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Overview Curriculum and Training

Overview of the general IMPRS course program

The IMPRS on Astrophysics offers a mandatory course program consisting of an Introductory Course, a set of Advanced Courses and the IMPRS Student Symposia. In addition, various optional Soft-skill Courses are offered as part of the IMPRS program:

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Introductory Course

The IMPRS Introductory Course is combined with the LMU M.Sc. course Essentials of Advanced Astrophysics. It consists of approximately 30 lectures (2 hours each) that provide a broad brush overview of astrophysics with emphasis on basics, key physics, phenomenology, and order of magnitude estimates. The contents are an abridged version of the program of the IMPRS Advanced Courses. 

Outline of the IMPRS Introductory Course:

  • Introduction and overview (telescopes, instruments, slide show...)
  • Matter and radiation
  • Stars: global properties and spectra
  • Stellar structure, evolution and final stages
  • Interstellar medium, star formation and exo-planets
  • Galaxies: phenomenology
  • Stellar dynamics
  • Stellar populations, chemical evolution and star formation
  • Dark Matter, Gravitational lensing
  • Groups and clusters of galaxies
  • Active galactic nuclei and massive black holes
  • Cosmological standard model
  • Formation of structure in the universe
  • Galaxy formation and evolution

Every IMPRS student is supposed to pass an exam at the end of the course (usually in February/March after the PhD start).

The main purpose of the exam is to assess the student's general astronomical background and to indicate where further learning is desirable. Students are graded A (very good), B (good), C (acceptable), D (sufficient), F (fail). Students with a grade of F can repeat the examination if they did not pass the first time.

 

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Advanced Courses

Our IMPRS Advanced Course program consist of nine one-week morning lectures on various topics. It is compulsory to attend at least 7 of these lectures within the three-year doctoral period.

  • Advanced course 1-3: 
    Three one-week courses, each of 5 times 3 ½ hours a day, on Observational Astrophysics from Radio to Gamma-rays, Physics of Accretion Discs and accretion on Black Holes
  • Advanced course 4-6: 
    Three one-week courses, each of 5 times 3 ½ hours a day, on Galaxy and Galaxies & Interstellar Matter and Star Formation & Stellar Atmospheres
  • Advanced course 7-9: 
    Three one-week courses, each of 5 times 3 ½ hours a day, on Cosmology & Large Scale Structure & Stellar Structure and evolution & Active Galactic Nuclei

In addition to the courses taught at the IMPRS on Astrophysics, most of our lecturers teach courses at the LMU or TUM in the frame of the universities' regular course program. These lectures can also be attended by our IMPRS students and can be credited towards the course program. For a comprehensive list see the websites of LMU and TUM.

A complete list of the previous IMPRS courses can be found at Previous Courses. 

 

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Student Symposia

Twice a year, we hold our IMPRS Student Symposia. It is mandatory for our students to give at least two presentations at our symposia during their participation in IMPRS. The presentations can be on their own research work, on journal articles or other relevant research.

The symposia are organized by the students in their first year under the motto “for students by students” with the supported by of our student representatives. This allows our students to gain initial experience of what it is like to work in a LOC for a scientific event. 

The symposia are accompanied by 3-5 senior researchers, who themselves give a short presentation on the main topics and give the students feedback on their presentation.
 

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Softskill Courses

We also offer our students a wide variety of soft skills and programming courses, depending on their needs.
The courses cover areas such as career planning, time and project management, presentation techniques, language training, Python programming, GIT & Shell programming, and more.

Our IMPRS students also have the opportunity to take part in the Planck-Academy training courses, which also offer a wide range of soft skills courses specifically tailored to the doctoral study phase: https://www.mpg.de/career/planck-academy

International students do have the option to take part in in-house German classes. We might also provide financial support for German courses offered by external providers.

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