PhD Program
ISTA has one intake to its PhD program per year. The application portal is typically available from the second half of October onwards.
The application portal for the 2026 intake of PhD students is now OPEN.
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Deadline for applicants: January 8, 2026 (3:00 PM CET)
Deadline for referees: January 11, 2026 (11:59 PM CET)
Program start: 15 September 2026
Learn more on what the PhD program at ISTA has to offer here, for more details on the curricular set up consult this page.
You can find more information about the application process on our application page and in the FAQs.
If you have further questions that are NOT answered in the resources above feel free to contact us.
ISTernship – ISTA Summer Fellowship
Applications for the 2025 intake are now closed. The final deadline for applications was February 5, 2025, at 15:00 CET. Application results will be communicated to all applicants via email by March 31, 2025.
Current students and recent graduates with bachelor’s or master’s degrees (or equivalent) from all disciplines of the natural sciences, mathematics, computer sciences, physics, chemistry, and any related interdisciplinary areas are eligible to apply. Applicants must have completed at least the second year or fourth semester of their bachelor’s studies before the respective start date. Applicants who graduated within a year from the program start date are also eligible to apply.
All short-term mobility programs between ISTA and Russia have been suspended. As a result, any applicants currently enrolled in universities located in Russia are ineligible to apply for the ISTernship call.
Before applying, please visit our ISTernship Fellowship page for more information. Please also review the FAQ page.
If you have any questions about the ISTernship Fellowship that are not answered by the FAQs, please contact us.
Scientific internships and research projects
Students who are either pursuing or have obtained a Bachelor’s or a Master’s degree in the natural or computer sciences, mathematics or any related discipline are eligible to apply for a scientific intern position at ISTA.
Students who are enrolled in a Bachelor’s or a Master’s degree program which requires the completion of a research project or internship as a part of the curriculum can also apply for an intern position at ISTA.
You should review the list of research groups to identify the topic that can be a good fit to your intended research projects. You should then contact the respective group leader directly.