General Information

We are always looking for talented new people to join our team!

Members of the HI department come from around the world and enjoy working in our diverse international environment. All of our work is conducted in English, so we value good oral and written English communication skills. Familiarity with German is helpful but not required.

We pursue interdisciplinary research in haptics and robotics and thus welcome applications from people in a wide range of fields. Many of our current department members have a background in mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or cognitive science.

The main types of opportunities that we offer include:

• Unpaid BOGY internships for local high school students
• Short-term paid internships for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree
• Paid hourly HiWi work for local bachelor's and master's students
• Technician positions
• Research engineer positions
• Research fellowships (typically funded by an external agency such as the Fulbright Scholar Program)
• Visiting graduate student positions at the master’s or doctoral level
• Master’s thesis research positions
• Doctoral research positions (special application required, as explained below)
• Postdoctoral research positions
• Research scientist positions
• Visiting scientist positions for faculty on sabbatical

Individuals who are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in our department should already hold a master’s degree in a related field and should apply directly to one or more of the doctoral programs listed below, observing the respective application deadlines:

• International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS)
• Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems (CLS)
• Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Mechanical Engineering Collaborative Program

If you would like to apply for any position other than doctoral research, please prepare the following materials (preferably in English) and email them to Katherine J. Kuchenbecker at kjk@is.mpg.de :

• A paragraph (or more) explaining why you are interested in working in our department
• Details about which position interests you and when you would hope to work with us
• A PDF of your current résumé or CV
• A PDF of your unofficial transcript from your current or most recent academic program (not needed for research scientist or visiting scientist inquiries)
• PDF’s of up to three of your publications, if you have any
• Names, titles, institutions, and email addresses for two or more professional references

All complete applications will be carefully examined; we usually provide feedback within one month of receipt. We look forward to hearing from you!