Hamburg Brain School

Hamburg Brain School (HBS) is the graduate school of the Hamburg Center of Neuroscience (HCNS). The HBS provides a structured training program in all areas of neuroscience and cognitive systems research for doctoral candidates and junior postdocs who are members of HCNS research departments.

 

Our Goals 

Key goals of our program are:

  • to organize training courses and events for HBS doctoral students and postdocs

  • to support active HBS members in acquiring and augmenting the personal and soft skills
  • to foster cooperation of HCNS departments in junior scientist  training

  • to aid HCNS cooperation with other universities and research institutes

  • to promote internationalisation of doctoral student and postdoctoral training

HBS Membership

You can become enrolled as a doctoral student in the HBS if:

  • the topic of your thesis is within the scope of the research areas pursued at the HCNS

  • your doctoral research is carried out and supervised at one of the HCNS departments

  • you are admitted for graduation according to the applicable regulations at the UKE or at another faculty participating in the HBS

If you are medical doctoral student, your enrollment presupposes a plan for a research project of at least one year duration (for further information, please contact info@hamburgbrainschool.de). Guest doctoral researchers can be admitted to the HBS training program for the duration of their research visit at one of the HCNS departments.

You can become enrolled as a junior postdoc in the HBS if:

  • the topic of your projects is within the scope of the research areas pursued at the HCNS

  • your research is carried out and supervised at one of the HCNS departments

  • you have achieved your doctoral degree less than six years ago

Faculty membership in the HBS presupposes that you are employed by one of the HCNS departments and, in addition, that:

  • you are an appointed faculty member at UKE or at one of the other universities at Hamburg, or

  • you are entitled, according to applicable regulations, to co-/supervise doctoral students or to be involved as a reviewer in the graduation process at UKE or at one of the other universities at Hamburg

Associated membership in the HBS is possible if:

  • you are a senior postdoc in one of the HCNS departments, or

  • you contribute to the HBS curriculum with specific courses or training activities

HBS Bodies

The governance structure of the HBS comprises the following entities:

Spokesperson
The speaker of the HBS is elected, by the HBS coordinating board, from the group of appointed professors at the HCNS. Tasks of the speaker include management of the HBS and associated funding, chairing of coordinating board meetings and HBS member meetings, communication with the participating faculties, public relations, and others. In June 2021, Prof. Andreas K. Engel (director of the Dept. of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, UKE) has been elected as HBS speaker.

HBS coordinating board
The coordinating board of the HBS comprises the directors of the HCNS departments, the HBS speaker and the doctoral student and postdoc representatives. The coordinating board is in charge of, amongst others, development of the HBS curriculum, approval of membership applications, election of the HBS speaker, and oversight of the HBS budget plan.

Student representatives
The HBS doctoral students and postdocs elect, from their respective community, two representatives who become members of the HBS coordinating board. The student and postdoc representatives ensure participation of their peer group in the activities of the coordinating board.