a PhD in the areas of current challenges in artificial intelligence (AI) and data science (DS), with focus on data management (DM), machine learning (ML), and their intersection.
Requirements
To be accepted as a doctoral student, you must have successfully completed a Masters or Diploma or equivalent degree in computer science (e.g., theoretical computer science, methodological-practical computer science, or technical computer science) or a closely related field of study with a focus on at least one BIFOLD core area (e.g., analytics, statistics, ML, DM systems and information management, data science, distributed systems, programming languages and compiler technology, high-performance computing) or acquire it before the program starts in October.
In exceptional cases we may accept students with an excellent Bachelor degree (1st class honours). Additional requirements will be defined on a case-by-case basis.
How to apply
Please read all information and the details below carefully before you apply.
Interested candidates should send their complete application documents in English (one Pdf file, max. 5 MB) via email to gsapplication@bifold.tu-berlin.de.
Note that we can only consider applications that are complete.
Please submit the following documents as one Pdf file:
- Completed application form (download here)
- Letter of motivation (1-2 pages)
- explain why you want to earn a PhD within the BIFOLD Graduate School
- include a research statement describing past research projects and interests as well as the future direction of your research
- Complete and up-to-date curriculum vitae, including educational background, work experience, full citations of any publications you may have, details of received awards
- Academic degree certificates and transcripts
- Bachelor’s and Master’s degree certificates.
- Bachelor’s and Master’s transcripts; if you have not yet completed your Master studies, please submit a preliminary transcript, if possible.
- Two letters of recommendation (to be sent DIRECTLY by your referees to the following email address: gsapplication@bifold.tu-berlin.de).
Recommendation letters sent by the applicant her/himself will not be considered!- Please ask your potential referees if they are willing to provide a recommendation for you before you add their personal contact details to your application.
- Please arrange that your referees send their reference letters to the above email address.
- If you plan to submit your application close to the deadline, make sure your referees are informed beforehand and are ready to submit the letter in time.
- Please note that it is your responsibility to make sure that we have received the reference letters by the closing date of the call.
All submitted documents and certificates must be in English or German. If they are not in either language, please submit a copy of the original document and a translation into English.
After your application you will receive a confirmation by email, that we have received your application.
Selection procedure
The BIFOLD Graduate School admission committee will review and evaluate all applications after the application deadline. Incomplete applications will be discarded. The remaining applications are pre-screened by selected reviewers of the BIFOLD faculty based on academic qualifications, your motivation letter, your research experience and interests, and letters of recommendation. If your application is positively evaluated, it will be passed on to the participating BIFOLD GS advisors for further review. The top candidates will be shortlisted, and selected applicants will be notified by email and invited to give a short oral presentation about their previous scientific work and answer questions from the audience. They will also attend an interview. The final decision will be made and communicated as soon as possible afterward.