The DFG Research Training Group 1411 "The Economics of Innovative Change" is a distinguished PhD programme in Economics, jointly offered by the Department of Economics of the Friedrich Schiller University and the Max Planck Institute of Economics, both in Jena, Germany. We offer a comprehensive PhD-level training to 40 outstanding young graduates. The programme is international and highly committed to quality in teaching and research. All academic activities of the PhD programme are conducted in English.

The programme

The PhD group hosts doctoral candidates from the Max Planck Intistute of Economics and from the Friedrich Schiller University. Additionally, highly competitive scholarships sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG) are awarded to 12 selected PhD candidates. The PhD students are expected to complete their PhD projects within 3 years. The first year is devoted to improving the theoretical knowledge and competences, while the second and the third year concentrate on the dissertation-related research. The programme offers a 2-week summer school each year, and for the second or third year a research-stay at a partner university abroad for about three months. The programme serves as a platform for collaboration, as a facilitator of joint scientific activities, and as a forum for knowledge exchange. It also provides senior expertise for junior research training in all necessary areas of competence: thematic, methodological, and transferable skills such as networking, scientific management, time management, and career planning.

Research Topics

Allowing for a broad concept of "innovation" we address a wide range of topics: industrial dynamics; entrepreneurship; innovation decisions and behaviour; competition, cooperation and strategic interaction in innovation; innovation in the development of consumption and consumer behaviour; human capital, skills and employment; innovation and regional development; innovation and economic dynamics of developing countries; energy, environment and innovation; innovation policy, and innovation management. The analytical approaches we pursue range from theoretical and empirical modeling, game theory, simulation analysis to experimental economics.

Courses

Through methodological and theoretical courses the programme deepens the capabilities of our PhD students to conduct a world-class research in economics. The courses are proposed both by the faculty and by the PhD students. Here you find an overview of our current and past courses.

Seminars

Wednesdays are seminar days. Our PhD students are welcome to invite distinguished scholars from all over the world to present their current work and discuss it with the group. At least once a year the PhD students present their own dissertation progress. Their work is then discussed and refereed by peers and senior researchers. Please visit our calender with external-guest seminars and PhD-student seminars.

Research environment

The PhD group shares the capabilities, the resources, and the facilities of the University in Jena and the Max Planck Institute of Economics. Additionally it is integrated in an environment of related graduate programmes in social sciences. The Graduate Academy is further dedicated to supporting PhD students with additional advice, courses, and financial aid.

Jena

You are not the first historically important person who decided for the educational excellence of the 450-year old University of Jena. Philosophers such as Shelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Schiller, mathematicians such as Leibniz and Frege, and physicists such as Ernst Abbe studied and worked in Jena.

Today Jena is a lively city with a strong presence of students and researchers. Besides the University, Jena hosts 3 Max Planck Institutes, a Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering, a Leibniz Institute for Age Research, and a University of Applied Sciences. The historical presence of companies such as Carl Zeiß and SCHOTT make Jena a world center of optics research. Check what Jena can offer for you today.