PhD and MD-PhD Program on Translational Visual Neurosciences
Call for fellowship applications
Vision is a key sense of humans and dysfunction of the visual system leads to visual handicap or blindness. The IOB PhD and MD-PhD Program in Translational Visual Neurosciences provides opportunities to explore the function and dysfunction of the eye and visual brain, as well as to pioneer therapies for eye diseases.
>> Read carefully about our Fellowships, Admission requirements and Application process before applying.
>> The application period is now closed. It will reopen in Fall 2025.
Curriculum
In addition to participating in world-leading vision research, IOB also offers:
- A lectures series on vision, eye diseases and therapies
- Practical courses in state of the art physiological, molecular and translational technologies
- A biweekly Internal seminars (incl. Journal and Data Club)
- Training in transferable skills such as scientific writing and scientific presentation
- In addition to the annual IOB retreat, the PhD program also offers the opportunity to participate in a summer school or a conference once a year.
IOB PhD and MD-PhD candidates are enrolled at the University of Basel and can participate in a wide range of courses and trainings, for example in the Graduate Teaching Programme of the Biozentrum
Table: PhD/MD-PhD students’ typical curriculum at IOB
1st year | 2nd year | 3rd year | 4th/5th year |
Registration /matriculation at Uni Basel |
|
| Thesis writing/Defense |
Selection of second supervisor/signing doctoral agreement /first PAC* meeting | Second PAC meeting | Third PAC meeting | PAC meeting |
Lecture series/practical courses/Internal seminars | Internal seminars | Internal seminars | Internal seminars |
Courses e.g. Science integrity, LTK (rodent handling) | Additional courses (technical courses) | Soft skill courses (such as scientific writing) |
|
Participation in the annual IOB retreat | |||
Participation in scientific events (1 event/ student/year) | |||
*PAC: PhD Advisory Committee
Research Groups
Molecular Research Center:
Rava Azeredo da Silveira: Theoretical & computational Neuroscience Group
Felix Franke: Quantitative Visual Physiology Group
Botond Roska: Central Visual Circuits & Human Retinal Circuits Groups
Clinical Research Center:
Bence György: Ophthalmic Translational Research Group
Peter Maloca: Ophthalmic Imaging and OCT Group
Carlo Rivolta: Ophthalmic Genetics Group
Frank Schaeffel: Myopia Research Group
Our PhD Community in numbers (end 2024):
- IOB counts 14 PhD students & 5 MD-PhDs.
- A 89% of our PhD students are international.
- With a diverse mix of 16 nationalities.
- 2.23% acceptance rate among applicants
Contact
For any inquiries, feel free to reach out to us at phd-program@iob.ch
Please note that we accept applications only through our application portal and applications received via email will not be taken into account.