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

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.

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 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).

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

(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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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