Doctoral Candidates

Yes. The application for a membership can be submitted at any time before or during the doctorate.

No. The enrolment for doctoral studies is usually not mandatory for doctoral candidates at the TU Dresden, unless it is otherwise noted in the doctorate regulations of your faculty. However, the acceptance as a doctoral candidate by a Faculty is necessary for the enrolment as a doctoral student. Being enrolled as doctoral student, you can make use of all student facilities such as the season ticket for public transport with your student ID. For further information regarding the enrolment as a doctoral student, please refer to the website of the Admissions Office at TU Dresden.

The enrolment for doctoral studies has to be formally requested and requires a written statement of the Faculty. All information regarding doctoral studies can be found on the websites of the Admission Office. Please note that the enrolment as a doctoral student is subjected to certain deadlines. The following webpage will guide you to the correct TU application portal. Usually, you will receive a confirmation letter for the acceptance as doctoral student within 4 to 6 weeks. Your status as a doctoral student is initially granted for three years if you regularly re-register before the beginning of each semester. If you would like to extend your doctoral studies beyond these three years, you need to submit an application for the extension of doctoral studies.

In the working plan, you briefly describe the next research steps of your doctoral project starting at the time of applying for the membership at the Graduate Academy. The following topics can be addressed as required:

• Planned content and time schedule of the dissertation project
• Participation in selected specialist and cross-disciplinary training offers
• Participation in conferences, meetings, symposia
• Participation in summer/winter schools
• Short-term research stays (national and/or international)
• Participation in doctoral lectures/seminars
• Contribution to teaching
• Planned scientific publications
• Other

The working plan serves as an open and transparent platform compiling the further steps of the doctoral candidate as agreed by the academic supervisor. A template for a working plan can be found on page 5-6 of the Supervision Agreement.

No. Equivalent forms of project proposals including exposés complied at the beginning of your doctorate are also accepted. A project proposal such as an exposé is often part of the application as doctoral candidate at the faculty and is sometimes even required by your university professor for his/her confirmation of academic supervision especially when you conduct an individual doctoral thesis project. Project proposals focus on when you want to do what and how and why this is important for your research project. But please note that participations in qualification courses improving project-specific or transferable skills, potential short-term research stays and/or the attendance of doctoral lectures are usually not part of a standard project proposal.

Yes. The working plan starts with the next steps being taken at the time of applying for the membership at the Graduate Academy. You briefly indicate until when you will finish your research studies, what time period you will need to write your doctoral thesis and when you plan to hand in and to defend your doctoral thesis. You are welcome to use pages 5 and 6 of our Supervision Agreement.

The rules and regulations apply as established in article 5 of the statute of the Graduate Academy (in German only). Based on the membership, doctoral candidates are entitled to:

• participate in all GA qualification and counselling services depending on availability,
• apply for our funding programs,
• elect representatives or stand for election as representative into the doctoral council.

You commit to adhere to the Statutes for Ensuring Good Scientific Practice, Avoiding Scientific Misconduct, and Handling Violations at TU Dresden.

It is expected that doctoral candidates of the Graduate Academy provide accurate and complete information. Any changes regarding personal data (e.g. your address or other contact details such as email) or completion (or discontinuation) of the doctorate have to be updated in Promovendus by you.

By virtue of article 4 paragraph 4 of the statute of the Graduate Academy (in German only), your membership expires with the successful defense of your doctoral thesis or discontinuation of your doctorate. In both cases, please inform the Graduate Academy by mail (postal address of the GA) or via e-mail at .

Yes, if you fulfill the requirements for a membership as a Postdoc, you can fill in the application in Promovendus. Please note that the membership as postdoc usually expires after 6 or 12 years, depending on the requested membership according to the statute of the Graduate Academy (in German only).

Yes, anytime. Please submit a written statement of resignation to the office of the Graduate Academy via mail (postal address of GA) or email to the GA.

The supervision agreement addresses the rights and responsibilities of the doctoral candidate and her/his academic supervisor based on the current planning horizon of the doctoral research project. The doctorate regulations of the faculties usually do not define any rules regarding supervision. But there are important questions to be addressed before starting the doctorate. Therefore, it is useful to agree on the mutual expectations in a written form (supervison agreement). Moreover, the conclusion of a supervision agreement is explicitly demanded in the Statutes for Ensuring Good Scientific Practice, Avoiding Scientific Misconduct, and Handling Violations at TU Dresden.

No. We also accept other forms of supervision agreements that contain at least the following aspects in accordance with the “Recommendations for drawing up supervision agreements” published by the German Research Foundation (see also the regulations at paragraph 6 of the Statute of the Graduate Academy; in German only):

• Participants: doctoral candidate, first and second doctoral supervisor, if applicable: mentor and other (interdisciplinary) experts
• (Preliminary) subject of the dissertation
• Structured outline of the doctoratal project, which can be adjusted during the course of the doctoral research phase, if necessary. Milestones as well as subject-specific and/or transferable skills should still be included.
• Tasks and duties of the doctoral candidates (regular written and/or verbal progress reports, certificates of achievements, if applicable)
• Tasks and duties of the doctoral supervisor/and the mentors, if applicable (specialist advice for the doctoral candidates in individual and team supervision at regular intervals, at least every six months; support of measures aiming at developing academic independence (e.g. publications, participating in conferences) and the further career of the doctoral candidate (e.g. participating in cross-disciplinary qualification measures)
• Integration of the doctoral candidate into the scientific community (e.g. in a working group, a project, a structured doctoral program etc.)
• Working conditions provided to the doctoral candidate
• Regulations to assure the rules for good scientific practice at the TU Dresden
• If applicable, special agreements to promote reconciling work and family 

No. You are responsible to have the supervision agreement co-signed by your officially supervising university professor or Young Investigator at TU Dresden.

If you are going to carry out your doctorate in cooperation with the private sector, please fill out the attachment (industry-sponsored doctorate) in addition to the supervision agreement. The attachment ensures a clearly defined scope of action for all parties involved and regulates, amongst others, tasks and obligations of the contact person at the company (mentor), the doctoral candidate and the primary supervisor.

Yes. The support by your academic supervisor needs to be confirmed until the oral defense. For that purpose, please hand in a minimal version of a supervision agreement and indicate the non-relevant points with the remark “not applicable anymore”.

No. Only if you have successfully defended your doctoral thesis can you apply for a membership as a postdoc. Therefore, you have to hand in a preliminary confirmation of your faculty about the successful defense.

The supervision agreement is part of the Statutes for Ensuring Good Scientific Practice, Avoiding Scientific Misconduct, and Handling Violations at TU Dresden. Should you unexpectedly experience any problems, you may confidentially approach the staff of the Graduate Academy.

If you fulfill the requirements for a doctorate at TU Dresden, you will be verified by the doctoral board in line with the currently valid doctorate regulations of the respective faculty. The major prerequisite for the admission as a doctoral candidate is an above-average university degree (master, diploma or state examination) or an equivalent achievement at a university, another higher education institution or university of applied sciences. If the doctoral board accepts you as a doctoral candidate, you will receive a written confirmation by the doctoral office/office of the dean confirming that you have been listed as doctoral candidate of the faculty. We strongly encourage you to formally register as a doctoral candidate with a faculty before or immediatly after starting your doctorate as recommended in the Statutes for Ensuring Good Scientific Practice, Avoiding Scientific Misconduct, and Handling Violations.

The procedures to admit doctoral candidates currently vary between the faculties of TU Dresden. In general, you have to hand in a written request to the respective faculty. You should submit your application (at the beginning of your doctorate, if possible) to the responsible doctoral office/office of the dean of the faculty. Here, you can find an overview of all doctoral offices and their regulations.