The main aim of our graduate school is to incorporate all doctoral candidates doing research in the biomedical field into integrated lecture programmes within thesis-related themes. A differentiation between the sixteen cores of our graduate school exists: there are the nine, open-admission (and non-DFG supported) BIOME cores, and there are also the three closed-admission research training groups (RTGs) and three collaborative research centres (CRC) which are funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), as well as one independently-initiated PhD programme.

The academic structures of the BIOME cores resemble those of the stipended research training groups, the distinction being only that the graduate school has created these programmes for those doctorates outside of the RTGs or CRCs, and this without any external bursarial support. The Graduate School of Biomedical Science’s budget for the independently established cores is an initiative of the University of Duisburg-Essen, drawing fiscal support mainly from various internal advocates and partially from external foundations and the industry. 

Being part of a thriving graduate school network has become an imperative in the current global scientific climate. In our pilot research training groups, the amalgamation of local research foci has proven to be immensely beneficial for the cutting edge development of both doctorates and academic staff alike.

Full participation in one of the BIOME cores above for one year is an inherent component of ELAN (Essener Ausbildungsprogramm "Labor und Wissenschaft" für den aerztlichen Nachwuchs), a prestigious doctoral programme for outstanding medical students. ELAN is one of just three such programmes in the whole of Germany which was funded by the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung.