Here you can apply for a PhD position with your own project description. An application for the general call must include a project description (½-4 pages), where you describe your ideas and research plans for your project. You can indicate a URL to further information, if you like.
Before starting the application process, it is strongly recommended that you contact a prospective supervisor in order to discuss a potential project. This may contribute to writing a better and more targeted application. Furthermore, it is a good idea to inquire about possible financing, since the likelihood of securing admission through the general call depends on the available resources of the supervisor and the PhD programme for which you apply.
You can find AU researchers/potential supervisors by searching on subject headings here. Furthermore, you can find more info on the various PhD programmes at GSNS on each of the programme websites.
It is not a requirement that the applicant has been in contact with a prospective supervisor before the application process begins.
Before you apply, please read the application guide thoroughly. All applications must be submitted via the application portal.
Here you apply for one of the positions on the list of specific calls below. Please note that the list is regularly updated. The list will be complete approximately two weeks before application deadline. If you can’t find a project within your field of research on the list, please have a look later or apply via the general call.
Before you apply, please read the application guide thoroughly. Please follow the application instructions in the specific call announcement.
You can use the filter function to narrow down your search field or search for something specific.
| Project title | Programme | Keywords | Candidate background | Application deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 PhDs in innovation and greenhouse gas monitoring | Geoscience | Innovation, Greenhouse gas monitoring, Hyperspectral imaging, Entrepreneurship and Machine learning | Master’s degree in geoscience, physics, environmental science, computer science, engineering or similar fields | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Quantifying Ecosystem Structural Diversity and Fragmentation using LiDAR, RADAR, Structure from Motion or Deep Learning | Biology | Vegetation structure, remote sensing, lidar, spatial scaling, ecosystem fragmentation | Master’s degree within geoscience, geography or biology | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Atmospheric organic aerosol particles and clouds: probing how aerosol phase behavior-affects cloud formation | Chemistry | Atmospheric chemistry and physics, aerosol particles, clouds and climate, aerosol phase state and number | Master’s degree, or a Bachelor´s degree plus one year of Master´s studies completed, within Chemistry, Physics, Atmospheric Science, Nanoscience, Engineering or similar | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| AI-Assisted Human Knowledge Seeking | Computer Science | Knowledge-seeking, Multilinguality, Natural language processing, Large language models, Computational social science | Master’s degree in computer science or a closely related field. Strong students with a Bachelor’s degree are also considered | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Understanding C*-algebras by inducing symmetries | Mathematics | C*-algebras, ideal structure, groupoid C*-algebras | Applicants must have completed a relevant Master’s degree in mathematics by the beginning of the PhD. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Molecular diffusion in atmospheric aerosol particles: sensing oxygen in aerosols with luminescence indicators | Chemistry | Atmospheric physical chemistry, aerosol particles, aerosol viscosity, microscopy, molecular diffusion | Applicants to the PhD position must have a finished Master’s degree, or a finished Bachelor´s degree plus one year of Master´s studies completed (at the time of starting the position), within Chemistry, Physics, Atmospheric Science, Nanoscience, Engineering or similar. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Revealing the Effect of Abrasion on the Fate of Chiral Biosignature Molecules | Biology | Mars, Biosignatures, Chiral molecules, Life detection, Mars missions | Applicants must have a relevant Master’s degree or at least one year of a Master’s degree in Chemistry, Biology or Physics or in related disciplines. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
How does loss of land ice affect coastal runoff and biogeochemical cycling in Arctic coastal areas? | Biology | Freshwater; coastal waters; river runoff; biogeochemistry; freshening | Applicants must have a relevant master’s degree in biology, hydrology, glaciology, oceanography, or geoscience. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Reasoning with Large Language Models | Computer Science | Reasoning, Large language models, Artificial Intelligence, Agentic AI, Reinforcement learning | Master’s degree in computer science or a closely related field. Strong students with a Bachelor’s degree are also considered | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Physics and Astronomy | Experimental nuclear physics, beta-decays, data analysis | Bachelor’s degree and strong background in Physical Science | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST | |
| Identifying terrestrial sources of atmospheric microbial ice-nucleation proteins in the Arctic | Biology | Bioaerosols, Arctic microbial ecology, atmospheric science, ice nucleation, cloud formation | MSc degree in a relevant discipline | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Investigating in-cloud processes of Arctic bioaerosols | Biology | Bioaerosols, Arctic microbial ecology, atmospheric science, ice nucleation, cloud formation | MSc degree in a relevant discipline | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Biology | respiratory physiology, metabolism, neuroscience, cell biology, transcriptomics | Applicants to the PhD position must have a recent Master’s degree or a Bachelor´s degree and one year of Master´s studies within Biology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Medicine, Bioinformatics, or similar. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST | |
| Retinal Antioxidant Defense in Zebrafish | Biology | respiratory physiology, metabolism, cell biology, reactive oxygen species, antioxidant defense | Applicants to the PhD position must have a recent Master’s degree or a Bachelor´s degree and one year of Master´s studies within Biology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Medicine, Bioinformatics, or similar | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Cloud interfacial chemistry probed by ultrafast surface spectroscopy | Chemistry | aerosol, surface chemistry, femtosecond laser, sum frequency generation, photochemistry | Applicants to the PhD position must have a recent Master’s degree or a Bachelor´s degree and one year of Master´s studies within Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Nanoscience or similar. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| PhD position in microbial physiology focusing on upcycling of alkaline wastes based on CO2 mineralization | Biology | Microbiology, physiology, genomics, CO₂ capture | MSc-degree in biology, molecular biology, or similar subjects | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Molecular aspects of Parkinson’s Disease | Nanoscience | Parkinson’s Disease, α-synuclein, monoclonal antibodies, lipid nanoparticles, blood-brain barrier | Applicants should hold an M.Sc. degree or equivalent in experimental protein science | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Neurophysiological defects in O-GlcNAc transferase intellectual disability | Molecular Biology and Genetics | Neurobiology, neurodevelopmental disease, mouse models, glycosylation, electrophysiology | A relevant Master’s degree in neurobiology | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Effective Testing in Complex Geometry | Mathematics | Complex Geometry, Kähler Geometry, Geometric Partial Differential Equations, Constant Scalar Curvature Metrics, Stability Conditions. | Applicants must have a relevant Master’s degree or at least one year of a Master’s degree in Mathematics, Theoretical Physics, or Computer Science. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Genomic constraints of thermal adaptation in ostriches | Biology | Evolution, Ostriches, Thermal tolerance, Life-stages, Bioinformatics | Applicants to the PhD position must have a Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree in Biology. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Investigating Disorder in Energy Materials Using Solid-State NMR | Chemistry | Energy materials, Solid-state NMR, X-ray scattering, Structural disorder | Master’s degree or at least one year of a Master’s degree in chemistry, nanoscience, physics or a closely related subject | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Echolocation in bats and toothed whales | Biology | Biosonar, biologging, sensory physiology, hearing, predator-prey interactions | Master’s degree in biology, engineering or physics | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Quantum Simulation of Strongly Interacting Systems | Physics and Astronomy | Quantum Simulation, Ultracold Gases, Atomic Physics | Applicants must have a relevant Master’s degree or at least one year of a Master’s degree in physics. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Readvertisement: Electrocatalytic approaches to high sensitivity PTM detection of cancer metastatic state and its therapy efficacy | Nanoscience | Biosensors, Cancer Diagnostics, Aptamers, DNA, Antibodies, Electrochemistry, Analytical Chemistry | Master´s degree (120 ECTS) in Chemistry (with specialization in Physical Chemistry, Electrochemistry) | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Drowned Palaeolandscapes – a geological record for assessing landscape and environment response to postglacial sea level rise and climate change | Geoscience | Drowned palaeolandscapes, seismic stratigraphy, seismic morphology, landscape evolution, palaeo-environmental analysis | Master’s degree or at least one year of a Master’s degree in geology, geophysics or similar | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| The form and function of non-canonical DNA structures in biofilms | Nanoscience | Non-canonical DNA structures, cell-free DNA, DNAzyme activity, biofilm extracellular matrix, immunogenic DNA. | Applicants must have a MSc degree (or 4 years of university study for “4+4” applicants) in biology, molecular biology, nanoscience, or chemistry. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| MPCC: Multi-Party Confidential Computing | Computer Science | Cryptography, multi-party computation | Candidates should ideally have a masters degree in computer science or a related field, with a strong background in mathematical and algorithmic skills including some experience in cryptography. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Cryo-EM structure determination of complement convertases and functional validation | Molecular Biology and Genetics | Immune system, Proteolytic enzymes, Structural biology | Applicants must have a relevant MSc degree in molecular biology, molecular medicine, biotechnology, biology, nanotechnology, medicinal chemistry or related field to apply for a three year PhD position. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Situated Instructions and Guidance: Enhancing Knowledge and Skill Acquisition through Spatial Computing | Computer Science | Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Situated Visualization, Guidance, Action Recognition, Content Placement | Applicants must have a degree in Computer Science, Informatics, Computer Engineering or a related field. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Population genetics and ecological dynamics in butterflies | Biology | Evolutionary genetics, population genomics, conservation genetics, inbreeding, ecological dynamics, butterflies | The candidate should have a strong interest in evolutionary genetics, conservation genetics, and genomics and hold a relevant MSc or BSc degree. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
PhD positions in Interdisciplinary National Knowledge Center in Digital Technology Comprehension | Computer Science | Human-computer Interaction, Child-computer interaction, Computational empowerment; technology comprehension; Computing education, Educational Toolkits, Cybersecurity | Go to the project to read more. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
| Time resolved studies of complement activation and phagocytosis | Molecular Biology and Genetics | Immune System, structural biology, biophysics | Applicants must have a relevant MSc degree in molecular biology, molecular medicine, biotechnology, biology, nanotechnology, medicinal chemistry or related field to apply for a three-year PhD position. | 2025/05/01 23:59 CEST |
