Financial Support

Our goal is to create excellent conditions for each and every doctoral student working within the framework of the IMPRS-SPCE. In the current hiring period, all newly recruited PhD students will receive a 65%- public service contract.

Please note that our doctoral school is a cooperation between three partners: the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG), the University of Cologne (UoC), and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE). Not all partners hire every year. In 2023, the University of Duisburg-Essen is not hiring.

Applicants to the IMPRS-SPCE are asked to identify a faculty member as supervisor according to thematic fit. Each faculty member belongs to one of the three partner organizations. The place of work for doctoral students is bound to where the supervisor of their choice is based, which is either at one of the universities or at the MPIfG.

Different legal conditions are applicable at the three institutions. The MPIfG is an institution to which the renumeration structures of the federal government (TVöD-Bund) apply, whereas the universities are institutions of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. For these, the remuneration structures of the federal states (TVL) apply. The tariff structures are similar but not identical. Further,  the Capacity Ordinance applies to universities, which means that contracts are bound to teaching obligations. For MPIfG doctoral students teaching is not mandatory; they can teach on a voluntary basis (usually in the wrap-up phase).

Health insurance and social benefits like unemployment and pension contributions are included in both types of employment contracts.

Further funds are available for fieldwork trips, stays abroad, and conference travel. Such funds are allocated according to project-specific agreements with your advisor and the respective regulations of the institution financing your contract/scholarship – either the Max Planck Institute, the University of Cologne, or the University of Duisburg-Essen. Please note that the faculty of the University of Duisburg-Essen is not hiring in this funding period.