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International Max Planck Research School for Sustainable Metallurgy - from Fundamentals to Engineering Materials

Opening of 3 PhD positions (m/f/d) for the following projects:

Project 1: “Optimizing microwave plasma-based reduction of metal oxides” under supervision of Prof. von Keudell, Chair for Experimental Physics – Reactive Plasmas at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Ruhr University Bochum
Project 2: “In situ studies of the mechanochemical synthesis of intermetallic compounds” under supervision of Prof. Weidenthaler, Powder Diffraction and Surface Spectroscopy group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim/Ruhr
Project 3: “Atomistic Investigation of Chemomechanical Processes in the Fe–O System” under supervision of Prof. Bitzek, Microstructure and Mechanics group at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials in Düsseldorf

More information and application
Application deadline: 15 May 2026

The IMPRS SusMet is a structured three-year doctoral program conducted entirely in English. It provides a unique combination of excellent research conditions plus an intensive and interdisciplinary teaching program.

The research focuses on the exploration of carbon-free sustainable metallurgy, employing hydrogen as reducing agent, direct electroreduction (electrolysis) and plasma synthesis. Correlated experimental, ab initio and multi-scale techniques are central to our mission. In this context all projects within the program are interdisciplinary - material scientists, chemists, physicists, and engineers work together.

The school is a cooperative effort from two Max Planck Institutes and two universities all located in North Rhine-Westphalia in the west of Germany.

After the successful completion the doctoral degree is conferred by one of the partner universities. In addition, the graduates receive a certificate by the IMPRS SusMet.

The IMPRS SusMet started in January 2022. It is the follow-up school of the IMPRS for Interface Controlled Materials for Energy Conversion (IMPRS-SurMat).

"Being part of SurMat is a great chance to meet talented and interesting people, I am really proud of it." - Dr. Qi Fu, Alumnus IMPRS-SurMat

Our IMPRS alumni are very successful - a remarkable number have become professors:
- Prof. Numan Akdogan, Gebze Teknik University, Turkey
- Prof. Ahmed S.G. Khalil, Fayoum University, Egypt
- Prof. Anna Mechler, RWTH Aachen, Germany
- Prof. Lakshman Neelakantan, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India
- Prof. Hengshan Qiu, Zhengzhou University, China
- Prof. Helge Stein, Technische Universität München, Germany
- Prof. Xiaoxiang Wu, Soochow University, China

More success stories here.