PhD Application

The Graduate College 'The Economics of Innovative Change' is an outstanding international research programme, hosted by the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany.

Since we have no own scholarships available, we support applicants who want to apply for a DAAD scholarship or similar. We unfortunately cannot accept students without external funding nor do we accept part-time students. 

The mission of the Graduate College is to provide an internationally competitive research training for young economists. The official language is English. Allowing for a broad concept of "innovation" we address a wide range of topics: industrial dynamics; entrepreneurship; innovation decisions and behaviour; competition, cooperation and strategic interaction in innovation; innovation in the development of consumption and consumer behaviour; human capital, skills and employment; innovation and regional development; innovation and economic dynamics of developing countries; energy, environment and innovation; innovation policy, and innovation management. The analytical approaches we pursue range from theoretical and empirical modeling, game theory, simulation analysis to experimental economics.

We search for candidates with excellent past performance in economics, business administration, or closely related fields. The candidates should have interest in pursuing research in at least one of the above-mentioned fields. They should have completed a Master's degree or equivalent (e.g. Diplom). The positions require a permanent and active participation in the study and the research programme of the College. Therefore all members are expected to choose Jena as their place of residence.

We are offering

• a lively international research and social environment hosting top-level researchers in economics and related fields,
• an office and access to all facilities and library resources of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena

To apply please send

• your CV,
• a letter of motivation (about one page) where you describe the expected benefits from participating in the programme,
• 10-page research proposal in a topic in innovation economics
• a copy of your BA, Diploma, MA, MSc, or comparable academic certificates, (originals are provided if admitted). For your final grades, please indicate the range of the grading system, the highest and the lowest possible grade.
• 2 letters of recommendation from academic teachers,
• a copy of your master thesis or equivalent.
• We do not require a formal English language certificate, we will assess language proficiency during the interview.

For questions regarding the application process, please contact Stefan Töpfer (stefan.toepfer@uni-jena.de).