Studying applied mathematics in an interdisciplinary, internationally embedded, and interconnected way. This concept has proven successful in its first five years of existence—and has now prompted the European Commission to extend it for another five years: it will fund the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's program “InterMaths – Interdisciplinary Mathematics” for four more years starting in 2026, with a total of €4.6 million. Approximately €1 million of this will go to TU Hamburg, which has been offering the master's program since 2021 in cooperation with four other European universities. The majority of the funds will be used for student scholarships.
International flagship
“A great flagship for the TU Hamburg,” says Prof. Anusch Taraz, head of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's program InterMaths, delighted with the successful application and the continuation of the international excellence program at the TUHH. The application process was highly competitive, and the program made it into the 2025 selection round among around 190 applicants for the 37 funded joint programs.
“This program is known worldwide and attracts qualified students. In this way, we not only get to know talented and ambitious mathematicians, but also impressive personalities,” enthuses the mathematics professor – also in view of the fact that two InterMaths students have been awarded the DAAD Prize for international students.
The program also promotes networking at TU Hamburg—with European partners within the consortium as well as within Hamburg, for example with the University of Hamburg, which offers four of the eleven modules, but also with non-university institutions such as DESY and UKE. “In times like these, we as a university believe it is important to once again send a signal about the importance of internationally networked science instead of isolation. And we are delighted to enable young people who are enthusiastic about mathematics to study in Europe, which would otherwise have been unattainable for them,” says Taraz.
At TU Hamburg, as at its partner universities in Vienna, Barcelona, Nice, and L'Aquila, the master's program combines mathematical modeling and simulation with applications from the life sciences and industrial engineering, preparing students for careers in research and industry. Around 50 students have pursued this interdisciplinary course of study at the TUHH to date, with more than 1,000 applying each year.
Focus on imaging in Hamburg
While biomedicine and industry as a whole form a thematic focus of the InterMaths program, the focus in Hamburg from 2026 onwards will be on “Computational Methods for Imaging,” examining the topic of imaging from a mathematical, physical, and computer science perspective – naturally also taking current AI methods into account. “We have refined the program since the first funding period and concentrated on imaging instead of purely biomedical applications,” explains Anusch Taraz. In the third semester alone, four modules are planned in the compulsory program, so that there is an extraordinary focus on this area. The cooperation with the University of Hamburg has also been expanded to include an additional module for the second funding period.
The application phase for the start in September 2026 is expected to begin in November 2025. Further information on the program and the application process can be found on the InterMaths Consortium website www.intermaths.eu.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Anusch Taraz
Head of Erasmus Mundus Joint Master InterMaths
TU Hamburg
Institute of Mathematics
taraz@tuhh.de
