Having successfully completed a degree that entitles you to apply for a doctoral degree, you first need to find a suitable supervisor for your doctoral research project. Supervisors are usually professors from one of the faculties that have the authority to grant doctoral degrees. It is important that your supervisor represents the discipline in which you wish to acquire a doctoral degree and that they are specialized in the subject area relevant to your doctoral research project.

The doctoral candidate and the supervisor sign a supervision agreement. A template for the supervision agreement can be found in the appendix to the general doctoral regulations and also here to download. In addition to the supervision agreement, you will have to submit further documents specific to your faculty. If you would like more detailed information, please refer to the webpages of the relevant faculty. When you have prepared all of the required documents, you can then apply to the doctoral committee of the respective faculty to be accepted as a doctoral candidate (Paragraph 6, Section 1, RaPromO). As the central decision-making body in this process, the doctoral committee of the faculty will accept or decline your application as a doctoral candidate (Paragraph 6, Section 3 RaPromO). Finally, to become a member of the KU, the doctoral candidate must now officially enroll at the student office (see Paragraph 6, Section 5 RaPromO).

Following registration, you will be granted the same status as during your undergraduate and previous postgraduate studies for six semesters. This status can be extended upon request until you complete your doctorate in order to ensure you have continual access to all university services.

In Germany, a doctorate normally takes about four years. Studying for a doctoral degree mainly involves conducting an independent piece of research, culminating in writing a dissertation. Once the PhD thesis has received a positive review and has been accepted by the doctoral committee, you can be admitted for the oral examination as part of the doctoral process. The publication of the doctoral thesis completes this process.

Financing the Doctoral Degree

In order to pursue your doctoral research project, it is important to consider the question of financing at an early stage and secure funding. As most research grants and research projects cover a period of three years, it is a good idea to plan your doctoral research project over a similar period. However, most doctoral degrees actually last four years on average. It is therefore advisable to draw up a personal financial plan covering four years.

Possible means of financing your doctoral degree include working as a research assistant at the university, applying for a scholarship, obtaining financial sponsorship from a company, or pursuing paid employment outside of university while working towards your doctoral degree. 

The Academic Careers Team will be happy to advise you on financing your doctoral research project. 

Funding opportunities in the KU environment:

KU Scholarship Program for female junior researchers

Dissertationsstipendien der Maximilian-Bickhoff-Universitätsstiftung

Graduate training at the research center for advanced studies ‘Natural Sciences - Human and Nature’

The following websites provide an overview of organizations that award scholarships:

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung - BMBF)

Scholarship database of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (Stipendiendatenbank des Deutsch Akademischen Austauschdienstes DAAD)

Electronic Research Funding Information System (ELFI) (Servicestelle für Elektronische Forschungsförderinformationen im deutschsprachigen Raum (ELFI)