PhD Programs at the UA Ruhr

All three UA Ruhr universities offer numerous, partly joint, post-graduate programs, as well as other offers for doctoral students that are closely related to metropolitan research.

PHD PROGRAMS FUNDED BY “NRW-FORTSCHRITTSKOLLEGS”

Three of the PhD programs in metropolitan research at the UA Ruhr are designated “NRW-Fortschrittkollegs” (graduate school think tanks), a research initiative funded by the Ministry for Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Future Water  
This “Fortschrittskolleg” focuses on the urban water cycles and is coordinated by the Center for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, by participants at the Ruhr-University Bochum, by the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen and other institutions in the region.

Energy Efficiency in the Quarter – cleverly provide.convert.activate 
Headed by the Faculties of Spatial Planning, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Business and Economics and Social Sciences at TU Dortmund, this inter- and transdisciplinary “Fortschrittskolleg” conducts research aimed at increasing energy efficiency in the urban quarter.

Regulating Religious Plurality in the Region (RePliR) 
The graduate school is a joint-project of the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) at the Ruhr-University Bochum and the Center for Religion and Modernity (CRM) at Münster University. This “Fortschrittskolleg” attempts to answer questions that arise amidst religious plurality, its regulation and impact as well as potential conflict areas.

PHD PROGRAMS RELATED TO METROPOLITAN RESEARCH

In addition to these graduate schools, metropolitan research is also conducted in the following PhD programs:

Advanced Research in Urban Systems (ARUS)  
This international and interdisciplinary PhD program brings together four different faculties of the University of Duisburg-Essen and is dedicated to urban and metropolitan research.

Bochum Graduate School: Applied Research on Enhanced Geothermal Energy Systems (AGES)  
This graduate school is run by the University of Applied Sciences Bochum and the Ruhr-University Bochum. It aims at the development of concepts and technologies for the extraction and use of geothermal energy from petrothermal reservoirs as well as technologies for the supply of electricity, heating and cooling with geothermal energy in metropolitan areas. Additionally, research is being conducted on the acceptance and sustainability of geothermal infrastructure projects.

IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies  
Located at the University of Duisburg-Essen, this PhD program consists of six groups of young scholars, three of which are directly related to metropolitan research. IN-EAST attempts to establish innovative qualification structures in the Humanities and Social Sciences through research conducted in groups of young scholars led by post-doctoral researchers.

FURTHER PROGRAMS AT THE UA RUHR

In addition to the aforementioned PhD programs and graduate schools, doctoral students within the competence field can use existing structures at the UA Ruhr, such as the Research Academy Ruhr, the Science Career Net Ruhr, numerous mentoring schemes, the Fall Academy and the graduate program of the Humanities and Social Sciences at TU Dortmund.