Achievements

Established in 2006, the Berlin School of Mind and Brain ...

• has positioned itself as an important center of cooperation between human, social and neurosciences, with great national and international impact,
• is – with its specific focus on mind and brain research – unique in the German scientific landscape,
• has supported, educated and trained a large number of successful doctoral candidates in the three-year structured doctoral program (since 2007) and the Master’s program “Mind and Brain” (M.A. / M.Sc. tracks) (since 2013),
• is proud to have 25 former doctoral candidates in university professorships or in group leader positions at German and international universities, and many more alumni in high-profile postdoctoral positions worldwide,
• is a founding member of the Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin (ECN), established in 2016,
• has enjoyed the support of an excellent group of faculty members. They are responsible for doctoral supervision, research and teaching and represent the areas of consciousness, decision-making, language, learning, social thinking and neuro-psychiatric diseases,
• is central to the close networking of university research (Humboldt-Universität, Freie Universität and Technische Universität Berlin as well as the universities of Potsdam, Magdeburg, Leipzig), clinical research (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin) and non-university research (Max Planck Institutes in Berlin and Leipzig; Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch) in the Berlin metropolitan area,
• was awarded in 2017 the first prize (summa cum laude) as “Einstein Doctoral Program” by the Einstein Foundation Berlin, in a competition of the best Berlin doctoral programs. With the Einstein Doctoral Program Award, the Einstein Foundation Berlin honors outstandingly successful structured doctoral programs at Berlin universities and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin,
• has been supporting the DFG Cluster of Excellence Science of Intelligence of Technische Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since 2018 in the establishment of a graduate school for the interdisciplinary training of doctoral candidates in the cluster (until 2025),
• has been given the responsibility to establish the DFG Research Training Group 2386 “Extrospection. External Access to Higher Cognitive Processes” (2018–2024),
• is one of the hosting institutions for doctoral candidates of the national Max Planck School of Cognition since 2018 (renewed for 2026–2032).

Doctoral Program Update 2026
The Berlin School of Mind and Brain currently still supports more than 60 doctoral candidates in its structured research, education, and training program. However, in order to be able to meet future challenges, the School is restructuring its doctoral program. The last cohort based on the current model was accepted in 2024, with start in October 2024. There will be no further Berlin School of Mind and Brain calls for doctoral applications based on the current model. The School will be making an announcement on these pages as soon as the restructuring process has been completed, but probably not before 2027.

Thank you for your interest in our program!