Contact

Email: summer@hzdr.de

Application

Am I an eligible candidate for the Summer Student Program?

If you are interested in applying for the summer students program, please check that you fulfill the following requirements:

  • You are a student of natural sciences, life sciences, medicine, technology and related areas.
  • You can prove a good academic performance through your grades and a letter of recommendation written by a professor or scientist from your university who knows you and your work and is in the position to evaluate it.
  • You have good knowledge of the English language in order to take part in all activities of the program.
  • You are an enrolled senior university student (specification below and in the FAQ).
  • PhD students are not eligible for the program.
  • Students who had a contract/stipend at HZDR one year before first of July of the targeted year are not eligible for the summer student program.

How to apply for the Summer Student Program?

Fill out the application form.

1. Your CV

  • Enter the required information about yourself.
  • Tell us,
    • if you will remain enrolled at the university from July to September 2025 or maintain your student status. Note that we also will accept applications from students who receive their bachelor's or master's degree before the program starts, but only in case they are enrolled as students at their university at least till 30 september 2025. If you are not enrolled at an university (e.g., you are holding a bachelor's degree and you are looking for a master's studies course) you are not eligible for the program,
    • if you will have completed at least three years of your total university studies (including bachelor). Note that we will accept applications from students who started their studies latest in october 2022, but not from the ones who started later,
    • if you already hold or will receive your Bachelor’s degree before July 1, 2025 (Bachelor's degree is not required, this only serves as an information),
    • your most recent semester grade in 0-4 grade point average (gpa) system. For easy calculation, please divide your local semester grade (e.g. "8") by the maximum grade available (e.g. "10") and multiply the result by 4 (e.g. "3.2"). For the German grading system "1" refers to "4" in the GPA scale and "4" refers to "1". So if you have a German recent semester grade of 1.7, the GPA is 3.3. In case you are 1st semester master's student, please provide your bachelor grade. These grade values only serve as orientation for the evaluation. Note that we will check all your grades submitted.
  • Enter the starting and expected end date of your current University studies, the field of study, the University name and address and the name of the recommending group leader/Professor. Note that a recent recommendation letter is required.

2. Time period

  • Specify the period of time you are available. We expect you to stay for at least 6 weeks and 9 weeks at most. Your presence during the lecture period from calendar week 31 to 35 is obligatory (core time). We will not make any exception.

3. Choice of topic

  • Rank the proposed research fields according to your priorities. You can also exclude fields, but be aware that the more fields you exclude, the lower your chances of being accepted. Links to the topics can be found in the form.

4. Kind of work

  • Select the kind of work you would prefer to do (both experimental and theoretical usually include programming).

5. Specification of your education, field of studies, research interest

Please give us specific information about your education and field of studies. What is special about your academic profile? Please specify your research interests. Important: This field is optional, but we encourage you to fill it out. We will have more valuable information during the selection process.

6. Travel expenses

  • Confirm that you will cover your travel expenses to and from Dresden yourself.

Next page: Upload documents. No further changes in the form are possible after this step.

  • Prepare your documents beforehand. Please provide all documents in English or with english translation.
  • Press "Save" to enter the new page, where you should upload your documents.
  • Upload a Curriculum Vitae in English (pdf).
  • Upload a copy of your academic grades/records in English or with english translation (pdf).
  • Upload a copy of your student ID or a certificate which proofs your enrollment at an university.
  • Upload a further document, if needed.
  • Only after pressing the "Finish" button, you will receive a link where a professor or senior scientist from your university can upload a letter of recommendation. Please make sure, that we receive the letter before the application deadline. In the ideal case, the recommendation letter content adresses your application at HZDR directly. Old recommendations letters we will not accept. Without the letter of recommendation we will not consider your application. You will also receive a link for uploading other versions of your documents before the application deadline.
  • NOTE: You will not receive a confirmation email of your submission, since you can modify it till end of the deadline.

The application period starts 20 November 2024 and ends on 23 February 2025. Acceptance or rejection notifications will be sent by email once the selection has been made (by end of April 2025).

More important dates can be found here.

Please also check the FAQs.