Doctoral Research

The doctoral students at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Predoctoral Scholars, Predoctoral Fellows and Visiting Predoctoral Fellows) undertake dissertation projects that form an integral part of the main research projects of the Institute. They are affiliated with one of the Departments or Research Groups or with the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) of the Institute and undertake their research as part of the research activities of their respective unit. At the same time, and as part of the cross-departmental activities of the Institute, they meet once a month for a joint colloquium. During these meetings, one doctoral student usually presents their work or work samples according to the progress of their dissertation, or the group discusses select texts or films. The meetings are intended to be as informal as possible in order to provide an open and cooperative platform for exchange. The meetings also serve for discussions and updates about life and work as a doctoral student in general and within the Max Planck Society in particular.

The activities of the predoctoral community at the Institute are coordinated by the Academic Coordinator of the IMPRS, Sophie Schwarzmaier, together with the Predoctoral Scholars' Representative of the Institute, Annca Pielenhofer. If you have any questions about life and work as a doctoral student at the Institute, please feel free to contact them.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • Who is the Degree Awarded By?

    In Germany, the universities alone have the right to award doctorate degrees, and it is accordingly not possible to receive a PhD degree from a Max Planck Institute. The Predoctoral Scholars and Fellows of the MPIWG are enrolled at a university in Germany or abroad, but their projects are very often (but not necessarily) supervised by at least one scholar of the MPIWG.

  • How are Predoctoral Scholars and Fellows Financed?

    Most doctoral students at the Institute receive financial support during their stay, either through an employment contract (Predoctoral Scholars) or a stipend (Predoctoral Fellows). Others are externally financed—e.g., by their university or by an external grant (Visiting Predoctoral Fellows). Please find more information about opportunities for doctoral students at the MPIWG on our career webpage.

     

  • Do Predoctoral Scholars and Fellows Belong to a Department?

    Al Predoctoral Scholars and (Visiting) Fellows at the MPIWG are affiliated with one of the Departments, Research Groups or the IMPRS of the Institute and undertake their research as part of the activities of their research unit.

  • How Can I Apply to be a Predoctoral Scholar or Fellow?

    If you are interested in a position as Predoctoral Scholar or (Visiting) Fellow at the Institute, please visit the MPIWG career page.

Group Foto of MPIWG Predoctoral Fellows

MPIWG Predoctoral Fellows 2022–23. Source: MPIWG, September 2022

Doctoral Students

Laura Helena Arraya Pareja

Predoctoral Fellow (Sep 2025 - Feb 2026)

Horseshoes in Science: The Role of Equine Veterinary Medicine in the Configuration of Scientific and Military Thought in the Andes (19th Century)

Flavio Auer

Predoctoral Scholar (Mar 2024 - Oct 2026)

Leonie Böttiger

Predoctoral Scholar (Oct 2023 - Mar 2027)

Tracing an Epistemic Genre: Premodern Arabic Recipe Collections as Resources of Knowledge

Simon Brausch

Predoctoral Scholar

Against Reliability: On the Use of Technical Tools for Assessing the Methodological Quality of Clinical Trials

Megan Rhian Briers

Predoctoral Scholar

Women in British and American astronomical fieldwork in the nineteenth century

Po-Yuan Cheng

Predoctoral Scholar

Zeynep Ecem Pulas

Predoctoral Scholar

“Usual Suspects” in “Unusual Locations”: Infrastructure, Maintenance, and Expertise in the Late Ottoman Empire (1855–1922)

Trym Aleksander Eiterjord

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (Jul 2020 - Sep 2027)

The Geopolitics of Chinese Arctic Research

Sebastian Fernández-Mulligan

Predoctoral Fellow (Jan 2026 - Apr 2026)

Entropy and the Order of Life

Jonathan Haid

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow

Cellulosenitrat: Eine Materialgeschichte der Geisteswissenschaften, 1849–1951

Alexander Hall

Predoctoral Scholar

Jakob Kaaby Hellstenius

Predoctoral Scholar

Ignorance in the Age of Text: “Ignorant” Readers and Their Reading in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain

Ye Hua

Predoctoral Fellow (Sep 2025 - Feb 2026)

Inventing Tradition: The Emergence of National Fengshui Masters and the Dynamic Interplay of Geomantic Expertise Between State and Local Society in Ming-Qing China (14-18th Century)

Clara Marie Kahn

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow

Beyond Leaves: Cultivating Knowledge in Books of Hours (1470–1520)

Lena Kasten

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow

Christopher Klauke

Predoctoral Scholar (Sep 2022 - Feb 2026)

The Politics of Music Capturing. Music Information Retrieval and Ethnomusicological Research, 1900–1970

Hannah Kressig

Predoctoral Scholar

Brian Li

Predoctoral Fellow (Dec 2025 - May 2026)

Acquired Tastes: The Social Discourse of Disordered Eating in Pre-Modern Chinese and European Literature

Ke Liang

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (Nov 2025 - Apr 2026)

Knowledge Integration of the Classic of Mountains: Reconstructing Ancient Geographical and Ecological Knowledge Heritage with Artificial Intelligence

Kimberly Lifton

Predoctoral Fellow (Oct 2025 - Feb 2026)

Reading the Body of the Religious “Other”: The Intersection between Humoral-Climate Theory and Observation of the Religious “Other” during the Fifteenth Century

Yishu Mao

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow

Taming the Artificial, Ordering the Social: Divergence and Convergence in Emerging AI Governance Regimes in China, Germany/the EU and the US

Uzoamaka Nwachukwu

Predoctoral Fellow (Jan 2026 - Jun 2026)

Landscapes of Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Mining, and Placemaking in Eastern Nigeria

Mateus Oka

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (Mar 2025 - Feb 2026)

Of Monkeys and Primatologies: An Anthropological Study of the Encounters Between Practices and Regimes of Knowledge

Annca Pielenhofer

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow

Omri Polatsek

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow

Agrochemical Transformations and their Knowledge Resources in Egypt, 1882–1952

Satria Amilius Quaijtaal

Predoctoral Scholar

Science before Nature: An Epistemology of Perspectives in the Commentaries of Cuneiform Scholarly Traditions

Herminson Ariel Saavedra Currivil

Predoctoral Fellow (Sep 2025 - Feb 2026)

On the (Post)-Colonial Margins: French Nuclear Explosions in Polynesia and their Measurements from the Chilean Coast during the 1960s

Dwirahmi Suryandari

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow

Contestation of Knowledge in the Collection and Exhibition of Indigenous Objects by Catholic Mission Museums

Emily N. K. Tsui

Predoctoral Scholar

The Strange as Knowledge: Collections of the Anomalous and Marvellous within Late-Imperial Leishu (1600-1900)

Lejie Zeng

Predoctoral Scholar

Colorful Encounters: Nature, Science, and Dyes between Europe and China, 1880–1950

Xiangyu Zhou

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (Jan 2024 - Sep 2027)

Comparative Study of Mission-Oriented R&D Organizations

Further Information

More information about gaining a PhD with the Max Planck Society can be found on the Max Planck Society website and PhDNet.

Predoctoral Network at the MPIWG

Welcome to all new Predoctoral Scholars and (Visiting) Fellows and congratulations to those who have recently submitted their dissertation! The predoc meetings are monthly events organized by the Institute’s predoctoral community. The goal is to provide a safe space for informal exchange on all matters related to predocs' lives such as writing and publishing, our working conditions, mental health and so on. All doctoral students, whether they are employees of the MPIWG or (Visiting) Fellows, are welcome to join. Details can be found on the Intranet. The predoctoral community organizes also weekly "Writing Wednesdays" as well as social meet-ups. Contact: Annca Pielenhofer, Predoctoral Scholars' Representative at apielenhofer@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

 

 

More about the Predoctoral Scholars' Representative (Intranet)