Graduate School

A specific feature and challenge of the cluster is its pronounced interdisciplinary nature, requiring not only the already comprehensive expertise of a single well-defined field, but also that of several cross-linked research areas. Even more challenging, working at the interface of two fields such as photonics and biomolecular dynamics requires the combination and merging of different concepts. This endeavor is typically accompanied by new insights and synergetic effects due to the inherently different viewpoints of the previously separate fields. As a consequence, the graduate school offers strong interdisciplinary training that takes into account and interrelates the specific aspects of each area relevant to the corresponding field of research.

Teaching will be structured into intensive courses with topics concerning the three research areas A, B, C as well as specific workshops on programming, experimental instrumentation, etc. The teaching program rests on the groups whose research areas span the complete range to be taught within the training program. This implies that Ph.D. cutting-edge research projects can be offered in all areas of the cluster. The research areas of the cluster encompass the traditional disciplines physics, chemistry and biology under the unifying theme of advanced imaging of matter.

Colloquia and a rich guest program of internationally leading experts complement not only the educational and training program, but offer in particular the unique opportunity to learn about the most recent developments in the corresponding fields at first hand.

All PhD students are automatically members of the graduate school and enjoy the many advantages of it. This includes not only intensive courses, but also the possibilities to apply for funds, in order to visit conferences and workshops or go on collaborative visits to renowned institutes.

Students can organize their own schools using cluster funds and profit from various student activities and events. Training is provided both with respect to the corresponding research work and also with respect to personal and professional skills.

Excellent researchers need excellent facilities if they are to push forward the frontiers of knowledge. The world-class infrastructure built up in Hamburg gives PhD students and postdocs the opportunity to profit from a unique research environment. This ranges from large scale facilities like Petra III and FLASH as well as the European XFEL to state-of-the-art tabletop experiments addressing a variety of different scientific questions. It also includes large scale computational facilities.

Theory and experiment closely interact in order to advance our knowledge and expertise on some of the intriguing questions of modern science. The cluster operates across the traditional disciplines physics, chemistry and biology and combines the best of these three worlds.