The Hasso Plattner Institute's Research Schools offer an outstanding environment for doctoral researchers in computer science and digital technologies. At HPI, you benefit from close supervision by experienced professors and postdocs, cutting-edge research facilities, and a collaborative academic network.
The HPI Research Schools continuously grant new full scholarships to talented young researchers. Information on the application process can be found here.
HPI Research Schools
The rapid advancement of digital health technologies presents unprecedented global opportunities and challenges in public health and healthcare, data management and analytics in prevention, diagnostics, protection and therapy. This research school will focus on fostering the next generation of leaders in this dynamic field.
This research school focuses on advancing AI methods, including energy-efficient and privacy-aware algorithms, fair and explainable decision-making, and mathematical theories of AI. While applications of AI are used to validate these innovations, the primary goal is to build foundational methods and theories for societal impact.
Data and information engineering encompasses collecting, integrating, cleaning, storing, managing, and analyzing raw data to support data-intensive applications. Researchers in this field design robust, scalable architectures and pipelines to transform raw data into reliable, accessible formats, leveraging techniques like real-time streaming and batch processing. These efforts provide the foundation for advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI applications.
SeDiC aims to tackle the challenges of exchanging and computing data across a network of interconnected systems. It addresses scalability, efficiency, dependability and security, combining expertise in network architectures, distributed systems and cybersecurity. SeDiC aims to develop innovative solutions that enhance secure communications, bolster resilience against cyber threats, and support the deployment of secure, scalable, and efficient distributed systems.
The design and implementation of modern, practical, and interesting software systems raises a multitude of research questions from several fields such as software and domain engineering, system modeling and analysis, application adaptability and integration, human computer interaction, security, and sustainability.
To be and remain useful to their users, software systems not only need to offer the functionality desired or required in an approachable way, but must do so in a way fitting their application context and their operational constraints.
"Systems Design” represents an engaging symbiosis of proven research frameworks to address this challenge, integrating the points-of-views of multiple research communities and allowing for an interconnected approach to state-of-the-art computer science research. This research school builds on a 20-year history and developed out of the research school "Service-Oriented Systems Engineering".
Scholarships
The HPI Research Schools annually grant new full scholarships to PhD candidates and postdocs. Scholarship holders enjoy an excellent research environment, close mentorship by professors and postdocs of the research school, interaction with many peers, enormous computing power with HPI’s data lab, and significant travel funding. The scholarships are not subject to income tax.
How to apply?
- Curriculum vitae and copies of certificates/transcripts
- Brief research proposal, ideally mentioning the suitable HPI research group(s) you would like to work with
- Work samples/copies of relevant scientific work (e.g., master's thesis)
- Letter of recommendation
- Please apply by email to the respective Research School speaker
Cooperations
Former HPI Research Schools
The growing volumes of data in science and industry present many challenges and opportunities. Data science has become a fundamental discipline in information technology, enabling new insights from data and allowing ever more intelligent applications. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to collect, cleanse, and provide large amounts of data, and to apply and manage complex data science processes. Given these challenges, the discipline of data engineering is of fundamental importance.
Launched in 2019, the HPI Research School "Data Science and Engineering" is a collaborative hub that brings together PhD students from all fields of data-driven research and technologies. Our areas of focus include scalable storage, stream processing, data cleansing, machine learning and deep learning, text processing, data visualization, digital health, and more. We apply our research to a variety of use cases within our interdisciplinary research groups and actively promote collaboration.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Felix Naumann
Head of Information Systems
Phone: +49 331 5509-280
Mail: felix.naumann@hpi.de
Prof. Dr. Tilmann Rabl
Head of Data Engineering Systems
Phone: +49 331 5509-4881
Mail: tilmann.rabl@hpi.de
The design and implementation of service-based architectures raises a multitude of research questions from the fields of software engineering, system modeling and analysis, application adaptability and integration, and IT security.
Service-oriented systems engineering represents the symbiosis of proven practices from object orientation, component programming, distributed computing, and business processes. It also considers the integration of business concerns and information technologies.
With the topic of "Service-Oriented Systems Engineering," the HPI Research School addresses a current and highly relevant topic that has particular potential both in academic research and in industrial applications. This relevance ensures that the audience feels engaged and connected to the topic.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Andreas Polze
Head of Operating Systems and Middleware
Phone: +49 331 5509-220
Mail: andreas.polze@hpi.de
Prof. Dr. Robert Hirschfeld
Head of Software Architecture
Phone: +49 331 5509-220
Mail: robert.hirschfeld@hpi.de
Last change: 28/05/2026, Mareike-Vic Schreiber