Doctorate at the Faculty of Civil Engineering

Das Foto zeigt einen kleinen Bücherstapel. Auf diesem steht ein Doktorhut. Ein Diplom liegt daneben.

We are delighted that you would like to do a doctorate at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. On this website you will find all the important information about this project.

1. admission requirements (doctoral and study regulations)

The requirements of the Faculty of Civil Engineering for applicants for a doctorate are formulated in § 6 of the doctoral regulations of 19.12.2015. Admission to doctoral studies generally requires

a Diplom, Master's or Magister degree from a university or the state examination in an engineering degree program with an overall grade of at least "good" and the corresponding thesis with a grade of at least "good", or
a Diplom, Master's or Magister degree from a university or the state examination in an engineering, mathematics, natural sciences or Business Administration and Economics degree program with an overall grade of at least "good" and the corresponding thesis with a grade of at least "good" as well as an aptitude test passed in accordance with § 7.

In addition, you need a university lecturer / Young Investigator from the Faculty of Civil Engineering who agrees to take on the academic supervision of your doctorate.

2. application for acceptance as a doctoral student (admission)

Admission to doctoral studies is granted upon application to the Faculty's Doctoral Committee in accordance with Section 8 of the Doctoral Regulations of 19.12.2015. The Doctoral Committee will check whether the admission requirements have been met.

Valid regulations and committees:

The application for acceptance as a doctoral student is now made via the online system Promovendus.
Promovendus can be accessed via the Internet at any time. To log in to Promovendus, you need a valid ZIH user account.

Employees or enrolled students automatically receive a ZIH user login. If you do not yet have a ZIH user login at TU Dresden, you can apply for a so-called ZIH guest login via your supervising university professor who will supervise your doctoral or research project. You can find the application form on the website of the Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing (ZIH) at TU Dresden. You can contact your central contact person for all questions and problems with your ZIH user account via the TU Dresden Service Desk.

An application document for acceptance as a doctoral student is created via Promovendus, which you must submit to the Faculty of Civil Engineering:

Postal: TUD Dresden University of Technology
Faculty of Civil Engineering
Dean's Office / Doctoral Affairs
01062 Dresden

or in person to

Mrs. Rehfeld
August-Bebel-Straße 30, Room 03-034
01219 Dresden
Telephone: 0351 463 34279
E-mail:

Documents required for the application

Please note that you must also submit the following documents together with the application for acceptance as a doctoral student:

Officially certified copy and, if applicable, translation into German or English of the university degree certificate relevant for admission
Officially certified copy and, if applicable, translation of the transcript and subject overviews with grades of the university degree relevant for admission
Officially certified copy and, if applicable, translations into German or English of all other university degree certificates and transcripts with subject overviews
Simple copy of the certificate of general higher education entrance qualification (usually Abitur)
Current curriculum vitae (CV) with academic career and signature including documentary evidence of additional studies or examinations already completed in officially certified form
Copy of the supervision agreement with the signature of the faculty lecturer responsible for the subject, including the signature of the university of applied sciences lecturer in the case of cooperative procedures
Written proof (receipt) that a certificate of good conduct to be sent to the faculty has been requested from the responsible registration authority in accordance with § 30 para. 5 of the Federal Central Criminal Register Act (BZRG)

At the same time, we expressly recommend that you become a member of the Graduate Academy of TU Dresden, which is available as a central contact point for all doctoral students and postdocs for questions relating to the doctoral and postdoctoral phase, offers qualification opportunities and funding programs for doctoral students and postdocs (e.g. travel grants and bridging scholarships) and provides opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange and networking.

Further information can be found at: https: //tu-dresden.de/ga

3. official certifications and equivalence checks for foreign university degrees

For acceptance as a doctoral student, you will need officially certified copies and, if necessary, officially certified translations of your university certificates as well as officially certified subject overviews with grades. Information on the certification of documents not issued by TU Dresden can be found on the website of the TU Dresden Certification Office.

If you have obtained a degree abroad or have foreign citizenship, your documents will be sent to the International Office by the Faculty of Civil Engineering for an equivalence check after you have applied for acceptance as a doctoral student. The online database www.anabin.de allows you to find out in advance about the equivalence of your degree.

4. enrolment in the doctoral program

An applicant can only be enrolled as a doctoral student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering if he/she has been accepted as a doctoral student by the doctoral committee in the doctoral student list of the faculty. Further information can be found on the website of the Admissions Office.
Enrolment is voluntary. The enrollment regulations of TU Dresden can be found here.
To apply for enrollment for doctoral studies, please use the following website of the Admissions Office.

5. additional services

Admission to the list of doctoral candidates may be subject to the completion of additional examinations. These are determined by the doctoral committee and communicated to the doctoral student with the letter of admission for acceptance as a doctoral student. In this case, the doctoral student must complete these additional requirements by the time the doctoral procedure is opened in accordance with Section 9 (3) of the Doctoral Degree Regulations dated 19.12.2015.

6 Opening of the doctoral procedure

The application for the opening of the doctoral procedure is made via the online system Promovendus.
You need a valid ZIH user account to log in to Promovendus.

An application document for the opening of the doctoral procedure is created via Promovendus, which you must submit to the Faculty of Civil Engineering.

Postal address: TUD Dresden University of Technology
Faculty of Civil Engineering
Dean's Office / Doctoral Affairs
01062 Dresden

or personally to

Mrs. Rehfeld
August-Bebel-Straße 30, Room 03-034
01219 Dresden
Telephone: 0351 463 34279
E-mail:

Please note that you must also submit the following documents together with the application to open a doctoral procedure:

7 bound copies of the dissertation, in German or English and in electronic form
7 copies of an abstract in German and English as well as in electronic form
Current, tabular curriculum vitae (CV) with academic career and signature
List of scientific publications
Proof of fulfillment of any conditions imposed upon acceptance as a doctoral student
Written proof (receipt) that a certificate of good conduct to be sent to the faculty has been requested from the responsible registration office in accordance with Section 30 (5) of the Federal Central Criminal Register Act (BZRG)
written declarations on the opening of the doctoral procedure (see annex to the doctoral regulations)

Both the dissertation and the defense of the dissertation can be written or conducted in German or English. All further information can be found in the doctoral degree regulations dated 19.12.2015.

7 Cumulative dissertations

For cumulative dissertations, at least three articles must be listed in the Web of Science and at least two of them must be written in English (decision of the Faculty Board of 25.11.2020).

8. certificate of good conduct

To apply for acceptance as a doctoral student and for the opening of the doctoral procedure, you will need written proof (receipt) that a certificate of good conduct has been applied for from the responsible registration authority in accordance with § 30 para. 5 of the Federal Central Register Act (BZRG) to be sent to the faculty. The certificate of good conduct is valid for approx. 3 months and can be applied for on the day of submission of the documents for admission as a doctoral student or for the opening of the doctoral procedure. When applying for the certificate of good conduct (e.g. at the registration office, Theaterstraße 11, 01067 Dresden), the following address must be given:

TUD Dresden University of Technology
Faculty of Civil Engineering
Dean's Office/Doctoral Affairs
01062 Dresden

9 Completed doctorates and alumni network

Previously completed doctorates can be viewed in the doctoral archive.
You can register for the alumni network especially for early-career researchers at any time in the online system Promovendus. If you no longer have a valid ZIH user account, please use the alumni form. Registration is of course voluntary.

Alumni network of the TU Dresden

We would also like to draw your attention to the general alumni network of TU Dresden .