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Promotionsbüro
Dekanat der Medizinischen Fakultät
der Universität Duisburg-Essen
Hufelandstr. 55
45147 Essen

IMPORTANT change for the enrollment of doctoral students

According to the enrollment regulations of the University of Duisburg-Essen, enrollment in the doctoral program is mandatory during the doctoral period. The enrollment takes place in the subject area Enrollment Management. Doctoral students at the University of Duisburg-Essen must enroll in the doctoral program after being approved by the doctoral committee. Enclosed you will find a handout for the enrollment procedure at our university. This applies to all doctoral students.

Doctoral Board

Doctoral board:

Doctoral board (PhD degree):

General information

Please note that this website is still under construction. For more detailed information, you may refer to the German version of the website.

The Medical Faculty of the University Duisburg-Essen awards several doctoral degrees for graduates from different backgrounds:

• "Dr. med." - Medicine
• "Dr. med. dent." - Dentistry
• "Dr. rer. medic."  - Medical sciences, for graduates with degrees in other medically related courses

Additionally, we offer a "PhD" degree in two different specialisations:

• PhD in "Epidemiology and Clinical Research"
• PhD in "Virology and Immunology" Currently no new registrations possible!

You will find information on the standard doctoral degrees below. For information on the PhD degree, please refer to the links listed below.

Information on the new doctoral regulations ("Promotionsordnung"):

In April 2018, new regulations ("Promotionsordnung") for the doctoral studies at the Faculty of Medicine have come into effect. These apply for all candidates who have registered their thesis on or after 20 April 2018. Should you have registered before that date (i.e.: your "Gesuch auf Annahme als Doktorand" was accepted by the board), the old regulations will still be applicable to you. Please understand that unfortunately, exceptions cannot be granted.

How to apply

For Dr. med./Dr. med. dent./Dr. rer. medic.:

Before you apply to be accepted as a doctoral student by the faculty, it is essential that you find a supervisor for your thesis and agree with them on a subject for your research project and a title for your thesis.

Once that is done, you may officially apply and register with the faculty. To do that, please hand in the following documents:

1. The form "Antrag auf Zulassung zum Promotionsstudium" (cf. download section)

2. Your CV

3. Certified copies of your university diplomas (Master's/Bachelor's, German Zeugnis der ärztlichen Prüfung etc. ). For foreign degrees that do not fall under European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), please also hand in a copy of your German approbation or a statement by our university's International Office confirming the equivalence of your degree.

4. Certified copy of your school-leaving diploma (Abitur equivalent)

5. One (signed) copy of the supervisory agreement (Betreuungsvereinbarung - cf. download section) between you and your supervisor

6. The following statements: Stellungnahme zum Ethikvotum, Stellungnahme zu bisherigen Promotionsversuchen, Stellungnahme zur kommerziellen Vermittlung der Möglichkeit zur Promotion (cf. download section)

Afterwards, the doctorate board will review your application. If the requirements are met, you will be accepted and receive a written confirmation within two to four weeks.

Please note (Dr. med. candidates only): If you did not complete your degree in medicine at the University of Duisburg-Essen, you will have to enroll with the university as a doctorate student. Note that enrolling at the university is a separate process that can be done after you have been accepted as a doctoral student by the doctoral board. Being accepted as a doctorate student by the Faculty of Medicine does not mean automatic enrollment. To enroll, please refer to the Studierendensekretariat after you received your acceptance letter.

For PhD degrees:

For each PhD degree, there are individual application procedures overseen by the corresponding institutes. Please refer to their websites for information and how to apply and deadlines (cf. links below).

Handing in your thesis

Before printing and submitting your dissertation, please make sure that it aligns with the "Ausführungsbestimmungen" (old or new regulations) applicable to you, regarding, for example, the layout and formatting, citation style, pagination, including a list of abbreviations/tables/images, etc.

You can submit your thesis and all required documents during the office hours. Alternatively, you may send us your documents via post.

The following documents will be required:

Please make sure all copies are certified. If your documents are in any other language than German or English, please also hand in a certified translation.

We invite your supervisor to nominate a second reviewer for your dissertation. The reviewer should not have co-authored any publication with you or belong to the same clinic or department. Any nominations can be submitted via letter or e-mail by your supervisor. The doctoral board will decide whether or not to accept the nomination.

Information on filling in your credit points form

Please enter all classes or activities you completed into the form "Leistungen im Rahmen der Qualifizierungsphase" and add the applicable credit points according to the list (Übersicht). The signature of your supervisor goes into the last column. At the end, please confirm all information with your signature.

Please make sure to give a detailed description and/or the exact title of the individual classes/activities, e.g.:

"Presenting a scientific poster titled 'TITLE' at the Xth International Conference, organized by the .... Association"

Rather than: "Presenting a scientific poster at a conference"

Regarding your own teaching, participation in colloquia and other recurring events or classes, please remember to mention their duration and frequency. If the allocation with the applicable categories of credit points is not clearly defined (e.g., 'lecture in robotics'), please specify for which category the class or activity in question should be counted.

Additionally, we ask you to hand in a certificate or confirmation for any activity or class you have done. For the two mandatory classes (Doktorand/inn/en Workshop and Good Scientific Practice), no additional confirmation is needed. In these cases, once you have the required attendance record, the organizers of those classes will sign your form at the last session of class.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.s - New regulations)

General questions:

Do the old or the new regulations ("Promotionsordnung") apply for my dissertation?

All candidates who have registered their thesis on or after 20 April 2018 fall under the new regulations and will have to submit their application according to those. Submitting the old application form "Gesuch auf Annahme als Doktorand/in" is no longer possible. Unfortunately, exceptions to this rule cannot be granted.

All candidates who registered under the old regulations (i.e., your application form "Gesuch auf Annahme als Doktorand/in" was accepted by 20 April 2018) fall under the old regulations and can finish their project according to those.

Candidates that fall under the old regulations may switch to the new regulations if desired.

I have started working on my dissertation a while ago, but failed to register it officially. What can I do?

Unfortunately, exceptions cannot be made. You will have to register and submit your thesis under the new regulations.

I am writing my dissertation under the old regulations. Is there a way I can switch to the new regulations?

Yes, according to § 21.2, it is possible to switch to the new regulations when submitting your thesis. Naturally, this would mean that all requirements of the new regulations will apply to you (e.g., obtaining 18 credit points).

Upon handing in your tehsis, you would have to hand in the new "Antrag auf Zulassung zur Promotionsprüfung" (not the old form "Antrag auf Zulassung zum Promotionsverfahren") along with a statement in which you request the examination procedure to be conducted according to the new regulations. Additionally, we would need:

• All documents listed under "New regulations: Required documents and things to consider"
• In addition: Certified copies of your school leaving/A-levels diploma and your university degrees

Questions regarding registration and submission of the thesis:

What documents do I have to submit to register under the new regulations?

You will find a list further up the page. Additionally, please refer to the download section for a checklist.

Will there be a deadline for submitting my thesis after registration?

You must submit your thesis three years after your admission as a doctorate student by the doctorate board (for candidates with tentative admission: four years). Upon request, a one-year-extension to this deadline can be granted twice. Please note that there is no deadline for submitting your thesis according to the old regulations.

ATTENTION:

Corona pandemic: deadline extension for already registered doctoral theses
The Corona pandemic also poses great challenges for many doctoral students at the Faculty of Medicine. For this reason, the doctoral committee of the Faculty of Medicine has now decided to extend the deadline for submitting the doctoral thesis by 12 months. This applies to all doctoral theses already registered and received by December 31, 2022. Actually, the new doctoral regulations stipulate 3 years as the maximum limit for submitting the doctoral thesis. This means that the doctoral candidates concerned now have 48 months to complete their work. The extension of the deadline is automatic and does not have to be applied for.

I want to register as a doctorate candidate. How am I supposed to complete the two obligatory immatriculation semesters?

After admission as a doctorate candidate by the doctorate board, you have to immatriculate as a doctorate student. Please refer to the Studierendensekretariat.

I am interested in writing a dissertation, but I do not have a subject or a supervisor yet. Is there a list with available projects?

Unfortunately, there is no centralized list with projects. In order to find a subject and a supervisor for your project, please check out the webpages of the university hospital and contact a potential supervisor that would suit your interests directly.

How do I obtain an "Ethikvotum" for my project? Is this necessary for my particular project?

Please refer directly to the ethics board (Ethikkommission). As a rule of thumb, an Ethikvotum is necessary for all projects that deal with patients' data, including retrospective work.

Questions about the qualification phase, credit points, and required courses:

How can I obtain the 18 credit points?

(Note: According to the old doctoral regulations, no credit points have to be earned or mandatory courses have to be completed).

9 credit points must be earned through the mandatory series of courses "Doktorand:innen-Workshop in der Medizin" (6 LP) as well as "Good Scientific Practice" (3 LP). (https://www.uni-due.de/med/de/studium/wissenschaftscurriculum.php)

Graduates of BIOME and DFG-funded graduate programs of the faculty (so-called GRKs) do not have to participate in the mandatory courses. Participation in these programs is already evaluated with 14 LP.

The remaining 9 (or for graduates of the above-mentioned doctoral programs: 4) credit points can be obtained through achievements in various, specified areas, which you can find in the implementation regulations. An overview can be found in the download area on the right side and in appendix 6 of the implementation regulations.

Please document your achievements with the corresponding credit points on the corresponding form and have them countersigned by your doctoral supervisor (see download area).

Here you can find the contact person for your request regarding the compulsory events:

•           "Doktoranden:innen-Workshop" Implementation and contents: Dr. Claudia Pieper 

•           "Doktoranden:innen-Workshop" Registration: link during the registration period (Mr. Heue/ Dekanat)

•           „Good Scientific Practice“ Implementation and contents: Prof. Dr. Sven Benson

•           „Good Scientific Practice“ Registration: link during the registration period (Mr. Heue/ Dekanat)

When are the events for the mandatory courses held? Where can I find information about them?

All current dates and information about the events as well as a link to the registration can be found here.

Please note that your application for admission to the doctoral program must already have been accepted by the doctoral committee when you register for the event.

To the listing on credit points: How do I know which exact event can be credited? Can the specific course "XXX"/the specific event/activity be credited under the category "XXX"?

All courses or achievements that can be clearly assigned to the above-mentioned categories of the listing for credit points can be entered into the form in consultation with your doctoral supervisor, add the corresponding credit points (according to the listing) and have this signed off by the doctoral supervisor.

If you are unsure whether various events are creditable in the sense of the listing, please first talk to your doctoral supervisor about whether this cannot be assigned to one of the categories (if necessary with additional justification). In case of doubt, you can have this clarified by the doctoral office by sending us the relevant evidence and a description. However please note, that the doctoral committee ultimately decides on the crediting, but of course always takes your interests into account.

Cumulative Dissertation Questions:

Can I do a cumulative doctorate? What are the requirements?

The new doctoral regulations provide for the possibility of a cumulative doctorate. The following conditions must be fulfilled for this:

• You have at least two publications (original papers).
• You are involved in at least one of them as first author.
• The publications must be at least accepted (only submitted is not sufficient).
• The publications must have been published in an internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journal listed in PubMed/Web of Science.
• The publication must not date back more than three years.
• All co-authors must agree to the publication in the doctoral procedure.

How to submit the cumulative dissertation

The doctoral regulations do not specify the structure of the cumulative dissertation. However, it is recommended to write an introduction or summary to the publications. It would be conceivable to bind the individual publications and such an introduction or summary together.

The additionally required declaration for the use of a publication as first author in the cumulative doctoral procedure can be found in the download area.

Questions about the oral exam

How does the oral examination proceed?

The regular oral doctoral examination (not disputation) lasts approx. 30 minutes. First, you will be asked to present your work orally (without any additional aids such as PowerPoint or similar). Afterwards you will be questioned by the examiners. The questions may concern the subject area to which your work can be assigned and related subject areas.

If the written evaluation of the thesis is summa cum laude, the oral examination will be held in the form of a disputation. This lasts approximately 45 minutes and includes a fifteen-minute presentation on your work (PowerPoint or similar permitted). In addition to the examination committee, a representative of the doctoral committee also takes part in the disputation; professors and private lecturers of the Faculty of Medicine are also entitled to participate.

Further information can be found in §14 of the new doctoral regulations.

I passed the oral examination. What happens now?

After the examination, you will receive in writing all information regarding the completion of the procedure. Among other things, formal changes still have to be made to the dissertation before it can be printed and finally submitted to the Medical Library. First, however, please wait for our mail.

When will I receive my certificate?

You will receive the original of your doctoral certificate by mail after submitting the deposit copies to the library

External links

Website of the Ethics Committee

https://www.uni-due.de/ethikkommission/

Graduate (doctoral) programmes

Website of the PhD programme "Epidemiology and Clinical Research"

Graduate programme "ELAN"

Graduate School of Biomedical Science (BIOME)