About BIGS
About BIGS

Bonn International Graduate School of Mathematics

The University of Bonn is known for its excellent teaching and research record in mathematics.  National rankings recommend Bonn as the best place in Germany to study mathematics.

Many talented young people come to Bonn to study mathematics for a bachelor, master or a PhD degree. It is the place of choice for winners of mathematics competitions or for students supported by the prestigious "Studienstiftung", which awards scholarhips to less than one per cent of the best students at German universities. — No other department in Germany attracts as many students from this group.

For PhD students, education through research at the highest level is the driving force of our efforts. Lecture courses at a high academic level, seminars on advanced level, guest lecturers from all over the world, summer and winter schools, and workshops on recent developments, create a challenging scientific atmosphere.

We currently have about 100 PhD students in mathematics, whose dissertation projects derive from all areas of mathematics. Their supervisors are the professors of the four institutes forming the department of mathematics, and from the affiliated Max Planck Institute for Mathematics.

BIGS, founded in 2001,

  • recruits and selects PhD candidates,
  • invites guest lectures,
  • supports PhD students travelling to conferences,
  • organizes special events like the Plücker Lectures, Young Women in ...-Workshops, a poster session, and social activities for PhD students,
  • is the mediating organisation for inter-university programs, such as our cooperations with universities in die GlobalMath Network. More information here.
  • In particular, BIGS helps foreign students in all administrative matters inside and outside the university.
  • BIGS screens the funding possibilities for new PhD candidates.

BIGS is now a part of the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics founded in October 2006 and sponsored by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) within the German government’s Excellence Initiative.

There are:

  • 25 Hausdorff doctoral positions, as well as
  • one year qualifying scholarships)

available. For details, see under application. 

Apart from the Hausdorff doctoral positions mentioned above, there is a variety of funding possibilities for PhD students. See under funding possibilities.