PhD Student

We are looking for highly qualified and motivated researchers as new members for our group.

We suggest the following topics for PhD projects:

• Software Architecture Evolution
• Architectural Quality
• Integration of Reengineering and Software Evolution
• Software System Design Methods
• Model-based Software Engineering

Are you interested in joining our group for a PhD project?

Then you are invited to apply with the following set of documents:

• letter of interest, stating why you are interested in PhD on a topic and why you think you are the right person for this project (1 page)
• short CV with a special emphasis on aspects related to the intended PhD/PostDoc project (1 .. 2 pages). EuroPass provides a template for a tabular CV as it is expected in Germany.
• the documents and transcripts about your university degree(s)
• list of your publications (if applicable)
• research proposal (exposé) giving an brief overview over the field and over the open issues in this field which you consider as potential subjects for your PhD/PostDoc project, including a rough schedule for your intended research (2 .. 3 pages)
• statement about the intended source of funding

Please notice that we receive a rather high number of applications. To be successful, you should prepare the documents carefully and submit them completely. In the case of any open question, please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Riebisch via email.

Admission process:

There is no firm deadline for a PhD application. The admission process starts after acceptance of your application. The process is rather simple, we will assist you. The forms for the admission are available from the Department websites.

PhD research - teaching - supervision - continuous support of your research:

A PhD in our group is elaborated in a research-oriented way, with a continuous supervision by the professor and typically only two or three courses (the so-called apprenticeship-oriented way of doing a PhD). In our group, there is the general strategy of giving a continuous support for your research, which aims at a high efficiency of your thesis project. Furthermore, this results in a high success rate of the PhD projects in our group.

Financial aspects:

There is no tuition fee for a PhD at our university (however currently a management fee, to be abandoned). In some cases there are research projects offering the opportunity to work on a position as a research assistant, or options for scholarships, depending on the excellence of the candidate.

Deadlines for scholarship applications:

There are some options for scholarships (able to cover your living expenses) with different deadlines: A scholarship from our university has application deadlines in April and October. Another scholarship from the German state expects a complete application by October. Please consider for each case, that the preparation of the application documents has to include a research proposal and a workplan, which have to be developed together by student and advisor. Two months should be planned for this work.

Language aspects

We are an international team, and German language skills are not required at the start. However, you should have excellent English language skills.

External or part-time PhD project?

I cannot encourage anyone towards an externally performed PhD project because of the manifold risks and drawbacks of such a project, such as

• much higher probability of cancellation due to missing encouragement by a group
• much longer time to finalization due to part-time work
• much less chances for cooperation with colleagues with neighbouring topics
• missing chances for discussions with group members
• missing feedback of results and skills to the group

Furthermore, the acquisition of the necessary skills of the PhD student demands for a much higher effort by the advisor to assure success. I’m truly convinced that a PhD project as a member of a research team constitutes the better way of doing a PhD. Even in this case, a PhD project is highly demanding.