The Graduate School for Geoinformatics (GSG) provides a structured doctoral education in the interdisciplinary field of Geoinformatics. The concept of the Graduate School relies on the ongoing International Research Training Group (IRTG) on Semantic Integration of Geospatial Integration, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

GI (Geoinformation) is a powerful economic factor: around 80 % of all decisions in society are said to have a spatial component, due to the fact that everything happening happens somewhere at some time. GI is essential to numerous application areas, ranging from environmental and regional planning through transportation and logistics to telecommunication and energy provision. As a result of substantial growth, there is a severe lack of qualified GI professionals in industry, government, and academia. Globally, geospatial technologies are often mentioned as two a high growth industry sector, see here...

The career chances for graduates with GI-related skills can therefore be considered to be very good.

Therefore, the objectives of the Graduate School for Geoinformatics are to

1. create an international center of excellence for research on information integration, with a focus on both, geospatial applications and locational reference as an integration enabler;
2. foster innovation in this area through a highly interdisciplinary research environment;
3. produce a critical mass of excellent graduates with doctoral degrees who will be well positioned to compete internationally for strategic and leadership positions in industry, government, and academia.

The Graduate School for Geoinformatics is not a funded project on its own. Consequently, the call for applications is primarily offering places and supervision for doctoral researchers, which might go along with scholarships or research position (see each specific call).