About the program

DigiStrucMed: Digital Transformation in Medicine

The Else Kröner Graduate College “Digital Transformation in Medicine” (DigiStrucMed) is a structured training program for doctoral students in medicine and master's students in computer science, which is carried out in cooperation between Hannover Medical School, the Peter L. Reichertz Institute (PLRI) at TU Braunschweig, the L3S Research Institute at Leibniz University Hannover, and Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

The program enables students of medicine (doctoral candidates) and computer science (master's students working on their thesis) to conduct joint research in the field of “Digital Transformation in Medicine.” Medical students are not required to have or acquire computer science knowledge as part of the program.

► For students

Why DigiStrucMed?

Doctoral theses in medicine, master's theses in computer science

• Framework: A structured training program with a formal framework for project supervision, scientific education, and interdisciplinary communication.
• Supervision: Continuous and close scientific supervision with at least two supervisors from your own discipline and one supervisor from the other discipline.
• Skills acquisition: Medical doctoral candidates (optional for computer scientists): 50 hours of courses in the form of lectures and seminars on relevant topics (e.g., good scientific practice, data protection and data security, data structures, deep learning, statistical analysis, clinical trial design, scientific writing, and presentation techniques).
• Presentations and exchange: Networking among students and intensive interdisciplinary scientific exchange and feedback through an introductory event and several project presentations.
• Financial support: Monthly scholarship of 1,000 € for medical doctoral candidates or financial support for master's students (employment as a student assistant, approx. 450 € per month)
• Conferences & collaborations: Opportunity to participate in conferences and visit collaboration partners.

Timeline

Medical doctoral candidates

• Medical students participating in the DigiStrucMed program interrupt their medical studies for a total of one year: they devote 10 months to practical work on the project and 2 months to analyzing and summarizing the data in writing.
• Doctoral candidates remain enrolled at MHH as students and receive remuneration in the form of a scholarship for a total of 12 months during the research period. They take two semesters off (mandatory) during the funding period. The dissertation is then completed in the following 12 months alongside their studies.
• The project starts on August 1 of each year.

Computer science students

• Master students participating in the DigiStrucMed program can follow the regular curriculum of their university.
• The project starts between August 1 and February 1 of the following year.

Click here to continue to the application process for students ►

► For project leaders

Financial support

• Financial support in the form of scholarships for up to 10 medical doctoral candidates from the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation
• Financial support in the form of hiring up to 10 master's students in computer science as student assistants
• Material support of up to 9,500 € per project (for consumables)
• Support for conference and travel expenses for medical doctoral candidates

Interdisciplinary project development

• Matching of project partners from the fields of medicine and computer science within the framework of a speed dating conference
• Formation of project teams, each consisting of one medical doctoral candidate and one master's student from the field of computer science.
• Cross-project interdisciplinary exchange and networking among participants within the framework of several project presentation events per academic year.

Timeline

Project managers and project leaders participating in the DigiStrucMed program supervise medical doctoral candidates for 12 months or master's students in computer science for 6 months as part of their thesis work. The project starts on August 1 of each year for MD candidates. A later start date is possible for computer science students.

Click here to continue to the application process for project managers ►