The core objective of the Cognitive Science PhD Programme is to enable excellent students to carry out independent research in promising and highly active areas of Cognitive Science. The programme aims at optimal synergy between the dissertation projects and current research at the Osnabrück Institute of Cognitive Science.

Specific characteristics of the programme are

• interdisciplinary research, integrating all Cognitive Science sub-disciplines;
• a curriculum comprising seminars, colloquiums and reading groups, systematically supporting the thesis work and enabling students to finish their PhD within three years;
• international research environment including seminars conducted by renowned guest lecturers and an assignment abroad;
• supervision by at least two principal investigators from different Cognitive Science sub-disciplines. Joint supervision with an external supervisor from a university abroad is welcomed;
• the opportunity to gain teaching experience by co-teaching a seminar together with an experienced lecturer;
• English as the language of instruction; the PhD thesis can be written in either German or English and for the oral examination candidates can also choose between these two languages;
• soft skills courses which provide training on presentation and communication skills, academic writing and publication, grant application, project management, etc.

One of the current research topics of the Cognitive Science PhD Programme is the question of Adaptivity in Hybrid Cognitive Systems. This is the topic of the Research Training Group Adaptivity [1], which is a particular research programme within the PhD programme. The Research Training Group started in October 2008 and is financed by the University of Osnabrück.

Starting in October 2009, the Cognitive Science PhD Programme will be supported by the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony [2] by 13 Lichtenberg scholarships.

The initial phase of the Cognitive Science PhD Programme (2002-2007) was supported by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), see "Promotion an Hochschulen in Deutschland" [3].