Facts about the School

1 What do ‘mind’ or ‘brain’ in training and research stand for?
Mind: humanities and behavioral sciences such as philosophy, linguistics, behavioral and cognitive psychology, neuroeconomics.
Brain: neurosciences such as: neurophysiology, medicine (esp. neurology and psychiatry), computational neuroscience, neurobiology.

2 The Berlin School of Mind and Brain is an international Graduate Research School. It offers a three-year doctoral degree program in English (curriculum).

3 The School was established in 2006 and receives its funding through Germany’s Excellence Initiative.

4 The focus of research at the School is on the interface between the humanities and behavioral sciences with the neurosciences. Main topics of research are: ‘conscious and unconscious perception’, ‘decision-making’, ‘language’, ‘brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny’, and ‘mental disorders and brain dysfunction’, and ‘philosophy’ (philosophy of mind, ethics). 

5 The training program covers all fields relevant to mind/brain-related research. Students engage in eight teaching weeks which lay the foundations for interdisciplinary work. They are held during the first half of the doctoral program.

6 Through funding awarded by the Excellence Initiative the School was able to fund and attach several new teaching and research posts to the School: a full professorship in philosophy of mind, an adjunct professorship in lifespan ontogeny, an adjunct professorship in decison making, a junior professorship and an assistant professorship in medical psychology, two assistant professorships in philosophy of mind, and international visiting scholars.

7 Each year the school accepts 10 to 15 doctoral students into its program. Currently the school has 32 student members and 58 faculty members.

8 Students will be supervised by two professors, one from the ‘mind sciences’ and one from the ‘brain sciences’.

9 There are no tuition fees for this program! Administrative fees come to approx. 240 Euro per semester (including a public transport travel pass). Students will have pay for their own health insurance and personal liabilty insurance.

10 Each year the School can offer a number of scholarships to the best applicants. These scholarships are highly competetive. Students who were not successful in winning one of the School’s own scholarships will receive support in obtaining an alternative source of funding (e.g. a research post within a university department or with one of the research groups, or an alternative scholarship).

11 Students will be offered scientific soft-skill courses (e.g. scientific writing, grant-application writing, high-performance presentation), mentoring, and career counseling. Students are obliged to take part in journal and methods clubs and to attend the School’s weekly lecture series.

12 The School is a founding member of Humboldt Graduate School (HGS). HGS is an umbrella support organization to a select number of doctoral programs wihthin Humboldt-Universität. Together with the School’s administration, HGS offers services to doctoral candidates including assistance with visa applications, matriculation, health insurance, local authorities, scientific soft-skill courses, and language classes.

You will find photographs of the splendid HGS building around this website. It was originally erected in 1841 for the Royal School of Veterinary Medicine. Since January 2009, the second floor of the building’s North Wing is home to the Berlin School of Mind and Brain.

13 The School closely collaborates with seven neuroscience schools in Berlin (Neuroscience Berlin), especially with the two Ph.D. programs Medical Neurosciences and Computational Neuroscience. It is a member of Neuroschools Germany and of the Network of European Neuroscience Schools (NENS).

14 General information

• Mind and Brain flier (general information) (pdf 110 kb)
• Mind and Brain application poster 2011 (pdf 176 kb)
• Women’s Travel Award poster (197 kb)
• Neuroscience Berlin poster (pdf 1,300 kb)

The brochure Die Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in der Exzellenzinitiative contains a chapter on Berlin School of Mind and Brain, pp. 30–33 (in German) (pdf 49 kb). More downloads and press reviews under Press.

15 The School runs a mailing list to advertise lectures, seminars, and job opportunities. Subscribe by sending a blank e-mail to: mind.brain.verteiler-subscribe-please remove this text-@lists.hu-berlin.de