For IMPRS students

This section provides important information for IMPRS students.

IMPRS curriculum

The IMPRS EPP offers its PhD students a structured doctoral program. With the IMPRS curriculum, we want to give you the best possible support so that you will be able to bring your doctoral work to a successful conclusion within the specified funding period.

The Advisory Panel System (APS)

Throughout your doctoral work, the Advisory Panel System (APS) ensures that a supervisory group is standing by your side: including your doctoral advisor, your day-to-day supervisor and another scientist who serves as a mentoring external expert.

At least once per year, you will meet with the scientists of the Advisory Panel to review the progress of your doctoral work and discuss open questions or problems. A specific preparatory and follow-up procedure is required for these meetings. The first meeting should take place within the first six months after the doctoral work begins.

Information and documents:

Line-up of the APS and sequence of meetings
Preparation and documentation of APS meetings

Lectures at the Munich universities

We recommend that you attend lectures at the Munich universities. Before the academic term, we will provide notification of lectures that could be relevant for you.

Block courses for theoretical and experimental physics

In addition to the TUM and LMU lecture program, the IMPRS organizes block courses. These take up special topics, which are presented by internationally recognized experts. For IMPRS doctoral candidates, participation in a total of three block courses is compulsory; you are free to make your own proposals for topics and instructors.

Particle Physics School Munich Colloquium

The colloquium takes place every second Friday in the month. Doctoral candidates are expected to present a 30-minute talk about their work once per year.

Young Scientist Workshop

Once a year the IMPRS EPP organizes a week-long summer workshop, which usually takes place at Schloss Ringberg on the Tegernsee (2015 program). Here the participants present their work. In addition, we invite experts for overview talks as well as IMPRS alumni who speak about their current activities.

IMPRS calendar of events

Further offerings and activities

Aside from the purely scientific events, the IMPRS EPP organizes German courses and “soft-skills” seminars, through which you can for example practice and improve your rhetorical skills.
The Max Planck Instititute for Physics places great importance on the area of press and public relations. We expect you, as doctoral candidates, to take part in these activities – and we welcome your own ideas and suggestions.

The IMPRS team

Committee of Doctoral Candidates

Spokesperson of the Doctoral Candidates

Hendrik Windel

Spokespersons of the Departments

Max Brinkmann Prof. Dvali / Prof. Lüst
Lorenz Emberger Prof. Caldwell
Dominik Fuchs Prof. Teshima
Leila Maestri Prof. Henn
Frank Edzards Prof. Bethke

Outreach activities

Public relations: Exchange with society

The Max Planck Institute for Physics pursues a dedicated dialogue with the public. We organize Institute visits, talks, and events. In our press relations work, we inform the media about important advances and research results.

We expect that the doctoral candidates will take part in these activities of the MPP – we look forward to working with you and welcome your own suggestions and ideas.

Goals of the public relations work:

Engaging society as a stakeholder: Research at the MPP is financed out of public funds. Therefore we have the mandate to share the knowledge gained with society.
Promoting young scientists: Elementary particle physics is just one of many research fields, and competition for the “brightest brains” in the sciences is high. We want to win over young pupils as well as university students to our fascinating field.
Securing the future: For research areas and projects to be supported in the future as they are today, policy makers and the populace must be convinced of their benefit to society.

Every scientist at the Institute can make an important contribution.

Possible activities:

Press relations work: An important building block in external communications is media work – to spread the news about research topics through print, online, and broadcast media.

Café & Kosmos: Event series at the Muffatwerk with short talks for people interested in physics.

Master classes for students and teachers: “(Astro)particle physicist for a day” is the motto of this educational event initiated by the “Netzwerk Teilchenphysik,” to which the MPP belongs.

The “Tag der Offenen Tür” – the Day of the Open Door – takes place regularly with an extensive program.

Science Slam: How can research topics be presented in an entertaining way?