Doctoral studies at ENI

Relevant information about the Ph.D. Program at the ENI, application process, requirements, and information about doctoral studies at the University of Stuttgart, and Germany in general.

Doing your Ph.D. in Stuttgart

The ENI institute is part of Faculty 10 at the University of Stuttgart. We regularly open positions for Ph.D. applications; however, completing a Ph.D. is a demanding and often challenging process (taking at least three years of equivalent full-time work). You can find some additional information on this page to help you in the following steps.

First of all, we are pleased that you have found your way to us and are considering continuing your academic career at ENI. At our institute, we see a Ph.D. education as an excellent toolset for independent research work in academia, industry, or as an entrepreneur.  

Doing your Ph.D. at ENI gives you access to Stuttgart's dynamic, innovative and entrepreneurial region and the excellent research area of Baden-Wurttemberg. The presence of companies like Mercedes-Benz, Daimler Trucks, Bosch, Festo, Porsche, Mahle, Trumpf, Stihl, Vector Informatic, Nokia, and many others makes it a unique environment. But not only do the established companies stand out, the start-up scene in Stuttgart has also developed rapidly in the last years, and we have significant initiatives like the Gründermotor and StartupCampus 0711 building the entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Castle Square in Stuttgart
Stuttgart has not only excellent established companies, but also a flourishing start-up scene

Regarding your doctoral academic training at ENI, you can expect to be exposed to promising research projects with highly qualified researchers in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation science, with access to training activities across the university and national and international courses and workshops.

Before taking further steps, you must familiarize yourself with the following links.

The Ph.D. program at ENI

The ENI is the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science at the University of Stuttgart. As an institute, we have our specific research areas and priorities. To consider your application, you must check that the institute’s research focuses and strengths align with your project. Also, we recommended looking at our earlier publications. An equally important aspect is carefully checking the Faculty 10 requirements for a Ph.D. applicant.

At our Institute, we expect that Ph.D. students complete their Ph.D. as a compendium of publications (up to 5), with an explicit demonstration of excellent research work (including articles in high-quality journals in international lists), and with a visible potential impact of the research results beyond the academic context.

Our institute has its Ph.D. program with extensive supervision and support. This includes specific support regarding topics and methods, literature and information technologies, regular research seminars, and a doctoral consortium. Consequently, our capacity is also minimal. Hence, we have only exceptional options to supervise external Ph.D. projects where the Ph.D. student is employed full-time at other institutions. See here for our current open positions.

ARENA2036 at the dusk
The ENI has its offices in the ARENA 2036

Application process:

The first necessary step is to secure funding for your Ph.D. studies. This external funding needs to cover your tuition fees as a Ph.D. student at the University of Stuttgart, the enrolment to courses and workshops, participation in at least one national and one international conference per study year, and your traveling and living costs. See below for information on funding options and the visa application process for international students. Please note that we can only reply to requests which include all these materials.

We process application requests on a rolling basis but enroll Ph.D. students in cohorts (once a year), generally in September-October. Also, to consider your application, we need the following documents (as .docx or .pdf) to be sent via email.

  • Motivation letter (1 page) explaining reasons to do the Ph.D., topic selection, personal connection to the topic, and Ph.D. expectations.
  • Research proposal (max three pages), mentioning the topic, state of the art, ideas on how to design research that contributes to the existing state of the art, expected results, and impact.
  • GMAT / GRE test results (scan of results as .pdf file – official transcripts might be requested later in the process).
  • CV (max three pages) with details on education, prior positions, and other relevant qualifications.
  • Proof of funding or funding support letter

Please send the materials to our secretary  with the email title “Application for a Ph.D. position at ENI - Uni Stuttgart.”

Contact

This image shows Ferran Giones

Ferran Giones

Dr.

Deputy Director

This image shows Birgit Wittorf

Birgit Wittorf

 

Team Assistant

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