Information on doctorial studies at the Technical University of Darmstadt can be found under Doctoral Studies at TU Darmstadt.
The basis of doctoral research in our department are the following regulations:
Doctoral degree regulations TU Darmstadt (German) (opens in new tab)
Doctoral degree regulations special provisions of the Department of Law and Economics, 2020 (English) (opens in new tab) – Please note: The English translation is for information purposes only. The legally binding document is the German version.
Within the department, the Doctoral Board is responsible for the formal implementation of doctoral procedures. It is supported by the Departmental Management (E-Mail: promotion@wi.tu-…), through which many procedural steps described here are handled.
At a university-wide level, the umbrella organisation Ingenium – Young Researchers at TU Darmstadt promotes university-wide standards in the doctoral and postdoc phases and provides offers and information with regard to further qualification and networking.
(see § 11 para. 3 of the special provisions)
Supervision is provided by a full-time professor at the department. The topic of the dissertation must be agreed with the supervisor. You can find information about the professors and their main research areas under Research Groups.
Once the topic of the dissertation has been agreed, the supervisor's willingness to take on the supervision of your dissertation is recorded informally in writing on the basis of the confirmation of supervision (see Downloads).
Online registration via TUCaN is mandatory for a doctorate, enrolment as a ‘doctoral student’ is optional.
This requires the written confirmation of the supervisor. Please inform yourself about the enrolment/registration.
(see § 7 of the doctoral degree regulations)
The application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate must be submitted to the chairperson of the Doctoral Board and consists of the documents according to the application (opens in new tab) . The required documents must be submitted in full and in due time to the Departmental Office in paper form.
The application will be dealt with by the Doctoral Board, and you will then be informed by email. There are usually two to three meetings of the Doctoral Board per semester. Please note the announcement of the next meeting date on the department's website. Your application should be received by the Departmental Office at least two weeks prior to the meeting.
! Please always provide us with your currently valid e-mail address and your postal address. If you change your name, we ask you to send us proof!
(see § 8 of the doctoral degree regulations)
After completing the dissertation, you must inform the Departmental's Office via promotion@wi.tu-… in good time that you will be applying to initiate the doctoral examination procedure.
The Departmental's Office will then provide you with a folder in the Hessenbox in which you can submit your dissertation in PDF/A-format as well as the necessary electronic documents.
The documents must be uploaded to the Hessenbox folder in accordance with the form to initiate the doctoral examination procedure (opens in new tab) .
Please also submit the documents in accordance with the form to initiate the doctoral examination procedure to the Departmental's Office.
! Please note: The procedure can only be processed and submitted to the Doctoral Board if the documents are submitted in full and in due time in electronic and in paper form.
Printed copies of the dissertation:
- Printed copies of the dissertation can be requested by the referees. Please clarify this in advance and hand out the print copies directly to the referees.
In case of a remote defence:
- In the case of a remote defence, the agreement of all members of the examination committee must be submitted with the application to initiate the doctoral procedure (see form to initiate the doctoral examination procedure (opens in new tab) ).
In case of a thesis defence in English:
- The application for an English-language defence (opens in new tab) to the doctoral board is required. The Doctoral Board authorises a defence in a foreign language subject to the approval of the examination committee. The doctoral candidate must obtain the consent of the members of the examination committee.
The doctoral board appoints the examination committee on the recommendation of the doctoral candidates. Please submit proposals for the composition of the examination committee in accordance with the doctoral regulations.
The application will be dealt with by the doctoral board, and you will then be informed by email. There are usually two meetings of the doctoral board per semester. Please note the announcement of the next meeting date on the department's website. Your application should be received by the Departmental's Office at least two weeks prior to the meeting.
! Please always provide us with your currently valid e-mail address and your postal address. If you change your name, we ask you to send us proof!
The dissertation defence can be held in the following ways:
- In presence: Doctoral candidates and all members of the examination committee meet physically in one room. The Departmental's Office books the room.
- Hybrid: One or several member(s) of the examination committee who are unable to attend in person can participate in the dissertation defence electronically. The Departmental's Office books the room. The supervising department of the defence is responsible for the proper technical implementation.
- As a remote defence, i.e. as an electronic remote exam. This form requires an application via the doctoral board (see above). The supervising department of the dissertation defence is responsible for the proper technical implementation.
Before you can start your doctoral procedure, it is necessary to agree on the format with the members of your examination committee. Please inform the Departmental's Office of the date and the format of your dissertation defence.
It is the responsibility of the first referee to appoint a person to keep record of the proceedings.
In case of a hybrid defence or a remote defence, compliance with the E-Prüfungssatzung must be adhered and implemented by the Chair of the examination board.
This means among other things:
- The consent of all members of the examination committee and the doctoral candidate must be obtained in advance.
- The format of the dissertation defence must be recorded in the protocol.
- The identity of the electronically connected participants must be ensured and recorded in the protocol.
- The procedure in the event of technical faults, compliance with data protection and/or the procedure in the event of a lack of quorum in accordance with the E-Prüfungssatzung must be adhered.
The timely invitation to the dissertation defence is issued by the Departmental's Office. The dissertation and the evaluations must be available for inspection at least two weeks before the defence and must be made available to the Departmental's Office accordingly.
(see §§ 19 to 21 of the doctoral regulations)
The publication of the dissertation must be uploaded to the University Publication Server of the University and State Library within one year of the successful dissertation defence. This is required in any case, even if the publication is to be made by the publisher in an electronic or print version. The version of the dissertation to be published must be checked by the referee for fulfilment of any conditions and approved for publication.
In addition, the dissertation must be accompanied by an abstract in German and English, which must also be approved by the referee together with the release for publication.
In any case, an updated version of the declaration of dissertation and transfer of rights must be submitted to the Departmental's Office (that is, a second time) before publication.
Requirements for the title page of a dissertation:
German version (opens in new tab)
English version (opens in new tab)
Please contact the University and State Library directly for information on publication.
The dissertation projects that have been completed in the department can be found here .
If you no longer wish to pursue your doctorate after you have applied for acceptance as a doctoral candidate, please submit the cancellation of your doctoral relationship (see downloads).
