NISys – Doctoral Center “Sustainable and Intelligent Systems”

At the Doctoral Center NISys, you can research the most pressing issues facing our society in the future: How does the transformation towards a careful use of existing energy and raw material resources take shape, for example through the establishment of sustainable processes and value chains in all areas of social life and industry? These include the all-important energy, building and transportation sectors as well as industrial production.

The core idea of the center is to use an apparatus of intelligent methods and technologies in a targeted manner to achieve sustainable innovations in the three fields of application that are so important for our society: energy and infrastructure systems, mobility, and production and materials.

At the Doctoral Center you can do a doctorate with a focus on engineering.

A broad methodological apparatus of cross-sectional technologies forms the foundation for sustainable innovations in the Doctoral Center. Doctoral Center projects can be carried out in one of the Center’s three fields of application:

• Energy and infrastructure systems
• Mobility
• Production and materials

Fields of application and cross-sectional technologies of the NISys doctoral center

• Details are regulated in the doctoral degree regulations and the statutes of the doctoral center. For your orientation, please also note the guidelines for the qualification program, the supervision agreement and the publication-based dissertations
• Check yourself: Do you have a topic, area of interest or question and would you like to work on it for 3-5 years? Do you meet the requirements?
• Find two professors from the Doctoral Center of the HSCO or the participating universities who are suitable for your topic idea and contact them to discuss supervision and the focus of the topic.
• At least one professor must be a member of the Doctoral Center (initial supervision); additional supervision may also be provided by a professor outside the Center, for example from the HSCO.
• Take your time to prepare your application documents.
• Please contact Dr. Renate Lucke, doctoral advisor, if you have any questions about doctoral studies and applications.

Doctoral students can expect a scientific environment characterized by high-quality research and close supervision at the Doctoral Center. Over 35 dedicated researchers from the participating universities contribute their extensive experience in supporting doctoral procedures.

A qualification concept consisting of four modules also enriches the interdisciplinary training of our doctoral students. All doctoral candidates are required to participate in the qualification program. The core of the program is its flexible design with only a few fixed mandatory elements and a wide selection of optional elements.

Module 1: Extracurricular qualification

• Good scientific practice
• Technology assessment, scientific ethics, key qualifications, career development, etc.

Module 2: Professional qualification

• Teaching tasks, progress report, feedback discussions
• Publications, supervision of theses, participation in lectures, Master’s modules, etc.

Module 3: Networking

• Doctoral seminar/retreat, external conference
• Organization of events, networking with industry, etc.

Module 4: Internationalization

• Conferences, research stays, promotion of intercultural competence, language course