Doctoral Studies (Ph.D)

Step 0 – Doctoral agreement

The prerequisite for acceptance as a doctoral candidate is the finalization of a doctoral agreement with the supervisor.

• Doctoral agreement (pdf)
• Hinweisblatt zur Promotionsvereinbarung (pdf)

Step 1 – Acceptance as a doctoral candidate

You must submit the application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate online via HISinOne (see Wiki).

The application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate is generated in the last step from the information entered.

After completion, please send the printed and signed application together with all other necessary documents (§ 6 Abs. 2, PromO vom 06.06.2016) to the Examination Office Physics. Please note that a decision on acceptance as a doctoral doctoral candidate can only be made on the basis of a complete application. The decision on acceptance is made by the doctoral committee.

Documents to be submitted to the Examination Office

• Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate
• Attachment for foreign university degrees (pdf)
• Doctoral agreement
• The following documents have to be considered:
  • DFG Guidelines for safeguarding good research practice (pdf)
  • Regulations of the University of Freiburg on Safeguarding Academic integrity

You will be informed of the decision of the doctoral committee by a letter which, in the event of rejection, includes reasons for the rejection (§ 7 Abs. 3 Satz 3 RPO).

Submission deadlines for the application for acceptance:

• for German university degrees: two weeks before the meeting of the doctoral committee,
• for foreign university degrees: three weeks before the meeting of the doctoral committee

A certificate of acceptance/rejection as a doctoral candidate can only be issued after the decision of the doctoral committee.

Step 2 – Obligation to matriculation or register

According to the general doctoral regulations (RPO), all doctoral candidates at the University of Freiburg are required to enroll or register. If you are already enrolled, registration is not necessary.

Information on enrollment and registration:

• Flyer [German] [English]
• Compulsory enrollment (Freiburg Graduate Center)

Step 3 – Opening of the doctoral procedure & submission of the dissertation

By submitting the dissertation, the doctoral candidate applies for the opening of the doctoral procedure.

• The application for the opening of the doctoral procedure (pdf) and the dissertation must be submitted to the examination office no later than ten weeks (§ 9 para. 2 and para. 4 of the Doctoral Regulations of 06.06.2016) before the oral examination date.
  If you fail to meet the submission deadline, the oral exam date may have to be postponed.
• If partial results of the dissertation have already been published, copies of the corresponding publications must be submitted with the dissertation.
• Please propose your examiners (in addition to your supervisor, one experimental physicist and one theorist) using this form (pdf).
  

The doctoral committee appoints the examination committee for the oral examination in accordance with § 10 (1) PromO of 06.06.2016.

Once the examiners have been assigned, you and the assigned examiners will receive an email and can then schedule an examination date. Please be sure to inform the examination office of the examination date so that the examiners can be notified of the deadline for submitting their reports in a timely manner.
 

The following guidelines apply to the preparation and submission of a cumulative dissertation in the field of physics:

Guidelines of the Faculty for Mathematics and Physics for the submission of a cumulative dissertation in physics (pdf)

Step 4 – Disputation / Oral Examination

The oral defense, which can be held in German or English, is an in-depth scientific debate, which is intended to show that the doctoral candidate has mastered the subject area from which the dissertation originates and is familiar with current developments in his/her field. It also extends to selected topics in topics in related subject areas that are factually and methodologically related to the field of work. The disputation has duration of approximately 90 minutes; it begins with an approximately 30-minute presentation by the doctoral candidate on the dissertation. The chairperson of the examination committee leads the defense; he/she may also take questions from the questions from the public about the doctoral candidate’s doctoral candidate. The disputation is open to the faculty.

Step 5 – Publishing the dissertation

The doctoral candidate is obliged to submit a thesis within one year after passing the oral examination, where applicable with the amendments requested or approved by the or approved by the examination committee, to the scientific public in an appropriate manner by means of by reproduction and dissemination.

Prior to publication, the dissertation must be submitted to the permission to print to the supervisor responsible for the thesis: Printing permission (pdf)

The following forms of publication are permitted:

1. Electronic publication via the Freiburg University Library’s research information system FreiDok, plus submission of four printed copies (two printed copies for physics doctorates) together with an electronic version
2. Publication by a commercial publisher and proof of a minimum print edition of 150 copies, as well as identification of the publication as a dissertation with indication of the dissertation affiliation in the imprint (plus submission of four copies)
3. Publication in a scientific journal plus submission of four reprints
4. Publication of the individual papers of a cumulative dissertation in scientific journals plus submission of six printed copies of the entire dissertation

The names of the examiners and of the dean, as well as the date of the oral examination, must be indicated on the back of the title page of the mandatory copie

• Template for the title page (docx)

Step 6 – Completion of the doctorate and certificate

The doctorate is awarded by handing over the certificate is completed.

The doctoral degree certificate is only issued when the doctoral candidate has submitted the deposit copies of the dissertation to the Faculty of Mathematics and Mathematics and Physics.

Before the doctoral certificate is issued, the doctoral candidate must doctoral candidate does not have the right to use the doctoral degree degree, not even with a supplement.