Support for Early Career Researchers at the ECDF
The ECDF strongly supports young researchers in interdisciplinary digitalisation research – doctoral students and postdocs in the ECDF community – by offering opportunities to participate in networks, further education, training, career coaching and mentoring.
Thanks to the new ECDF funding formats made possible in the second funding phase since April 2023 (Research Project, Research Circle, Junior Professor) and, in particular, since the expiry of the HEIBRiDS graduate program for the ECDF at the end of 2024, the role and research of early career researchers has become a major focus of the ECDF's profile and activities.
Contact: ecdf-earlycareer@ecdf.tu-berlin.de
HEIBRiDS (2018-2024)
In 2018, the Einstein Center Digital Future together with the Helmholtz Association established a joint graduate program in Data Science, which allowed the three Berlin universities, Charité and six Helmholtz centers in the greater Berlin area to cooperate in different scientific areas. Until 2024, four cohorts started their PhD students. From then altogether 33 fully funded PhD positions, 13 candidates had completed their doctorates by the end of 2024 and transitioned into careers in academia and industry (see HEIBRiDS Alumni).
The Helmholtz Einstein International Berlin Research School in Data Science– or HEIBRiDS for short – is an interdisciplinary program that trains young scientists in Data Science and in other scientific disciplines at the same time! It is our goal to educate a generation of researchers, who are exceptional data scientists and who understand the demands and the challenges of disciplines in which data science is a necessity.
Due to its unique concept in the field of data science graduate education and its success, HEIBRiDS served as a model for the Helmholtz Association in 2019 for the establishment of five additional data science doctoral programs across Germany under the umbrella of the newly founded Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy—HIDA, which continues to be an important cooperation partner of the ECDF in supporting early career researchers.
HEIBRiDS was recognized for successfully attracting high-caliber talent both nationally and internationally and for preparing students for key roles in academia and industry. Since January 2025, following the conclusion of its cooperation with the ECDF, the HEIBRiDS has been institutionalized as a permanently funded project within the Helmholtz Association.
HEIBRiDS in more detail
HEIBRiDS brought together six Helmholtz Centers and four partners from ECDF, all working at the intersection of databases and data mining, machine learning, network science, statistics and statistical physics, information retrieval, applied mathematics, and analyses of complex networks. In particular, collaborative data science projects between a researcher at a Helmholtz Center and a university partner associated with the ECDF have further developed in a variety of domains. These projects opened numerous possibilities for interdisciplinary exchange.
The training program applied – and still does – a tandem training principle involving a supervisor from a Helmholtz partner as well as one of the ECDF partners. Annual meetings with the thesis advisory committee and a combination of a core research program and individual training sessions are the foundation of the training program. Thus, doctoral students develop advanced programming skills and experience with data management systems complementing the application knowledge in their specific field.
Collaborating Helmholtz Centers include the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin for Materials and Energy (HZB), and the Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC). ECDF partners in the program were Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Humboldt-Universität Berlin (HU), and Technische Universität Berlin (TU) as well as Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin.