The CEPLAS Graduate School invites talented and motivated students from all nationalities to apply for a structured four-to-five-year doctoral program covering the fields of plant molecular biology and computational science (plant genetics, plant biochemistry and physiology, plant-microbe interactions as well as synthetic, quantitative and computational biology).

Application requirements

• Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences or a subject related to biological sciences (e.g. cell or molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, computational biology/bioinformatics, quantitative or synthetic biology). A completed bachelor’s degree is required at the start of the CEPLAS Graduate School program in October 2026. Students already holding a master’s degree are not eligible to apply. Students who are now just starting a 2-year master´s study program (< 3 months into the program) are eligible to apply.
• The program is conducted in English. Non-native speakers need to provide evidence of proficiency in English (see requested documents).
• Only complete applications submitted on time in English will be considered (see requested documents).

Application procedure

1. Please fill in the online application form completely and in English. 
2. After you have successfully completed the online application form you have to submit the following required documents to application@ceplas.de. Therefore, please have all documents prepared before submitting the online application form.

Required documents for an application:

Please submit the following required documents as one pdf-file (max. 5 MB). Applicants whose school or university certificates are not in English or German are required to submit certified translations into English or German. 

• Letter of motivation explaining why you would like to join the CEPLAS Graduate School
• Curriculum vitae (CV, including publications; if available)
• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent university degree; if available)
• Transcript of records
• Abstract of bachelor thesis (if available)
• Higher Education Entrance Qualification "Hochschulzugangsberechtigung"  e.g. high school diploma
• Proof of English language skills (e.g. German Abiturzeugnis, TOEFL (90 points internet-based), IELTS (score 6,5) or a comparable proof). Alternatively, you may provide evidence of having spent at least 6 months in an English-speaking country or having completed a study program taught in English.

If you have additional documents relevant to your application (e.g. proof of scholarships, awards, certificates from previous employers, …) you can add them to the pdf file.

Timeline (call 2026)

The final deadline for applications is January 18, (23:59 CET). Your application will be evaluated by a selection committee who defines a shortlist of candidates. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to brief online interviews. Based on these interviews, a subset of candidates will be invited to an onsiteselection workshop on March 9–10, 2026, in Düsseldorf. Successful applicants wil be offerd a spot in the CEPLAS Graduate School in April 2026. Start of the program is in October, 2026.