PhD Program

Academic education and career promotion are of crucial importance to the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). As a non-university research institute of the Leibniz Association, PRIF is committed to shaping the working and educational conditions of doctoral students in the best possible way in order to open up promising career prospects for them both within and outside the academic world. This includes the intensive - individual and collective - supervision of dissertation projects as well as early involvement in research, public relations and policy advice at PRIF. In addition, the institute promotes the national and international networking and visibility of its doctoral students, the training of methodological and key competences as well as measures to improve equal opportunities and the compatibility of family and career.

The doctoral programme is entirely dedicated to the Leibniz motto “theoria cum praxi”. It offers doctoral students a holistic education that enhances competences in scientific, science-related and practical areas.

As a rule, our doctoral students are employed as research associates in projects at the institute. The doctoral program is guided by the doctoral guidelines of PRIF. Accordingly, PRIF stipulates a dissertation period of four years, in which the doctoral candidates are initially employed for three years as academic staff (at least 50% TV-H 13). The prerequisite for acceptance as a doctoral student at PRIF is a positive assessment of a dissertation exposé. PRIF emphasizes the early involvement of doctoral students in the institute's research work, while maintaining the balance between active and independent participation in research projects and freedom for their own academic work. A supervision agreement regulates the rights and duties of doctoral candidates.

At the center of the comprehensive doctoral supervision at PRIF is the monthly doctoral colloquium, in which all doctoral students and their supervisors participate. At the beginning of their training, doctoral students are taught core competencies in methods/research designs and in the area of knowledge transfer. In addition, a large number of additional individual training and advanced training opportunities are offered and regular thematic workshops are held. The doctoral program cooperates with similar doctoral programs at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (IGP Cluster, GRASOC, FB 03) in order to be able to offer even more and better training opportunities. Once a year, the doctoral programme holds a networking retreat where doctoral students work together on cross-sectional issues.

Doctoral students are integrated into all decision-making structures of PRIF. They are voting members of the PRIF Research Council and elect two speakers (currently: Jonas Schaaf and Laura Camila Barrios Sabogal) to represent their concerns. In addition, a post-doc representative (currently: Dr. Irene Weipert-Fenner) is, in close cooperation with the Executive Board, responsible for all questions of education and career development at PRIF.

Applicants should have an above-average qualification and develop a dissertation project in their exposé that is thematically related to the PRIF research program.

Please click here for information on current vacancies.