Every year, GEAS opens its programme to a new group of doctoral candidates. GEAS offers a structured three-year doctoral programme embedded within a four-year PhD process, with a regional focus on East Asia (China, Japan, Korea). Doctoral dissertations analyse modern or contemporary East Asia in the fields of politics, society, economy, culture, law or history.

Applications for the 2027 intake are open from 15 September 2026 to 15 November 2026. Please register and apply online through the Dahlem Research School Application Portal.

Doctoral candidates are admitted for the fall semester, starting 1 October 2027.

Who can apply

Successful applicants hold an above-average master’s degree in either area studies (Chinese, Japanese or Korean Studies) or a discipline represented at the Graduate School with a focus on East Asia — Political Science, International Law, Public Law, History, Cultural Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Business and Economics, Performance Studies or Transregional Studies. Applicants are not expected to contact potential supervisors before applying, but are encouraged to review the profiles of GEAS members to check that their project fits a supervisor’s research profile. For full details, see Requirements.

The language of communication is English (C1). Successful candidates also have skills in Chinese, Japanese or Korean at B2 or higher. Applicants with native skills in English or one of the East Asian languages have another modern foreign language at B2 or higher.

Please note: dissertation topics in Linguistics, Literary Studies, Education, Film, Media and/or Communication Studies cannot be supervised.

Places and funding

The Graduate School offers nine places for candidates with their own (institutional) funding. Funding may come from other Freie Universität Berlin programmes, from partner institutions in East Asia, or from German and international scholarship organizations, and candidates are supported in securing it. Applicants who do not yet have funding must apply for it at the same time as they apply to the programme, in September/October 2026; we encourage candidates to apply for DAAD scholarships in October 2026. Two candidates with Chinese citizenship can be nominated for a scholarship through the cooperation of Freie Universität and the China Scholarship Council (FUB-CSC) in March 2027. Three outstanding candidates can additionally be nominated for a six-month Starting Grant from the Graduate School in 2027. See Funding for details.

Timeline

Screening of applications takes place from December 2026 to March 2027. Shortlisted candidates are interviewed by video conference in February/March 2027. Applicants are notified of the outcome between late March and early May 2027 (accepted candidates by late March/April, others by April/May). A place is contingent on admission to the relevant PhD procedure at Freie Universität Berlin after acceptance to GEAS; university admission notifications begin in June/July 2027.

On a case-by-case basis, GEAS also admits visiting doctoral candidates funded by partner universities or international scholarships to conduct dissertation-related research for one or two years.

For guidance on writing your research proposal, see Application Proposal. For questions about admission and the online portal, see the Application & Admission FAQ. For further questions, contact us at application@geas.fu-berlin.de.

PhD offices of departments

Every department employs its own graduate office (PhD office). For information on admission, doctoral procedures, requirements, transcripts, rules and regulations, and submitting your dissertation, see their websites or contact persons:

• History and Cultural Studies
• Political and Social Sciences
• Law
• Philosophy and Humanities (info in German)
• Business and Economics