The Graduate School of Geoinformatics is offering PhD scholarships for the research area of human wayfinding and spatial orientation in immersive 3D environments. The scholarships are offered for 36 months, subject to a positive progress evaluation after one year. The deadline for application is 25 June 2026. 

View the full call for applications

Graduate School for Geoinformatics

The Graduate School for Geoinformatics offers a structured doctoral programme encompassing a variety of allied disciplines according to the following aims:

1. to create an international centre of excellence for geoinformatic research
2. to foster innovation through a highly interdisciplinary research environment with strong industry connections;
3. to produce outstanding doctoral graduates who will be well positioned to compete internationally for strategic and leadership positions in industry, government, and academia.

The Graduate School for Geoinformatics has typically no open positions or scholarship opportunities. Applicants will be expected to apply for their own scholarships or supporting research positions (see Funding Opportunities)

• The „open call“ is an ongoing opportunity (without deadline) to directly apply to a supervisor for a principal admission to the Graduate School.
• In the (rare) case of available funding opportunities, we will announce a call for application at this website.

Reflecting the Graduate School’s interdisciplinary aims, applicants for doctoral positions may have educational or professional backgrounds in such fields as geoinformatics, computer science, geography, ecology, mathematics, or information systems.

Research program

The research programme of the Institute for Geoinformatics has particular strengths in semantic interoperability, spatio-temporal modeling, geosimulation modeling, spatial intelligence, and situated computing. These reflect the research interests and supervisory abilities of the Institute’s professorial staff of:

• Prof. Dr. Edzer Pebesma - Spatio-temporal Modelling Lab
• Prof. Dr. Angela Schwering - Spatial Intelligence Lab
• Prof. Dr. Christian Kray - Situated Computing Lab
• Prof. Dr. Benjamin Risse - Computer Vision and Machine Learning Systems Group
• Jun.-Prof. Dr. Jakub Krukar -  Spatial and Architectural Cognition Lab

Co-supervision with staff beyond the Institute is also welcomed, particularly in order to extend and link these core competencies to other disciplines and institutional settings.