Application

Forms

• Application form
• Reference request form

Application guidelines

Important notes

Please apply to this graduate program only if you find research projects that are of interest to you.

Applications can only be submitted via our online system. The system is available during the above mentioned application period only. The deadline for applications is 1 May 2026.
"Applications submitted after May 1 cannot be considered!"

References should be uploaded by 5 May 2026. Additions/corrections (see below) can be submitted until late September.

Please refrain from contacting our Faculty Members and PhD students by e-mail or phone! During the last application periods some of them have received an extremely high number of messages and calls which is a real burden. Please send an e-mail to cim-imprs  instead. If you have questions or encounter problems with the application procedure please don't hesitate to contact the coordinator, Prof. Martin Wild, by e-mail to cim-imprs. Due to the high number of e-mails we usually receive we can only answer those questions that are not addressed in the information given below!

Requirements

Applicants must hold a Master's degree (or equivalent) in life or natural sciences (e.g. biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, physics, chemistry, pharmacy or related fields), in mathematics or computer sciences. Applicants with a state examination in pharmacy can only be admitted to work on pharmaceutical/chemical projects. Please check if such projects are available this year (see "list of groups that can be chosen" further down). Students with a *medical or veterinary degree cannot *be admitted.

Applications are also welcome if the required degree has not yet been awarded by the time of application. However, it has to be awarded before positions commence in October.

APS certificate (only required if you have studied in India, Vietnam or the People's Republic of China):

Applicants who have studied in one of these countries and get selected for a PhD position will have to submit an APS certificate to the University of Münster. These applicants cannot do their PhD in Münster without the APS certificate! APS certificates can be obtained from the German embassy of the country where they have studied. Applicants who get selected for a PhD and need an APS certificate should apply for the certificate immediately after having been selected! More information on APS certificates can be found here:

People's Republic of China

India

Vietnam

English proficiency:
Applicants who are not native English speakers should demonstrate an adequate competence of the English language by one of the following options: 1) acceptable results in an internationally recognized test (e.g. TOEFL, IELTS) OR 2) proven higher education in English OR 3) reasonably long stay in an English speaking country OR 4) simply demonstrating your English language abilities during presentations and interviews. Please note: Although an English proficiency test (TOEFL, IELTS) is not required it is very important that you CAN communicate well enough in spoken and written English. Knowledge of the German language is not required.

Students from Münster are also welcome to apply. Please note: Students who are already working in a group of a CiM-IMPRS member (see list of members on this page under "Research and Groups") are eligible for a position only, if they will join a different CiM-IMPRS group for their PhD. If you have questions concerning this rule please contact us by e-mail cim-imprs.

The University of Münster and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine are equal opportunity employers and are committed to increasing the proportion of female academics. Consequently, we actively encourage applications by women. Female candidates with equivalent qualifications and academic achievements will be preferentially considered within the framework of the legal possibilities. We are also committed to employing more staff with disabilities. Candidates with recognised severe disabilities who have equivalent qualifications are given preference in hiring decisions.

Application Procedure

Overview

1. Write your application in English language (application form, short curriculum vitae (CV), transcripts and certificates). In your online application you name 1-3 potential CiM-IMPRS groups in which you would like to work.
2.  Identify and inform 2 academic teachers/supervisors who can send reference letters (also see 5).
3.  Submit your application (online). You will receive a confirmation e-mail.
4. Wait until you receive an information e-mail several days later. Please Note: Do not ask your referees to send us reference letters before you have received the information e-mail!
5.  Ask the 2 referees to submit reference letters in the way described in the information e-mail (also read the details below).
6.  Interviews: Online interviews: obligatory, 3.5 days.

Application procedure in detail

Note:

All submitted transcripts and certificates must be in English or German. Certified copies of documents are not mandatory at the time of submission. However, all relevant documents have to get certified upon acceptance to the program.

Your application will consist of 1 pdf file only. The file will include the application form, the curriculum vitae (CV), transcripts, record of study and certificates. Please do not send zip-files. Further down you find information on how to create and combine pdf files.

AI may NOT be used to generate this application.

We are unable to consider applications that are incomplete or do not fulfil the formal criteria described above.

Details for your written application:

1. Read the information given on our program on the CiM-IMPRS website. Identify between 1 and 3 CiM-IMPRS groups in which you would like to do your PhD. To this end please consult the description of projects and the group links. You will have to name the heads of these 1-3 groups in your online application. If you get invited to the interview symposium, you will have interviews with theses group leaders.
   Do not apply to this program if there is no group you are really interested in!
   
   ONLY these groups CAN be chosen this year: 

   Adams
   Benedito
   Bischoff
   Bornhorst-Ohmstede
   Galic
   Grashoff
   Grosswendt
   Lämmermann
   Luschnig
   Miroshnikova
   Pitulescu
   Rambold
   Schelhaas
   Wickström

   Groups that do not accept students via this program in 2026 are marked with "No positions via CiM-IMPRS in 2026".
2. Download the CiM-IMPRS application form and complete it offline. Convert it into a pdf-file (information on conversion into pdf see below).
3. Write a short, one-page curriculum vitae, convert it into a pdf-file. Some information on your CV will be identical to that in the application form. Don't worry.
4. Collect your official transcripts or records of study which should document your academic work in detail (list of courses attended; grades and credit points, if applicable) and your certificates. Important: Please start with your Master certificate, followed by Master transcripts/records of study followed by the Bachelor certificate and the bachelor transcripts/records of study.
   Certificates should include the relevant university examinations (e.g. Master's and Bachelor's degree). You can submit provisional certificates and include final certificates later, when they become available, as an addition to your application (see 11). If available, please also include your final certificate of secondary school education which gives the right of admission to higher eduction (e.g. Abitur, Matura, or equivalent). The certificate should show individual grades. Include an explanation of the grading system (not required for Abitur from Germany). If schools in your country don't issue such certificates, don't worry. It will have no consequences on your application. If you have a certificate for an English language test (e.g.TOEFL, IELTS), please add it here. If you don't have one, don't worry. It is not mandatory!
5. The application form, the CV and all these transcripts/records of study/certificates have to be submitted as a single pdf-file. You may scan the documents, convert each of them into a pdf-file and, finally, combine them into one file. Please avoid pages, where all wording is vertical (we inspect applications on the monitor!).
6. Identify two academic teachers/supervisors who can send reference letters for your application. If possible, one of them should be your MSc research project supervisor. You will be asked to submit their e-mail addresses electronically with your application. If you cannot identify 2 referees: Applications with 1 or no referee are absolutely OK but give us less guidance in evaluating applications. We may contact the referees directly, if we need more information.
7. Submit your application online. ONLINE SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS (open from 2 March to 1 May 2026)
   "Please note: Applications submitted after May 1st will not be considered although the link for applications might still be open!"
   You will be asked to transfer basic data from your application form into the webpage (copy-paste), to name your referees (incl. e-mail addresses) and to name 1-3 CiM-IMPRS groups of interest.
8. Upload your application file and submit the application. You can interrupt entering your data by clicking on “Pause” at the bottom of the application webpage.
9. You will receive an a) automatic confirmation of your application within 6 hours and b) an information E-mail several days later with all details for the remaining process.
10. As soon as you have received the information E-mail, please forward it to your referees. The information e-mail will tell them how to submit their references. Please Note: Do not ask your referees to send us reference letters before you have received the information e-mail! Make sure that we receive their references by 5 May 2026! Our faculty members will start evaluating the applications on the next day. Hence, we cannot guarantee that references submitted later than 5 May 2026 are seen by the evaluators.
11. If you have additions (e.g. a final Master certificate) or important corrections (e.g. a new address) you can submit them by the end of September in the way described in the information E-mail.

Links:

• Application form
• Reference request form
• ONLINE SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS (open from 2 March to 1 May 2026)
  "Please note: Applications submitted after May 1st will not be considered although the link for applications might still be open!"

Checklist for your application

1. Completed CiM-IMPRS Application Form

2. Curriculum vitae (1 page)

3. Master and Bachelor certificates, transcripts/records of study. Don't forget: Start this part with your Master certificate/documents.

4. Certificates of secondary school education (only if available), English language test (only if available).

5. Combine parts 1-4 into one pdf file.

6. Names and e-mail addresses of two academic teachers who can send reference letters

7. Names of 1-3 CiM-IMPRS groups in which you would like to do your PhD. Make sure that you do not choose groups that do not take students this year (see above).

8. Make sure that you have time for a Skype interview with us in case we ask you for it.

Selection procedure and conditions of positions

1. The CiM-IMPRS faculty will select applicants for mandatory interviews (3.5 days, online). You will be informed about the decision no later than the date given above in the application schedule (selection for interviews).
2. Interview Symposium: The symposium consists of interviews (including a short presentation of your Master/Diploma thesis), meetings with potential supervisors and online visits of groups/labs. On the last day of the symposium you will be asked to give a final updated list of up to three preferred groups/supervisors sorted by your priority.
3. A final decision on acceptance to the program will be made a few days after the interviews. You will be informed about our decision by e-mail by July 3rd, 2026.
4. Successful applicants start their PhD projects on October 1st. If you wish, you can also start earlier. However, if you need a visa or APS certificate, please note that this may take several months. A start in November 2026 is acceptable. 
5. Students will receive a work contract with an annual gross pay of 37.510 € (positions in the departments of chemistry/pharmacy are endowed with 28.854 €). The exact amount depends on the type of work contract offered by the individual work groups. There are no tuition fees, but PhD students have to register with the university with a contribution of ca. 60 € / month for which they receive a ticket for free public transport in Germany (!) and the opportunity to apply for cheap student dormitories.

How to create and combine pdf files

Here are some suggestions on how to create and combine pdf files.

A) PC users:
You can download a free version of PDF Creator, e.g. at

• pdfforge.org

There, a manual can be found under “Support“–“User Guide“ describing how to create a pdf and how to combine documents

Other free programs may also be available.

B) Mac users:
i) On most Apple computers you should be able to create a pdf using the print command, choose “pdf”, and save the file.

Many Apple computers also have the option to combine pdf files: 

ii) using Preview

Type “How to combine PDF documents using Preview” into a search machine and you will find several pages showing how to do that.

iii) using Automator (scripting program installed on many Mac computers, works with all MacOS versions starting with MacOS 10.4). This is how to use it to combine pdf files:

Select the documents that you want to combine in the Finder.
Open Automator from Applications or Programs.
Choose Create workflow.
Add these 3 steps to your Untitled Workflow:

1. Finder: Get Selected Finder Items (Get Selected Files and Folders)
2. PDF: Combine PDF pages (choose Appending pages)
3. Finder: Open Finder Items (Open Selected Files and Folders)

This will combine everything, then open up a Preview document with all the PDF pages laid out in one document which you can finally save. You can also save the workflow if you do this on a regular basis.