Hannover Biomedical Research School (HBRS)

HBRS is one of Germany's leading graduate schools, funded by the Excellence Initiative and offering top-level research, education and training possibilities. Under this umbrella our three international PhD programs Infection Biology, Molecular Medicine and Regenerative Sciences provide fully-funded studentships for a three-year course.

Hannover Biomedical Research School (HBRS) was founded in October 2003 as an "umbrella organization" for existing and future structured postgraduate programs in 2003. The aim is to train highly qualified junior scientists coming from over 20 different countries towards a doctoral degree (PhD or Dr.rer.nat.).

HBRS now comprises three international PhD programs and two DFG-funded research training groups, one of which is a joint European program with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. More recently, a structured doctoral program for medical students has also been successfully established. Two Master programs ("Biomedicine" and "Biochemistry") are associated with the graduate school. HBRS is lcoordinated by the Dean, the Executive board as well as the HBRS committee (representatives of all programs) and the HBRS office. Already within this short period of time HBRS has managed to become a highly attractive graduate school for (MD)/PhD training with an outstanding international reputation. It co-ordinates teaching and ensures excellent training in high quality research laboratories, furthers motivation, and actively encourages integration and interdisciplinary exchange between students and young researchers from both medical and life science backgrounds.

HBRS also fosters educational and scientific interaction between university and non-university institutions; among these are the Leibniz University of Hannover, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, the Technical University of Braunschweig, the Helmholtz Institute for Infection Research Braunschweig (HZI), the Friedrich Löffler Institute Mariensee (FLI) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM). HBRS offers a joint curriculum for all programs. Besides a 3-year PhD project, students have to attend 300 hours of obligatory seminars, tutorials, practical courses, soft skill courses etc. The graduate school provides a framework for international guest lectures, summer schools and for the training of talented medical and life science students for a future career in science. Currently, there are about 230 PhD students from more than 20 different countries in all programs. HBRS is supported in the German "Excellence Initiative" since 2006.