Doctoral Program – Science of Intelligence

Doctoral program

Science of Intelligence is committed to the development of early-career researchers. The SCIoI doctoral program offers the opportunity to perform research towards a doctoral degree in our diverse, interdisciplinary research and teaching environment. As a doctoral student, you will focus your research around your thesis, gain hands-on experience in different intelligence-related disciplines, and learn to take different perspectives on the matter. Your research will be complemented by an individually tailored curriculum.

You can find the specific salaried doctoral positions for which you may apply here. All doctoral projects are flexible, allowing students to pursue research across departmental boundaries.

Supervision

The SCIoI doctoral program emphasizes interdisciplinarity. This is reflected in the fact that doctoral students will be advised by multiple PIs with complementary expertise. The research and teaching environment of SCIoI guides doctoral students on their path to becoming extraordinary interdisciplinary researchers and “natives” in our Science of Intelligence. Students hold annual progress meetings with the doctoral committee. During these meetings, past achievements are reviewed and appropriate next steps are agreed upon. Long-term goals are set to be reviewed at the next annual progress meeting. During the meetings, your individualized course curriculum will be tailored to the research agenda.

Curriculum

As a doctoral student your research will be complemented by an individualized curriculum to learn about different disciplines important to intelligence research. The SCIoI curriculum can feature courses from all the disciplines involved in SCIoI: Artificial Intelligence, Behavioral Biology, Computer Vision, Control, Educational Science, Machine Learning, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology and Robotics. In particular, systems building and integration science are part of the curriculum for SCIoI graduate students － this enables our students to integrate their research into the intelligent synthetic systems we build. Twice a year, two-day symposia offer lectures, workshops, and discussion sessions to develop integrative interdisciplinary approaches to the study of intelligence. The symposia also cover aspects of ethics, gender, and philosophy relevant to SCIoI.

Funding

All doctoral students will be offered three-year full-time positions (TV-L E13). Students may choose to change to part-time positions, for example to raise children.