Doctorate / PhD
The doctorate serves as proof of both the special aptitude for independent scientific work and the scientific education in the field of transport and traffic sciences that goes beyond the general study objective.
We are happy that you plan to do your doctorate at the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences
The Graduate Academy at TU Dresden provides a guide titled A Guide.Doing a Doctorate at TU Dresden , which contains a wealth of information and is available for download.
Click the following link to visit the Graduate Academy’s website:
Doing a Doctorate at TU Dresden
On this website you will find all important information (in german):
- Application requirements
- Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate and admission
- Certified copies and verification of equivalence of foreign university degrees
- Enrolment
- Additional requirements
- Opening of the doctorate proceedings
- Certificate of good conduct
- Completed doctorates and alumni network
In order to be able to do a doctorate at our faculty, the prospective student must first find a professor who is interested in their research topic and is willing to take on the academic supervision of the doctorate.
In addition to the main supervisor, at least one other experienced scientist must be provided as part of a supervisory team. All supervisors in the supervisory team should be university lecturers. One of them may also be a scientist with habilitation equivalent qualifications, for example an adjunct professor or an honorary professor with membership rights, a private lecturer or a TUD Young Investigator. In addition, other experts can be involved in the supervision in an advisory capacity.
The necessary admission requirements are regulated in the doctoral degree regulations of 14.09.2023 of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences under § 6.
2. Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate and admission
Next, the application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate must be submitted in accordance with § 8 of the doctoral degree regulations of 14.09.2023 of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences.
An application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate is an expression of the applicant's intention to do a doctorate at the Faculty within the next four years.
During the doctoral phase, the doctoral candidate is obliged to report on his/her work at at least two scientific graduate events of the Technische Universität Dresden or equivalent scientific events (at least one of the events should be open to scientists outside the TU Dresden) (proof or declaration of this must be submitted when the doctoral procedure is opened). see: Acceptance
3. Certified copies and verification of equivalence of foreign university degrees
For the acceptance as a doctoral candidate, you need to hand in certified copies and, if applicable, certified translations of your graduation certificates and subject and grades overview. You can find further information on certified copies of certificates, which have not been issued by TU Dresden on the website of the office of certified documentation of TU Dresden.
If you completed one of your studies outside Germany or if you have a foreign citizenship, your documents will be sent to the International Office of the TU Dresden to verify the equivalence of your degree. You can use the online database www.anabin.de for a preliminary check of the equivalence of your degree.
4. Enrolment
You can only enroll as PhD student if the doctoral board of the Faculty has accepted you as doctoral candidate and put you on the doctoral list of the Faculty. You can find further information on the website of the admission office.
5. Additional requirements
Acceptance as a doctoral candidate can be combined with additional requirements and the completion of additional tests. The doctoral board will define these requirements and inform the doctoral candidate together with the confirmation of acceptance. For more details see under: Additional services
6. Opening of the doctorate proceedings
After completion of the dissertation, the doctoral procedure is opened in accordance with § 9 of the doctoral degree regulations of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences. see: Opening
The dissertation (§ 10 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations of the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences "Friedrich List") provides evidence of independent academic work. It should make a significant contribution to research in the relevant scientific field and must contain new scientific findings and meet scientific standards in the methods used and the presentation. The scientific work (dissertation) must present results that promote the development of the specific scientific field.
As a rule, the dissertation is a completed individual work by the doctoral candidate, which must be written in German or English. Deviating from this, the dissertation can also be a cumulative dissertation (§ 10 para. 3 see ).
7. Clearance Certificate
For application of acceptance as a doctoral candidate as well as the opening of the doctorate procedures, you will need a confirmation (receipt) of application for a clearance certificate (“Führungszeugnis”) to be sent to the Faculty of Computer Science in compliance with Section 30 Paragraph 5 “Bundeszentralregistergesetz” (Federal Central Register Law).
The clearance certificate is valid for about 3 months and can be requested on the day that the application for acceptance as a doctorate candidate or opening of the doctorate proceedings is submitted.
When requesting this certificate (for example at the records department, Theaterstraße 11, 01067 Dresden) the following address should be given:
Technische Universität Dresden
Fakultät Verkehrswissenschaften
Dekanat/Promotionsangelegenheiten
01062 Dresden
8. Completed doctorates and alumni network
A doctoral procedure consists of:
Dissertation (§ 10 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations) see Dissertation
Defense (§ 11 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations) see Defense
Publication of the dissertation (§ 13 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations) see Publication
Assessment of the doctoral procedure (Section 11 (5) of the Doctoral Degree Regulations of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences)
If the dissertation and the defense have been passed, the doctoral committee determines the overall grade for the doctoral procedure. The following grades are to be used:
"magna cum laude" = very good (a particularly commendable performance)
"cum laude" = good (a performance above average)
"rite" = sufficient (a performance that meets average requirements.
When determining the overall grade, which is made up of the dissertation and defense parts of the examination, the result of the dissertation should take precedence.
The doctoral committee also decides on conditions for the preparation of the deposit copies.
Completion of the doctoral procedure (§ 15 of the doctoral degree regulations of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences)
After submission of the deposit copies and receipt of the corresponding confirmation from the SLUB (by e-mail), the doctoral candidate will receive the doctoral certificate.
This concludes the doctoral procedure. The conclusion of the procedure must be announced to the faculty public.
Upon completion of the doctoral procedure, the doctoral candidate is entitled to use the academic degree awarded with the certificate.
All doctoral candidates from the previous year are invited to the annual "Faculty Day" in November to be congratulated on their successful graduation in this festive setting.
You can register for the alumni network for former junior researchers in Promovendus. If you do not have a valid ZIH user account, you can also use the alumni sheet. Registration is voluntary.
We would also like to draw your attention to the general alumni nertwork of TU Dresden.