If you are interested in joining our lab, please contact Matthias Rillig or any of the other people in the lab. General info for different categories appears below. The general area of research is in plant, soil and fungal ecology. You can learn more about the projects going on by following the respective links from the main page.

Postdoctoral associates

Openings for specific positions will be posted on the web pages as they become available. If you are interested in joining the lab, please send an email. We are always interested in people with a solid ecological background, with an interest in plants, soils and fungi, and very good quantitative skills.

There are numerous opportunities for funding such research stays. These include, for example fellowships from the Humboldt-Foundation. I would be happy to help with the application process. The lab has also been very successful in securing funding through EU Marie Curie fellowship programs.

Specifically for researchers from the USA, the Humboldt Foundation offers fellowships in various categories. There may be specific programs in your country for exchanges with Germany.

Graduate students (doctorate)

Admission is currently possible for the German doctorate degree at any time; students may also elect to study for a PhD, currently offered in Plant Sciences. English is available as the official language of the dissertation. I very much welcome students from abroad and Germany. If English or German is not your first language you will need to provide proof of language proficiency prior to admission to the lab. There are also several options for financing (there is currently no tuition in Berlin), some of which are mentioned in the following.

The lab participates in the FU program with the China Scholarship Council for Ph.D. students. If your school qualifies, feel free to contact us.

A list of German agencies that provide scholarships for Ph.D. students is here.

If you are an international student, there are other programs, for example the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).

General info about the doctorate at the FU Berlin in biology can be found in here. 

Graduate students (MSc)

Interested in a Master’s? We participate in the Master’s in ‘Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology’ and also the general ‘Biology’ MSc. For further information, please consult the web pages here. Please contact us early on about research opportunities. Occasionally we list available MSc thesis topics here.

Bachelorarbeiten/ BSc theses

Wir haben immer Bachelorarbeiten zu vergeben. Bitte rechtzeitig bewerben unter Angabe der Interessen und bereits besuchten Kurse. Weitere Informationen hier.

Other student researchers (e.g. Erasmus)

Undergraduate students and recent graduates are always welcome to join us; we have a history of involving students and visitors in research. We have also hosted several Erasmus exchange students and Leonardo da Vinci students in our lab; feel free to contact us with your specific interests.