HZDR Summer Student Program 2025 in Germany

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About HZDR Summer Student Program

This program allows students to work on cutting-edge research in physical and life sciences, focusing on fundamental research or technology development. As integral members of research groups, students will engage in hands-on activities such as lab work, data analysis, scientific computing, and theoretical science. It’s an excellent opportunity to gain insight into daily scientific life.

The program is in English, and applicants are expected to be fluent in spoken and written English. The minimum stay is six weeks, and the maximum is nine weeks. The recommended duration is eight weeks. Students should be present during the entire lecture period (calendar weeks 31 to 35).

Participants are selected based on their academic records, the quality of their resume, and a recommendation letter from a professor or scientist who can assess their performance and achievements.

• School: Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR)

Benefits of HZDR Summer Student Program

• HZDR summer students will receive free accommodation as well as a stipend to cover additional costs.

HZDR Summer Student Program Requirements

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

• You are a university student of natural sciences (physical or life sciences), engineering or related studies.
• You must have a valid university enrollmentcovering the whole period of the program from July till September 2025.
• You must have finished at least 3 years of total university studies before the upcoming summer (Bachelor degree or official confirmation required).
• 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.
• Applicants already holding a master's degree but not being student of a different course as well as PhD students are not eligible for the program.
• Students who had a contract/stipend at HZDRone year before first of July of the targeted year are not eligible for the summer student program.
• If you are not enrolled at a university (e.g., you are holding a bachelor's degree and you are only planning a master's studies course) you are not eligible for the summer student program.

Please also check the FAQs.

Application Date and Process

Fill out the application form.

1. Your CV

• Enter the required information about yourself.
• Tell us,
  • if you will be enrolled as a university student during the HZDR summer student program from July till September 2025 (mandatory),
  • if you will have completed at least three years of your university studies by July 1, 2025 (mandatory),
  • if you will receive your Bachelor’s degree by July 1, 2025,
  • 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. These values only serve as orientation for the evaluation. Note that we will check all your grades submitted.
• Enter the starting year 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 recommendation letter from this person 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.

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 research interest (optional)

Only fill this field, if you have special research interests. We can not guarantee, that you will work in the field.

6. Travel expenses

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

Next page: Upload documents

• 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 (image file).
• 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. 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.

The application period starts 20 November 2024and 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 dates that are important can be found here.

Application Deadline

23 February, 2025

Scholarship Application Portal

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