12 Doctoral Research Positions

Job advertisement

Vacancy ID: 239/2026

Closing date: 2026-09-30

The Friedrich Schiller University Jena is a dynamic and innovation-driven university centrally located in Germany. With a broad range of disciplines, it shapes the future through excellent research and teaching. Its scientific excellence is reflected in the profile areas Light – Life – Liberty, which provide pioneering insights and sustainable solutions for the society of tomorrow. Through close collaborations with leading research institutions, innovative companies, and renowned cultural organizations, it advances interdisciplinary developments. With around 17,000 students and approximately 10,000 employees, it defines Jena as a vibrant, internationally connected city of science and innovation.

Within the framework of the interdisciplinary Research Training Group 3014 “Photo-polarizable Interfaces and Membranes” funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG), we seek to fill positions of

12 Doctoral Research Positions

commencing on 01.02.2027 We offer a part-time position (65%, 26 hours per week) limited to 42 month.

The Research Training Group Photo-Polarizable Interfaces and Membranes (PHINT) investigates and implements concepts to use light to drive transient structural changes at interfaces and membranes. In doing so, PHINT researches the relationship between the structure of membranes and interfaces, their light-driven reactivity and how local molecular light-driven chemical events are translated into macroscopic property changes.

Within the interdisciplinary Research Training Group, we offer PhD positions in the following topics:

Lipid membranes with light-controlled ion channels: tuning ion transport and electrical rectification for synthetic biology applications;

Photoswitchable molecules in biomembranes: Advanced fluorescence microscopy for light-driven switching of cellular) lipid membrane organization;

Molecularly thin organic membranes: Light-controlled transversal polarization for charge separation;

2D molecular photoactive nanomembranes with tunable gas permeation properties: Materials synthesis and characterization;

Metal-organic framework: Investigating cooperative effects of the soft porosity and light-induced switching on the mass transport;

Poled inorganic glass surfaces: Structure-property correlations and their sensitivity to optical stimulation;

Revealing the transient charge-density distribution in photo-polarizable membranes by time-resolved second harmonic generation;

Spectroscopic studies of transient light-induced polarization at Prussian Blue-Metal Oxide Interfaces;

Multi-scale multi-layer methods to model light-controlled transport through membranes;

Theoretical description of light-matter interactions in light-controlled structures;

Quantum chemical approaches for modeling and simulation of light-driven processes at inorganic surfaces;

Photo-polarizable interfaces in STEM education: Didactic reconstruction of light-induced switching events on a molecular level.

As part of our international team, you will work on one of the aforementioned topics and – at the same time – be part of an active collaborative consortium, in which you share your scientific results and ideas to stimulate interdisciplinary discussions and take part in a broad qualification programme. As a member of the second cohort of PhD students in our consortium, you will also collaborate with and benefit from the experiences of the members of the first cohort. You will