Among Szilárd library special collections, EMBL PhD theses collection stands out – it represents the past, the present and the future of scientific research at EMBL and its influence worldwide.

As soon as the first collaborations for doctoral research were carried out during the 1970s at EMBL labs, and later since the EMBL International PhD Programme was established, the theses were collected at Szilárd Library. Over time the Szilárd Library became the repository of EMBL PhD theses.

In this collection there are more than one thousand thesis that are bound in recognizable “EMBL thesis” blue hard cover, thank to Mr Kai Ortlieb and his bookbinder craft-shop from Eppelheim-Heidelberg.

Many theses are available online as full text via Library online catalogue.

The first thesis that acknowledges the research done at EMBL was defended by Barbara Ziganke, with title “Zur Quartärstruktur von Mitochondrialem Cytochrom B“, and presented on 7th July 1976 at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in München. From EMBL Annual Report 1975, we learn that Barbara was listed as student at Central Laboratory Heidelberg, Division of Biological Structures.

Most of the theses derived from the collaboration with Heidelberg University. Other important partner universities are University of Cambridge, UGA Grenoble, University of Hamburg, UPF Barcelona, Sapienza University Rome, University of Dundee, KU Leuven, and from all around Europe: Iceland, Croatia, Greece, Portugal…

Theses collection is also a mirror of EMBL research groups over the decades, keeping among others, theses defended as part of Directors’ Research groups (Kafatos Group, Mattaj Group, Heard Group).

Thesis last catalogued in the Szilárd Library catalogue “Somitogenesis unbound” is defended in 2024 and belongs to Maria Costanzo from EMBL Barcelona Ebisuya Group. Not only a scientific excellence, EMBL theses are witnesses of our time, as Maria emphasized in her Acknowledgement section:

“Even here, in this scientific bubble in Barcelona, where the war is not devastating and killing people, the show of its absurdity is on full display. In a historical moment in which even pledging for peace is becoming divisive, louder and stronger: to peace.”

Worthy of mention is the project in the coming years to create a special place at EMBL Heidelberg for the exhibition of this special collection of theses. With training being a cornerstone of EMBL, it will send a wonderful message having special donors, alumni and friends come to meetings in the EMBL PhD theses area and see that EMBL is treating these theses with care.