Doctorate Studies

Welcome to the Faculty for Environmental Sciences

We are happy to know that you are interested in acquiring a doctoral degree at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and wish you great success on your endeavour!

On this website, you will find all the important information you will need.
If you have any questions, please turn to your supervising professor or the mentioned contacts, first.

1. Requirements (Doctoral Degree and Study Regulations)

The requirements for doctoral candidates at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences are stated within § 6 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations of 22.08.2014. Generally, a higher education including the completion of a study course with a standard study period of at least eight semesters (usually acquiring a diploma, or a final paper after a master study course) is required for admission. Additionally, you need a professor or a TU Young Investigator of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences who is willing to take on the task of supervising the scientific aspect of your doctoral examination procedure. According to the new Doctoral Degree Regulations which is expected to come into force at the end of 2023, you need a second supervisor usually from the TU Dresden with habilitation-adequate achievements.

2. Application for the acceptance as a Doctoral Candidate (Admission)

To be accepted as a doctoral candidate, your application must be submitted to the Doctoral Board according to § 6,7 and 8 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of 22.08.2014.The Doctoral Board (Promotionsausschuss) will check whether all requirements for admission are met.

Please take note that you currently can only acquire the academic title PhD at our faculty, if you are admitted to the doctoral studies programme "PhD Programme in Integrated Management of Water, Soil and Waste".

The acceptance into the numbers of doctoral candidates is based on the applicant’s commitment to graduate from the Faculty of Environmental Sciences within the next six years.

With immediate effect, the application for the acceptance as a doctoral candidate occurs through the online-system Promovendus.

3. Promovendus

Within the TU Dresden network, Promovendus is accessible at all times. To log in to Promovendus, you need a valid ZIH account.

Staff or enrolled students are automatically provided with a login to a ZIH account. If you do not have a ZIH account at the TU Dresden yet, you can request a ZIH guest-login from the professor supervising your doctoral/research endeavour.

You can find the request form on the website of the Zentrum für Informationsdienste und Hochleistungsrechnen (ZIH) of the TU Dresden.

The Service Desk of the TU Dresden is your main contact for all questions and problems related to the ZIH-account.

A document with your application for the acceptance as a doctoral candidate will be created through Promovendus, which you have to submit to the Faculty of Environmental Sciences.

Please send this/your complete* application form in print to the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences with the following address:

TU Dresden
Prodekan der Fakultät Umweltwissenschaften
Dekanat/Promotionsamt (Hülsse-Bau)
Helmholtzstr. 10
01062 Dresden

*) Please take note that you will have to submit the following documents in addition to your application for the acceptance as a doctoral candidate

Certified copy of the degree certificate relevant for admission and (if needed) a German/English translation
Certified copy of said degree’s subject lists including grades and (if needed) a German/English translation
Certified copy and (if needed) German/English translation of all other university degree certificates
Copy of certificate for general admission to the university (i.e., High School Diploma)
Original agreement of supervision (incl. work schedule) with the supervising professor of the faculty, signed by the professor and professor of the University of Applied Sciences In cooperative doctoral procedures
current CV with scientific career, list of publications, signature, and a contact address
certified documentary proof of already concluded additional studies or examinations
certificate of good conduct or written proof of application (receipt) according to § 30 Abs. 5 Bundeszentralregistergesetz (BZRG) at the office of residence.

4. Official certificates and equivalence checks of foreign degrees

To be accepted as a doctoral candidate, you need certified copies and, if needed, certified translations of your university degree certificates, as well as certified subject lists including grades.

You can find information on the official certification of documents that haven’t been issued by TU Dresden on the website of TU Dresden’s office for certification.

Should you have acquired a university degree abroad, or have foreign citizenship, your documents will be sent to the TUD International Office for an equivalence review, before your application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences. The online databank www.anabin.de enables you to educate yourself about the equivalence of your university degree in beforehand.

5. Enrolment (Doctoral Studies)

It is only possible to be enrolled as a doctoral studies student at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, if the applicant has been admitted to the register of doctoral candidates of the faculty by the Doctoral Board. You can find additional information on the websites of the enrolment office.

For structured doctoral programmes, whose study regulations have been decided by the faculty, the acquisition of the academic degree “PhD” is possible (see section 2.).

Until the Initiation (upon submission of the finished dissertation), adjustments to the pursued doctoral degree are possible. This applies to all doctoral endeavour. Adhering to technical and formal conditions is, of course, a requirement; the Doctoral Board of the faculty will decide on this matter.

Otherwise, enrolment is optional.
See registration regulations of the TU Dresden.

To file an application for the enrolment in doctoral studies, please use the following website ot the enrolment office.
An application must be submitted for an extension of the doctoral program, which must be signed by the supervising university teacher and the chairperson of the doctoral board: please click here.

6. Additional achievements

The acceptance as a doctoral candidate may require certain conditions (e.g. additional moduls) or the completion of an eligibility test according to § 7 of the doctoral degree regulations of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences to be met. These are determined either in the supervision-agreement with the supervising professor and after consultation for acceptance communicated to the candidate.
Verification of the successful completion is to be submitted either by the time of opening (e.g. additional modules) or prior to application for acceptance (e.g. eligibility test), depending on the type of additional achievement.

7. Commencing of the doctoral examination procedure

Application for the Initiation of your doctoral degree procedures take place on the online-system Promovendus.

Please take note that you have to submit the following documents in addition to the application for initiation:

5 bound copies of the dissertation in German or English
1 electronic version of the dissertation (as a PDF file on a data carrier)
current Curriculum Vitae with scientific background and signature
publishing record
proof of the completion of additional or supplementary studies
written proof (receipt) that a certificate of good conduct (§ 30 Section 5 Bundeszentralgesetz, BZRG) to be submitted to the Faculty has been requested at the responsible Registration Office (see 8.). The certificate must not be older than 3 months.
the written declaration of the doctoral candidate to initiate the doctoral degree procedures including date and signature (see Attachment 1 and 2 of the doctoral degree regulations of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences from the 22^nd of August 2014)
in case of cumulative dissertation: written confirmation and explanation of the supervising lecturer according to § 10 (2) of the doctoral regulations

The dissertation as well as the defense of such can be written/presented in German or English. All additional information can be found within the doctoral degree regulations of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences from the 22^nd of August 2014.

Note on a blocking notice

The granting of a blocking notice, until the expiry of which publication of the dissertation may not take place due to agreements of the doctoral candidate with third parties, is possible and must be applied for in writing to the Doctoral Board at the latest with the application for the opening of the doctoral procedure. The application must contain a reason for the requested blocking and must be signed by the doctoral candidate and the supervising professor. A blocking notice can be applied for up to one year. Before the expiry of the blocking notice, an extension of the blocking period by a maximum of one additional year can be applied for in justified exceptional cases. The application must be submitted to the Doctoral Board no later than 4 weeks before the expiry of the first granted blocking notice.

Hints for formal presentation of the thesis

The title page of your dissertation will be printed in the language used in the dissertation.
sample cover sheet

It should contain the following information:

Name of the faculty (Technische Universität Dresden, faculty of environmental sciences)
Topic of the dissertation
Your complete name and title
Your date of birth and place of birth
Day of defence
The names of the supervisors

For other hints to the formal design of your dissertation, please see the Internet pages of SLUB Dresden.

Possibilities for publishing the dissertation

...can also be found on the information pages of the SLUB Dresden: Link to the overview.

8. Certificate of good conduct

Written proof (receipt) that a certificate of good conduct (§ 30 Section 5 Bundeszentralgesetz, BZRG) to be submitted to the faculty has been requested at the responsible Registration Office (see 8.) is required both in order to apply for the acceptance as doctoral candidate as well as initiating the doctoral degree procedures. The simple certificate is effective for about three months and can be requested on the same day that the documents for the acceptance as a doctoral candidate or the initiation of the doctoral degree procedures are requested. When requesting a simple certificate of good conduct (e.g. at the Meldeamt / Bürgeramt Dresden Plauen, Nöthnitzer Str. 2, 1187 Dresden), the following address has to be stated:

Technische Universität Dresden
Fakultät Umweltwissenschaften
Dekanat/Promotionsangelegenheiten
01062 Dresden

9. Completed doctoral procedures and ALUMNI network

Doctoral degrees completed since 2003 can be viewed in the Archive of Doctoral Degrees.

Registration in the alumni network especially for young scientists can be done at any time through the online-system Promovendus . In case you do not have a valid ZIH-account, please make use of the alumni form. Registration is, of course, optional.

Additionally, we would like to point you to the general alumni network of the TU Dresden.

Please always inform the doctoral office/dean's office of any changes in your contact address for seamless communication!