Doctoral Program at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
It's our aim to ensure thorough preparation and support for PhD researchers during work on their doctoral dissertations as well as helping PhD candidates to get ready for participation in the international research community.
We no longer accept applications. Please check for the next application period starting in 2026.
4 years
Aim: Ensuring thorough preparation and support for PhD researchers during work on their doctoral dissertations and helping PhD candidates to get ready for participation in the international research
Supervision for PhD candidates will be ideally provided by two supervisors from the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies or Bonn University, as well as one external expert.
Depending on the cohort of PhD researchers, they will be affiliated to one of the ten Research Groups or organized in a peer group guided by a peer group leader (Principal Investigator of the Bonn Center for Dependency ans Slavery Studies) who will function as their contact person throughout the program.
As part of the PhD program, candidates must attend two kinds of courses:
A) Research Seminars
including courses on specific theories and methods, an introduction to the topics of dependency and slavery, case studies and special readings relevant for the respective Research Area or Research Group
B) Skills Seminars
according to their interests and career perspectives are students free to choose the focus of their respective skills seminars
Both types are awarded with credit points (CP).
The category of knowledge transfer and managing skills comprises presentations of PhD related papers at international conferences, authoring a paper for a journal or an edited volume, teaching and/or organizing a workshop or a graduate conference, and/or editing an edited volume.
These requirements will not be awarded with Credit Points but will be recorded on the BIGS-DSS certificate.
The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies offers a support program for early-career women researchers that includes a mentoring program which connects young women researchers with more senior women working inside academia and in other fields of professional activity. It also includes seminars and workshops that provide information on equal opportunities and networks, as well as skills to pursue a career.
PhD researchers from an international academic background are entitled to additional academic and career guidance.
All PhD researchers are offered information sessions on career paths and planning both inside and outside academia in cooperation with the University of Bonn as well as individual consulting by members of Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies or the Human Ressources Department office of the University of Bonn.
Location and Participation of PhD Researchers within the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
The operative structure of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies' doctoral program consists of the coordinator and an appointed Principal Investigator of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies.
The affiliation of PhD researchers to the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies is organized in two ways:
a) one group of PhD researchers is part of one of the ten Research Groups PhD researchers belonging to one of the Research Groups are supervised by the leader of their Research Group, by a further professor from the University of Bonn and, thirdly, an external supervisor with expertise in the respective field of study.
(b) is independent from the thematic focus of these Research Groups
PhD researchers without affiliation to the Research Group are part of a peer group that is headed by a peer-group leader (one of the Principal Investigators), who functions as a contact person during the four-year course of the program. Their supervision is guaranteed by one of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies’ Principal Investigators or Cluster Professors, as well as by another professor of the University of Bonn and, thirdly, an external supervisor who is expert in the respective field of study.
Furthermore, PhD researchers also locate their research within one or two of the five Research Areas of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies.
They are therefore essential and active members of the Research Areas touching upon their own projects.
Contact
Laura Hartmann
PhD Coordinator & Press and PR Coordinator