Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin

In 2016, NeuroCure, in cooperation with the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, and the Center for Stroke Research Berlin, successfully applied for funding for the Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin (ECN) through the Einstein Foundation. The ECN was intended as an umbrella structure to harmonize the many existing graduate training programs in Berlin and to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative research. Its inauguration in 2016 was celebrated with a two-day symposium featuring many renowned international speakers, including two Nobel laureates. Today, the ECN has 125 member PIs working across all neuroscientific disciplines. From 2017 to 2023, the ECN granted 111 PhD fellowships through a competitive selection procedure, with 72% being awarded to international scholars.

In 2022, the ECN opened its structure to non-ECN students, and has so far associated 31 PhD students from ECN PI labs. In the longer term, the ECN envisions a Berlin-wide program, where all neuroscience doctoral students, regardless of institution and funding source, will have equal conditions and access to training and support structures. 

Within the ECN PhD fellowship program, the core curriculum initially consisted of a two-week boot camp and an orientation phase during which fellows attended lectures and workshops and completed three laboratory rotations before committing to a group and a PhD project that best matches their individual strengths and scientific interests. In order to adapt to the needs of the new associated students who have already accepted a PhD position in a lab, the ECN revised its curriculum in the summer of 2024. For more information see their website.