The Graduate Programme 'The Economic Impact of Digital Transformation' is an interdisciplinary PhD programme of the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. The programme is financed by a grant from the State of Thuringia and started in 2020. We offer a comprehensive PhD-level training. The programme is international and highly committed to quality in teaching and research.
The programme
The PhD group hosts doctoral candidates from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena which are financed by the University or by external scholarships e.g. DAAD, CSC. The PhD students are expected to complete their PhD projects within 3 years. The first year is devoted to improving the theoretical knowledge and competences, while the second and the third year concentrate on the dissertation-related research. The programme offers a structured course program including a 2-week summer school each year. The programme serves as a platform for collaboration, as a facilitator of joint scientific activities, and as a forum for knowledge exchange. It also provides senior expertise for junior research training in all necessary areas of competence: thematic, methodological, and transferable skills such as networking, scientific management, time management, and career planning.
Research Topics
Allowing for a broad concept of "digital transformation" the Graduate Programme is structured into five research areas:
Courses
Through methodological, theoretical and empirical courses the programme deepens the capabilities of our PhD students to conduct a world-class research. The courses are taught by the Faculty of the programme as well as by external scholars.
Seminars
Wednesdays are seminar days. Our PhD students are welcome to invite distinguished scholars from all over the world to present their current work and discuss it with the group. At least once a year the PhD students present their own dissertation progress. Their work is then discussed and refereed by peers and senior researchers.
Faculty
The participating scientist work at various departments of the Friedrich Schiller University e.g. Economics and Business Administration (including Statistics, Business Educational Studies), Law, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Philosophy (esp. Intercultural Communication), Chemistry and Earth Sciences (esp. Economic Geography) as well as Mathematics and Computational Sciences.
Research environment
The PhD group shares the capabilities, the resources, and the facilities of the University in Jena de. Additionally it is integrated in an environment of related graduate programmes in social sciences. The Graduate Academy is further dedicated to supporting PhD students with additional advice, courses, and financial aid.
Jena
You are not the first historically important person who decided for the educational excellence of the 450-year old University of Jena. Philosophers such as Shelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Schiller, mathematicians such as Leibniz and Frege, and physicists such as Abbe studied and worked in Jena.
Today Jena is a lively city with a strong presence of students and researchers. Besides the University, Jena hosts 3 Max Planck Institutes, a Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering, a Leibniz Institute for Age Research, and a University of Applied Sciences. The historical presence of companies such as Carl Zeiß and SCHOTT make Jena a world center of optics research. Check what Jena can offer for you todayExternal link.