You have found an appropriate doctoral topic for your thesis and a supervisor from the Department of Biology at TUDa. Now you need a co-supervisor to further support you during your doctorate.

The supervision of doctorates is regulated in §10 of the PO/AT and in the special regulations of the department. Normally, doctorates are supervised by professors at TUDa. The special provisions of the department determine who can take over the supervision at the Department of Biology. An additional supervisor can also be chosen from all groups of people listed in § 11 PO/AT of TU Darmstadt. These include, among others, full-time professors from other departments, other universities or universities of applied sciences, as well as honorary professors and private lecturers from these institutions. Young scientists from TUDa and other scientific institutions can also take on supervision functions if they meet the criteria specified in the PO/AT (recruitment in a quality-assured, competitive process with independent external reviews, the aim of qualifying for a professorship).

Furthermore, an additional person can be elected in consultation to accompany the doctoral project and to be available in particular for questions about the doctoral process and career development.

It is important to make a distinction between the functions of supervisors and examiners:

The supervisors will be appointed when the doctoral candidates are accepted at the department. They support the doctoral students during their scientific work and provide professional advice. Furthermore, they ensure the quality of the work through regular progress checks and offer mentoring, which should also include aspects of career planning (see also section 2).

The examiners are appointed by the doctoral committee at the start of the doctoral procedure, i.e. after submission of the doctoral thesis, and prepare a written evalutation on the thesis. Doctoral candidates can suggest persons for this purpose. As a rule, these are the supervisors, but there is no automatic provision and a supervisor is not entitled to also act as a examiner in an initiated doctoral procedure (see also section 4).

After that, you must register your doctorate at the department. The doctoral board (composition see § 3 PO) will check your requirements. As a rule, a completed master's degree in biology or related scientific degrees qualifies for a doctorate. In the case of a state examination or a university of applied sciences degree programme, the doctoral board sets up an aptitude test procedure. This test is established to prove the competence and ability to independently carry out scientific work. If necessary, requirements are imposed – certain courses necessary for the doctorate may have to be passed during the first year. Those requirements are bound to be completed successfully in addition to other courses and lectures of a structured training program (see below).

Who is entitled to act as a supervisor or co-supervisor is regulated in §10 of the doctoral regulations (opens in new tab) .

Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate at the department

In order to formally start your doctorate, you must first register and apply for beeing accepted as a doctoral candidate at the department, at the beginning of the doctoral thesis. Furthermore, according to § 2 para. 3 of the enrolment regulations of the TU Darmstadt (ESO), you are obliged to at least register or, if necessary, enrol at TU Darmstadt.

All necessary forms can be found here:

• First of all, please complete the form “Application for Acceptance as a Doctoral Candidate / Confirmation of Supervision” (opens in new tab)
• Then register online to submit your data (this process is not to be confused with enrollment/enrollment at TU Darmstadt)
• Submit your application to Dezernat Internationales (International Admission), further information can be found here:

The Dezernat Internationales (International Admission) will examine your degrees for equivalence and will communicate the results to the Department of Biology.

Now submit the following documents to the dean’s office of the Department of Biology:

• a. The printout of the registration form
• b. The application for being accepted as a doctoral candidate (see above; document confirming supervision, signed by a supervisor of the Department of Biology (according to § 10) and a co-supervisor (according to § 10).
• c. The university or college certificates that qualify you for a doctorate
• d. In case of an external dissertation at a research institute outside the university or at a different university: a short statement outlining the doctoral project as well as the confirmation of the external supervisor in writing

After you receive the confirmation that you are admitted, you may (this is optional!) enroll with TU Darmstadt as a doctoral student.

According to the regulations of TU Darmstadt, all doctoral candidates must be reachable via a personal e-mail inbox and are obliged to keep their personal data up-to-date in TUCaN. Therefore, please report any changes of your address, e-mail address or name changes to the Student Service immediately and also inform our Dean's Office.

The department offers a structured training program for all doctoral candidates. This includes:

Supervision agreement:

At the beginning of the doctorate, doctoral candidates and supervisors sign an agreement which defines the respective rights and duties. The aim is to support doctoral candidates and supervisors in developing the scientific project, so that it can be completed successfully within the specified time frame.

supervision agreement (opens in new tab)

Thesis advisory committee (TAC):

In addition to the supervisor, doctoral students are supported by a committee of experienced scientists. In addition to the supervisor and co-supervisor, the committee can include up to two more members. Here, the circle of possible persons is broader, in addition to professors, habilitated persons or postdoctoral scientists of the department, corresponding persons from other departments of TUDa or other universities and scientific institutions can also participate. Meeting of the TAC should take place within 6 months of registration of the promotion. Further meetings take place annually. The meetings are organized and documented by the doctoral candidates. One week before the meetings, the doctoral candidate sends a short report to the TAC. After the meeting, an updated version will be circulated with comments and suggestions from the TAC. In case the TAC meeting is not considered tob e satisfactory, it will be convened again within the following 6 months. Should the meeting again be unsatisfactory, the TAC recommends to end the doctoral procedure.

Form to document the TAC-Meetings (opens in new tab)

Training programme: In order to support the qualification of doctoral candidates, the individual work on a scientific project is accompanied by a training programme.

• a) at least two courses from the Ingenium program of the TUDa; with the consent of the supervisor, other courses can alternatively be attended
• b) at least one presentation at the PhD Symposium of the department
• c) additional courses that have been determined as a condition as part of an aptitude assessment procedure
• d) the CV attached to the doctorate should include the following information:

• i. Participation in (international) conferences / symposia (specify poster presentations or lectures)
• ii. Laboratory exchanges
• iii. Scientific courses

Self-organization/doctoral student representation:

The doctoral candidates elect two representatives who serve as contact persons for the department, represent the interests of the doctoral candidates, cooperate constructively in developing the training program and act as mediators in case of conflicts that might arise. The representatives are elected by a general assembly of all doctoral candidates for a two-year term.

Change of supervisor:

If a change of supervisor or co-supervision becomes necessary during the doctorate, this will be done in accordance with the regulations in §10 (3) of the PO/AT. For this purpose, it is necessary that the previous and future supervisors have been informed of the change and confirm it in writing (form "change of supervisor (opens in new tab) "). In the event of conflicts, all parties involved are given the opportunity to present their point of view to the doctoral board.

After completing the scientific work, you have two options for submitting the doctoral thesis to the department:

Cumulative dissertation

In this form, the dissertation must contain at least two publications that are related to each other in terms of content, in which the doctoral candidate is the sole or shared first author. One of the publications must be accepted for publication in a scientific publication organ with a peer review procedure. Another publication must be published at least as a preprint if it has not yet been accepted by a journal. In addition, unpublished manuscripts can be added as further chapters of the cumulative dissertation. For this purpose, the declaration of the contributions of all participants attached at the end of the guidelines (opens in new tab) is also necessary (PO/AT §9 (5)).

The scientific context must be presented by the doctoral candidate in a synopsis consisting of an introduction and a concluding discussion of all chapters.

If these requirements are met, it must also be ensured that your own contribution to all publications contained is clearly and legally determined. For this reason, the PO/AT requires a declaration in which you explain your contribution in detail for each publication (see Appendix). This declaration must be countersigned by all authors of the respective publication and is part of the examination file.

Monograph

This form is an independent work, which usually consists of an introduction, material and method section, results and a discussion. The whole thing is framed by a summary and a literature section. This structure can also be deviated from, for example by combining different chapters with a similar structure. It is important that this work contains only your own results and that all foreign parts are marked as such (in addition to literature citations, for example, foreign illustrations, etc.). If illustrations are taken from other works, the author must guarantee the transfer of rights.

Language: The dissertation can be written in both German and English. To publish on the university publication server, a summary in both languages is required.

The title page of the dissertation must contain certain information. Furthermore, the dissertation must contain a legally binding declaration (template “Declaration of Honour”) that the thesis was written independently apart from the aids expressly mentioned in it and that you have observed the Principles for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice at the Technical University of Darmstadt and the Guidelines for the Handling of Digital Research Data at TU Darmstadt in the current versions when writing the dissertation. For legal reasons, this must be done in German, an English translation can be added.

You can find corresponding templates for both on the website linked above.

legally binding declaration – Ehrenwoertliche_Erklärung (opens in new tab)

With the submission of the dissertation, the last phase of your doctorate begins. You apply for the examination of your dissertation by sending the form „application for doctoral exam (opens in new tab) “ to the Dean of the department. The following documents have to be submitted in addition:

• Application for admission to the doctoral examination
• an electronic version of the dissertation for the Dean's Office, (USB stick with name, first name).
• Proof of payment of the doctoral fee of € 100 to:TU DarmstadtStadt- und Kreissparkasse DarmstadtProject number: 40100191IBAN: DE36 508 501 500 000 704 300Reference: “Doctoral fee + your name”
• in the case of an aptitude test, the final completion certificate of the credit points acquired
• In the case of cumulative doctorates, the relevant provisions must be observed (see above).

The doctoral board will review your application and appoint the first examiner and the co-examiner for the dissertation. § 11 (paras. 2 and 3) PO/AT as well as the special regulations of the department regulate who can be appointed as an examiner. Generally, these are the supervisor and the co-supervisor of the doctorate. In your application, you can make a proposal for the other members of the examination board. Proposals should be agreed in advance. Subsequent changes of the commission require the approval of the doctoral board.

When the doctoral procedure is initiated, the doctoral board also appoints the examination board. This is composed as follows:

• a chairperson from the group of full-time professors of the Department of Biology
• the examiners of the dissertation
• another professor from TUDa or other universities, proven junior scientists and group leaders of the department as well as leading scientists from recognized non-university research institutions; the requirements are laid down in § 11 (paras. 2 and 3) of the PO/AT

At least half of the members of the examination committee must come from the group of full-time professors at the Department of Biology. If the chairperson is unable to attend, a member of the examination board from this group takes over the function.

The examination board decides on the acceptance, amendment or rejection of the dissertation, conducts the disputation and evaluates the doctoral achievements. It decides whether the disputation is to be repeated and determines the conditions for the publication of the dissertation.

Externally supervised doctoral candidates from other research institutions may start the procedure at this point. In such a case, the department assures an evaluation rather than a supervision. The structured training programme is not available at this however, the requirements mentioned under registration for doctorate, apply.

Within eight weeks, the examiners independently prepare reports on the doctorate, which are forwarded to the Dean. In their reports, they recommend either acceptance or rejection of the dissertation. If accepted, an evaluation will be made with the grades:

• excellent
• very good
• good
• sufficient

If both reports on the thesis rate „excellent“, this rating may also be considered for the final grade. In this case a third opinion by an external expert is necessary. The supervisor will be informed by the Dean’s office, so that she or he can name a competent scientist of another university or non-university research institution. This expert opinion will then – together with a statement regarding possible conflicts of interest – be presented to the doctoral board. Furthermore, the rating „excellent“ requires at least one publication with you being the first author, published in a peer-reviewed journal or accepted for publication.

Upon receipt of the thesis evaluations, they are made available for two weeks to all the professors and entitled members of the department. During this period it is possible to present statements or special reports. At the end of this consultation period, the examination board decides whether the thesis is accepted.

After acceptance of the thesis, the Dean sets the date for the oral examination in consultation with the doctoral candidate and examination board members. With a lead time of two weeks the Dean invites the participants and the University public to the dissertation defence.

With regard to the examination dates, the above-mentioned deadlines must be observed. After receipt of the evaluations, this is at least four weeks. Eight weeks are to be planned for the reviews, but you can agree on shorter deadlines with the speakers without obligation.

The dissertation defence is open to the public and begins with a 30-minute presentation in which you present the topic and the results of your work. This will be followed by an examination interview during which you will defend your work to the members of the commission. Topics from the wider academic environment of your dissertation will also be included. The disseertation defence can be made in German or English. As a rule, the defense takes place in presence. Members of the examination committee who are unable to attend can also participate virtually. This is regulated by § 16 (5) of the PO/AT.

After the dissertation defence, which is not supposed to last more than one hour, the examination board determines the overall grade of the doctorate in a non-public meeting. The rating of the presentation and the examination as well as the rating of the examiner reports determine the overall grade. The following grades are possible:

• - passed with distinction (mit Auszeichnung bestanden)
• - passed with the rating very good (sehr gut bestanden)
• - passed with the rating good (gut bestanden)
• - passed (bestanden)
• - not passed (nicht bestanden)

It is possible that conditions will be set that must be fulfilled before the dissertation is published.

After the dissertation or after any changes have been made, submit any amended version to the first supervisor and have the approval of the publication of this version certified by signing the form "Declaration on the Dissertation and Transfer of Rights (opens in new tab) ".

Under version details please enter the file name of the final approved version that you upload with TUprints.

Hand in this declaration form at the Dean’s office (it will be forwarded to TUprints).

Register with TUprints at:Register with Tuprints and upload the dissertation.

Publication must take place within one year via the TUDa university publication server. Further details are regulated in §19 of the PO. An extension of the deadline is possible under special circumstances upon application to the doctoral board (§ 20 of the PO). Please note: If the doctoral candidate does not fulfill the obligation to submit the dissertation within one year (without requesting an extension), the doctorate is considered failed.

Please note the ULB's recommendation regarding data protection:

The dissertation submitted to the dean's office, as well as the copies for the reviewers and examiners, must include a signed declaration of honor from the doctoral candidate as well as an academic curriculum vitae.

The ULB would like to point out that there is no obligation to publish this declaration of honor or the curriculum vitae in the dissertation. The declaration can be included in the uploaded dissertation, but then without a signature, as it will be published on the internet and could be misused. The academic curriculum vitae, which is often included in the dissertation, should not contain any personal data for security reasons.

If you have any further questions on this matter, please contact the staff at the ULB.

After the oral doctoral examination, you will receive an interim notification from the Dean's Office confirming that you have successfully passed the doctoral defence, but are not yet allowed to use the doctoral title. This interim notification can be used, for example, for job applications.

The printing of your doctoral certificate will be commissioned by the Dean's Office after the examination has been completed. As soon as you have uploaded your dissertation to TUprints, the ULB will send a corresponding confirmation to the Dean's Office and the certificate can be handed over or sent to you. Only upon receipt of the certificate are you entitled to use the doctoral title.

Termination of the doctoral relationship (opens in new tab)

Application as a doctoral candidate (opens in new tab)

Application for extension of acceptance as a doctoral candidate (opens in new tab)

Supervision agreement (opens in new tab)

change of supervisor (opens in new tab)

Application for doctoral exam (opens in new tab)

Doctoral Thesis: title page specifications (opens in new tab)

declaration of honor (opens in new tab) (Ehrenwörtliche Erklärung, needs to be in German)

Transfer of rights (opens in new tab)

TAC meeting evaluation form (opens in new tab)