The Berlin International Graduate School of Natural Sciences and Engineering (BIG-NSE) was founded in 2007 as a doctoral programme of the DFG-financed Cluster of Excellence UniCat. Since January 2019 it has become part or the Einstein Center of Catalysis (EC2) funded by the Einstein Foundation Berlin. EC2/BIG-NSE continues working intensively with the follow-up Cluster of Excellence of UniCat, called UniSysCat, which is a project run jointly by Technische Universität, Humboldt-Universität and Freie Universität Berlin together with the Potsdam-Universität , the Fritz-Haber-Institut, the Max-Planck- Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung, the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Helmoltz-Zentrum Berlin and the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie. Its faculty consists of internationally renowned researchers from about 60 research groups at nine participating institutions who are active in more than a dozen catalysis-related research fields.

EC2/BIG-NSE offers an attractive, structured program, allowing doctoral candidates to complete their degrees under excellent conditions within three years. The academic program always begins in October and the deadline for EC2/BIG-NSE scholarship applications is usually mid-January of the respective year.

The main entry requirement is a Master’s degree in chemistry, biology, physics or engineering. Candidates admitted first pass through a three-month-long "initial phase" during which they attend lectures and soft skills courses (e.g. presentations, project management), while working together on their respective research proposals as a roadmap for their future work. In a final workshop, each doctoral candidate presents his project to the UniSysCat Cluster faculty. Subsequently, candidates join their research groups for their individual research projects. After one year, the EC2/BIG-NSE scholarship transforms into a two-year-long 2/3 TVL-E13 position. Annual reports and frequent meetings with the Advisory Committee provide feedback for the successful progress of the PhD work.

programme Prof. Dr. Maria Andrea Mroginski Dr. Jean-Philippe Lonjaret

catalysis-related research, natural sciences, engineering