Pursuing a doctorate at the Technical University of Berlin

Source: https://www.tu.berlin/en/research/advancement-of-junior-scholars/cjs/weitere-seiten/advancement-of-junior-scholars/doctorate Parent: https://www.tu.berlin/en/studying

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There are various ways to obtain a doctorate at the Technische Universität Berlin. The requirements and the examinations to be completed in the form of a dissertation with an academic defense are the same for all doctoral candidates. In all cases, the doctoral regulations of the respective faculties apply as amended. The responsibility for doctorates lies with the respective faculties of Technische Universität Berlin.

There are several online platforms that provide general information about the various doctoral opportunities in Germany:

• Research in Germany
• pathfinder
• Academics PromoCheck

Doctoral regulation\ of the TU Berlin

Doctoral candidate representation

The most common form of doctorate in Germany is the individual doctorate, which differs from other forms of doctorate due to its high degree of self-organization. Here you choose the research topic for your doctorate yourself, albeit often within the framework of a research group or a research project, and are allowed to decide for yourself how best to conduct this research. Regardless of whether you want to conduct your research at a university, a research institution, in a company or independently, you first have to find a professor at a university and convince them to supervise your doctoral project.

A rarer form of doctorate, which is also found in Germany, is the structured doctorate. In this case, you pursue your doctorate in graduate schools, programs or colleges. These programs specify a research area to which the doctoral project must fit and offer supervision, a structured curriculum with compulsory courses as well as specialist and interdisciplinary training and further education. Details on the application and selection procedures can be found in the respective programs (see the two links on the right).

Doctoral programs in Berlin

• A list of doctoral programs at TU Berlin can be found here
• An overview of doctoral programs in Berlin can be found at doctoral-programs.de

If you decide to pursue an individual doctorate, the German academic system offers various options for financing your doctorate, which in turn can affect the planning of your doctorate. The most important funding options are:

• Position as a research assistant at a university (budget or project position)
• Doctoral-related employment in a research institution or company
• Scholarships
• Privately financed doctorate

This is a temporary position in a faculty for which you can apply if you have the professional qualifications.

If the position is funded by the university (“budget position”), you will be involved in teaching for four semester hours per week, but half of your working hours are legally guaranteed for your own research and further education.

Even more frequently, positions are advertised at the TU Berlin for collaboration in externally funded projects - these also often explicitly or implicitly offer the opportunity to do a doctorate.

If you are interested in positions at the TU Berlin, you can find them here.

Many research institutions such as the institutes of the Leibniz or Helmholtz Association or the Max Planck or Fraunhofer Society are looking for people with a Master's degree to work on research projects. It is often possible, or even explicitely supported, to combine work in a research project with a doctoral project, provided that it is compatible with the research project. Other advantages include easier access to resources and proximity to potential supervisors.

In industry, too, you will sometimes find opportunities to combine work in research and development with a doctorate at the university (industrial doctorate).

There are a large number of institutions that award doctoral scholarships. The range of criteria for awarding such doctoral scholarships is just as wide; it is not always just about awarding the top candidates. A scholarship allows you to concentrate (almost) entirely on your own doctoral project. However, you are also solely responsible for organizing the necessary resources (e.g. laboratory equipment, data or research samples) and sometimes have fewer ties to the department. The extent to which your supervisor supports you in this is at their discretion. In view of the sometimes widely varying costs incurred during a doctorate (living expenses, housing allowance, insurance), it is advisable to research thoroughly whether a scholarship is sufficient to finance the entire duration of the doctorate (3-5 years) and, if not, what limits there are on additional earnings.

You can find an overview of existing scholarships here.

If you already have sufficient income to finance your life, you can complete your doctorate in your free time. You are solely responsible for balancing your work life and your doctoral work, and you are also solely responsible for organizing the necessary resources (e.g. laboratory equipment, data or research samples). The extent to which your supervisor supports you in this is at their discretion. In return, you have practically no restrictions in terms of topic, duration or choice of supervision. Here, too, the ties to your department are usually limited.

Financing

In addition to selecting a research topic for your doctorate, you will also need to secure the necessary funding. There are a number of financing options available, whether you decide to pursue an individual doctorate or complete your doctorate within a structured program.

Legal Issues

Which qualifications do I need to pursue a doctorate? What are the regulations for a doctoral procedure and what are my rights and obligations? The following pages provide important information on legal issues and regulations.

Structured doctorate

Here we provide information on the structured doctorate and the existing doctoral programs.

Mobility

Travel broadens the mind – particularly in the area of research. To help support their research work, TU Berlin offers its doctoral candidates a number of funding options for stays abroad. The following pages provide details of the most useful options.

No matter what form you choose for your doctorate, it makes sense to inform yourself comprehensively if you are thinking about pursuing a doctorate.

• Educate yourself in general about doctorates in Germany, but also in other countries
• Ask yourself why you want to do a doctorate and what you want to achieve
• Find out what is expected of doctoral candidates and what challenges they face

If you want to do your doctorate in Germany, you will need a supervisor. For more success in your search, we recommend researching which academics are doing research in the field you are interested in. At which universities or institutions do they work?\ With whom do they work? Doctoral researchers may be able to give you a better insight into the universities or research institutions and are often easier to contact than the professors they work with.\ If you are a student or still have contact with academics from your studies, use these contacts to find people who can advise you.\ Once you have narrowed down your potential supervisors, get an overview of their academic CV. When making contact, it is helpful to write an individual cover letter tailored to the professor.

If you have found a professor at TU Berlin to supervise your doctorate, you will need a written confirmation of supervision from your doctoral supervisor. With this confirmation of supervision, you must register your intent to pursue a doctorate.

The declaration of intent to pursue a doctorate and the doctoral procedure itself are then carried out by the respective faculties, regardless of the type of doctorate. Each faculty has a Faculty Service Center, which is responsible for all formal questions (declaration of intent to pursue a doctorate, admission to the doctoral procedure). The actual doctoral procedure and the granting of the academic degree are the responsibility of the faculty.

If your intention to do a doctorate has been accepted by the faculty responsible for you, you must register as a doctoral student at the TU Berlin Office of Student Affairs in a second step. Research assistants do not have to enrol.

The BerlHG (Berlin State Higher Education Act) stipulates the conclusion of a supervision agreement (BerlHG §35 (5)). Doctoral candidates and supervisors should discuss the details of the doctoral project and the supervisory relationship and record this in writing. However, the form and exact content are up to you. You can use the template for a doctoral agreement as a starting point and the arrangements set out in the doctoral agreement can also be amended if necessary. Contents can be, for example

• how often you should meet for supervision meetings
• what the rough timetable should look like,
• whether there are conferences or further training courses that you should attend, or
• whether articles should be published and in which scientific journals.

What is important is that both the doctoral candidate and the supervisor have exchanged their expectations and requirements beforehand so that there are no misunderstandings.

• Visit the TU Berlin welcome page, where you will find useful information and valuable facts about the TU Berlin and about employment at the TU.
• In addition, there is the page First steps for doctoral researchers and postdocs at TU Berlin with information for anyone starting as a research assistant or beginning a doctorate at TU Berlin.
• Take advantage of the initial consultation offered by the CJS. There you can discuss your questions individually and avoid the “I wish I had known that before”.
• Find out about the continuing education programs offered by TU Berlin.
• Get to know your doctoral candidate representation.

For new doctoral researchers, familiarizing themselves with the work at their chair or in their project is often so complex and time-consuming that their doctoral project can take a back seat. The Onboarding Brochures (EN and DE) contain suggestions and materials that can help make the transition easier.

• Onboarding Brochure for doctoral researchers (pdf, 486 kB)
• Onboarding Brochure for doctoral supervisors (pdf, 494 kB)

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