BIGSSS–departs (doctoral education in partnerships) is a full-time international Ph.D. program co-funded by the European Union. It provides close supervision of dissertation work in a demand-tailored education and research environment at the University of Bremen and Bremen’s Jacobs University. Program fellows commit themselves to a 42-month structured curriculum, including a six-month stay abroad at one of the networks’ renowned partner institutions: besides National Research University Higher School of Economics, this group comprises the University of Edinburgh, Duke University, Manipal University, Sciences Po/Paris, Universitá degli studi di Milano, IIR Kiev, UNC at Chapel Hill, Bertelsmann Foundation and Edna Pasher PhD & Associates/Tel Aviv.