Doctoral procedure

To be able to pursue a doctorate at the Institute of Psychology, you need, as the first and most crucial requirement, a confirmation of supervision from a professor who works full-time at the Institute of Psychology. Upon receiving a confirmation of supervision, you conclude a supervision agreement with the supervisor. This document should serve as a template.

Admission is granted by the examinations board for doctoral studies. 

To apply for admission to doctoral studies, you must send the following documents via the online tool Docata for doctoral procedures. Upload the documents listed below (PDF format, max. 10 MB). All information about Docata can be found here. There are no deadlines for submitting the documents, they can be submitted on an ongoing basis.

1. Please submit the online application for admission of your doctoral project via Docata.
2. Tabular résumé with particular attention to academic training in accordance with § 5 (4) a.
3. Certified copies of higher education and state examination certificates.
4. Declaration (abstract, half a page, with specific information on the project, the research question and the planned method) by the doctoral candidate explaining why the planned disertation project meets the aimed doctoral degree (Dr. phil or Dr. rer. nat.).
5. Declaration according to § 5 (4) d, if and with what success you already applied elsewhere for a doctorate.
6.  Confirming (supervision agreement) that an eligible examiner according to § 10 (2) of the doctoral degree regulations (usually a full-time professor of the Institute of Psychology) is willing to supervise the doctoral dissertation.
7. Proposal on the composition of your Doctoral Examination Commission (document not barrier-free) in accordance with § 10 (2) Doctoral degree regulations.
8. An uncertified copy of your identity card (front and back)
9. Please check if a votum of the ethics committee is necessary. You can find further information here.

Once all documents are complete, the application must be submitted via the online tool Docata - https://docata.uni-hamburg.de. To do so, register with your User ID if you are already a member of Universität Hamburg or with a Docata account. Further information on Registration and Admissions via the Docata online tool can be found at Docata FAQs General

After being admitted to the faculty, you need to enrol at the Campus Center via STiNE.

Further information on the enrollment process can be found here: 
https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/campuscenter/bewerbung/promotion.html

The entrollment can be done online. To do so, you will need all certificates of completed university examinations and the letter of admission from the Institute of Psychology.

Approximately 12 to 18 months after your admission by the Standing Examination Board, you submit an exposé to your doctoral examination committee. Within three months of submitting the exposé, a consultation meeting will be held with the doctoral examination committee.

The 1st and 2nd dissertation evaluators and at least one other member must be present. The assessment of the exposé (according to a checklist, for example) and the results of the assessment meeting are protocolled. The protocol, and any recommendations as well as the exposé must be submitted with the dissertation.

Please adhere to the following guidelines when preparing the exposé: Guidelines 

If you were given any conditions upon admission, you must fulfill them by the time you submit your dissertation.

Maintain and update your data in DOCATA (regardless of separate notifications to the HR department and Campus Center):

• Changes in contact information or name,
• Changes in the study program (change from/to graduate program, cooperations, etc.),
• interruptions,
• the three longest stays abroad (research or conferences),
• the termination of your doctoral studies,
• parental leave, semesters on leave of absence, etc.

As outlined in the 2004 Academic Regulations for Doctoral Studies, the four-semester doctoral program comprises six SWS, two of which must be completed in a research seminar at the Institute of Psychology and two SWS (semester hours per week) in another type of course (course supervision in teaching is recommended).

Please upload  the written confirmation of completed doctoral studies signed by the first supervisor together with seminar certificates or proof of teaching achievements to Docata before submitting the dissertation.. If you have any questions about the doctorate program, please contact: promotion.pb@uni-hamburg.de(promotion.psychologie"AT"uni-hamburg.de) .

Please upload an electronic version of the dissertation (in PDF format) and any other relevant documents to Docata. To log in to Docata (https://docata.uni-hamburg.de), please use your University of Hamburg User ID (e.g. Bbb3540).

The last page of your dissertation must contain both of these hand-signed declarations:

Declaration_§5_4d

Declaration_§9_1c and_d

You can find a template for the cover sheet and the second page here

Doctoral degree regulations (document not barrier-free) 

After the evaluations have been completed, the examination committee decides on the acceptance or rejection of the dissertation, your admission to the oral defense (disputation), and the grade of your dissertation. The criteria for evaluation can be found in §11 of the doctoral degree regulations. The decision will be communicated to you by your examination committee after the acceptance of the dissertation. Together with your examination committee, you will schedule a date for the oral defense, which should take place no earlier than two weeks after acceptance of the dissertation and no later than three months after receipt of the last evaluation.

The disputation generally takes place in German. It begins with a presentation by the doctoral candidate lasting 20 to a maximum of 30 minutes, covering the fundamentals, content, and results of the dissertation. This is followed by a discussion of approximately 60 minutes addressing methodology and contents of the dissertation. Additionally, the discussion should involve more general questions related to the context of the dissertation. The disputation should last at least 60 and at most 90 minutes. Following the disputation, the grade for the oral defense and the overall grade are determined.

After the examination board has determined the overall grade, you will receive a provisional certificate in which the title of your dissertation and the respective grades are recorded. Upon receiving the provisional certificate, you are not yet permitted to use the Doctor title.

The dissertation must be published no later than two years after completion of the Doctorate. Should this not be possible within the deadline, the Chair of the doctoral committee may extend this deadline upon request. The number of copies you need to submit depends on the  publication format, and you will be informed about this by the contact person at the Academic and Examination Office .

After publication of the dissertation, doctoral certificates are issued in German and English. The certificate includes the doctoral subject, the title of your dissertation, the respective grades, and the date of the disputation. Upon receipt of this certificate, you are entitled to use the doctoral title.

Please adhere to the principles of good scientific practice.

More information can be found at:

• http://www.uni-hamburg.de/forschung/service/gute-wissenschaftliche-praxis.html
• http://www.dfg.de/download/pdf/dfg_im_profil/reden_stellungnahmen/download/empfehlung_wiss_praxis_1310.pdf
• https://www.dgps.de/
• http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/principles.pdf