Graduate Research Center
Graduate Research Center for Machine Learning, Robotics, Life Sciences, and Interactive Systems
In August 2025, we achieved our goal: The Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (BHT) and the Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Economics (HTW Berlin) were given the authorization to award doctorate degrees. This is a decisive step toward permanently establishing excellent, application-oriented research and producing young, qualified scientists at both universities. Together with the establishment of the interdisciplinary “Machine Learning, Robotics, Life Science, and Interactive Systems” Graduate Research Center, both universities created a strong institutional framework that fosters doctoral students engaging in top-notch science — and are sending a clear signal for the future of research at universities of applied sciences.
©M. Jansen 2025
PIs‘ right to confer doctorate degrees
Besides being members of this Graduate Research Center, all principal investigators of the “Berlin Initiative Applied Foundation Model Research (Appl-FM)” Research Impulse were authorized to award doctorate degrees. This means that doctoral students of the Graduate Research Center can complete their degrees entirely at BHT or HTW without a formal affiliation with another research university, as the Graduate Research Center provides a high-performance research environment with clear structural conditions and close, qualified supervision. The authorization to award doctorate degrees will significantly strengthen the advancement of young scientists at BHT and HTW in the long term.
Interdisciplinary, Application-oriented, Future-oriented, Socially Aware
The Graduate Research Center stands for a future-oriented research program that develops innovative data-driven models and methods, and that consistently focuses on generalizability, multimodality, and transfer to real-world applications. It combines excellent fundamental research with application-oriented projects, specifically emphasizing their relevance to social issues.
The thematic focus ranges from robotics and interactive human-machine systems to predictive medicine, quantitative biology, and sustainable biological processes. These areas of research are highly topical, interdisciplinary, and significant far beyond the realm of science. Working in these areas requires not only deep expertise, but also close collaboration between different disciplines — such collaboration is a hallmark of our Graduate Research Center.
The Graduate Research Center further reflects the profile of BHT: application-oriented, interdisciplinary, and socially effective. It combines scientific excellence with practical relevance and creates attractive prospects for young scientists who want to complete their doctorates in a dynamic, cooperative environment. With the Graduate Research Center, the BHT is positioning itself as a visible and active player in the national and international scientific community, and as a place where the future is being shaped.
Further information on the Graduate Research Center:
Promotionsrecht@BHT: BHT Berlin
Official press release from the Berlin Senate Department for Higher Education and Research, Health, and Long-Term Care: Berlin verleiht erstmals Promotionsrecht an zwei Hochschulen für angewandte Wissenschaften – Berlin.de
How to Become a PhD Student
Since August 2025, you can do your whole doctorate at BHT or HTW Berlin, supervised by one of the principal investigators of the Graduate Research Center. You do not need a partner university.
You need a master's degree with very good results. A master's degree from a university of applied sciences counts the same as one from a university.
The first step is to find a supervisor. Look through our research projects and team, and contact the principal investigator whose work matches your interests. The doctorate pages of BHT and HTW Berlin explain the requirements and the application in detail.