International Max Planck Research School

The International Max Planck Research Schools are structured doctoral programs created from 2000 by the Max Planck Society together with German universities. They are not a single university: each school sits at one or more Max Planck Institutes.

Each IMPRS follows the science of its host institute, from physics and chemistry to biology, neuroscience, and computer science. Partner universities provide courses and confer the doctorate, because Max Planck Institutes do not grant the degree themselves.

Cohorts are small, often a few dozen researchers per school, with a high international share and no undergraduate body. Faculty are institute directors, group leaders, and university professors.

Study is a three-to-four-year research PhD (Dr. rer. nat. or equivalent) under institute supervision. Candidates are usually Max Planck employees, funded by that contract. English is the working language in many schools. Graduate life is the institute's city, which varies by school.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, International Max Planck Research School lists 6 graduate programs across 4 subjects, all of them doctoral programs, with the widest choice in biology, earth & environmental sciences and neuroscience.