The doctorate at the Faculty of Human Sciences (HF) is usually carried out as an individual doctorate. This means that doctoral candidates work on a research topic of their choice and are scientifically advised by a supervisory committee consisting of two university professors and one postdoc.

Requirements for doctoral studies:
You must have identified a (rough) topic on which you wish to conduct research.
You have found a support team consisting of two professors from the University of Applied Sciences and one postdoc who will supervise you in the preparation of your dissertation. A corresponding support agreement must be attached to the application for admission as a doctoral candidate.
Doctoral candidates themselves are responsible for finding a supervising committee, establishing contacts and making the necessary arrangements.

Composition of the Supervisory Board:

At least one of the supervising university lecturers must always be a member of the Faculty of Human Sciences; if only external supervisors are desired, a doctorate at the Faculty of Human Sciences is not possible.

From a professional perspective, however, it is sometimes sensible or advisable to appoint a professor and/or a postdoctoral researcher from another faculty of the University of Cologne or another university to the supervision team, e.g. for an interdisciplinary doctoral project or if the external person has special expertise in the chosen field.

If a professor from outside the university is to become a member of the supervision team, that person must have the right to award a doctorate at their home institution. In this case, a written application must be submitted to the doctorate office beforehand. An application form for the admission of external supervisors can be found in the right-hand column of the document Application form External Supervisors.

External postdocs may be admitted to the supervision team without a separate application.

Once a topic and supervision have been found, applicants can apply for admission as a doctoral candidate (see steps 2a and 2b).

You register in the electronic doctoral candidate file Docfile

The doctoral files at the University of Cologne are kept electronically via the Docfile program: https://www.portal.uni-koeln.de/docfile.html. By registering in Docfile, you create an electronic file containing all your admission and doctoral-relevant data and documents. The data, documents and information stored there are processed by the doctoral office during the entire doctoral process and can be viewed by you at any time.

A registration wizard guides you through the registration process.

To register in Docfile, please provide electronic copies of the following documents in PDF format:

• Higher education entrance qualification, e.g. baccalaureate
• Higher education degrees (documents and certificates)
• completed and signed supervision agreement (download form in the right-hand column of this website)
• Certificate of study progress or certificate of exmatriculation of your previous degree programmes
• Where applicable, if your name has changed from those mentioned in the certificate documents by marriage or similar, a certificate to that effect.

If you have successfully completed your registration, you will be listed with the status "candidate" and will be given a Docfile reference number.

Once you have found a topic and a supervising committee and you are registered in Docfile with the status “candidate”, you can apply for admission to the doctoral studies at the Doctoral Office; please use the appropriate application form (admission application form in the right-hand column) and enter your Docfile reference number here.

The Doctoral Committee or the person chairing the Doctoral Committee decides on your admission as well as on all other matters relating to doctoral studies.

The Doctoral Committee is supported administratively and organizationally by the Doctoral Office of the HF and is the contact point for all doctoral matters governed by the current Doctoral Regulations.

Documents for admission according to PromO of 10.09.2024:
The Doctoral Office will check according to your documents,

• Application for admission (download form in the right-hand column)
• Supervision agreement (download form in the right-hand column of this website)
• Bachelor degree and certificate (officially certified copies)
• Master's degree and certificate (officially certified copies)
• copy of your university entrance qualification; and
• Certificate of Academic Progress or "Exmatrikulationsbescheinigung" (the date of your first enrollment at a university should be shown in the document),

whether you fulfil the admission requirements as a doctoral candidate according to § 5 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations of 10.09.2024.

Please send all the above documents in paper form PER POST to the doctoral office AND PER E-MAIL to promotionen-hf@uni-koeln.de

It may take a few weeks to process your application. If you have any questions about the information and data available so far, the Doctoral Office will contact you.

If additional steps are required for admission as a doctoral candidate, e.g. an aptitude test or an aptitude test, you will also receive appropriate notifications from the Doctoral Office.
The contact person in the PhD Office is Katja Honheiser.

Contact information:

Doctoral Office of the Faculty of Human Sciences
Gronewaldstrasse 2
room 0.109
50931 Cologne
Telephone: +49-221/470-4619

If the requirements are met, the Doctoral Committee will grant you admission as a doctoral candidate. A corresponding written notification will be sent to you electronically by the Doctoral Office. If admission to the doctoral programme is not possible, you will be informed in writing by the Doctoral Office.

Doctoral studies at the Faculty of Human Sciences require a doctoral programme lasting at least two semesters. During their doctoral studies, doctoral candidates should be enrolled as doctoral students at the University of Cologne.

With the letter of admission from the doctoral office you can enroll in the student office of the University of Cologne for doctoral studies (you will also receive a student ID card here).

You may be enrolled in the doctoral programme for a total of 12 semesters. After the 12 semesters have expired, de-registration is usually carried out by the Registrar's Office of the University of Cologne. In exceptional cases, however, it is possible to extend your enrolment by another two semesters. For this purpose, an application must be made to the Doctoral Office. With the approval of the Doctoral Office, the Registrar's Office may apply for an extension of the period of study.

Even after exmatriculation by the Student Secretariat of the University of Cologne, the admission of the faculty to doctoral studies remains valid, i.e. you can complete your doctorate at the faculty even if you have already exmatriculated.

Unless you have specific, individual requirements in your letter of admission, you as a doctoral candidate organise your doctoral studies largely independently and independently in consultation with your supervising committee; there is no binding curriculum for the doctorate.

However, two mandatory elements are binding for all doctoral candidates and are intended to help ensure the quality of the doctoral conditions:

Good scientific practice and scientific integrity:

By the first year of your doctorate at the latest, you must have become familiar with the Principles of Good Scientific Practice and Scientific Integrity by completing a course on the Principles of Good Scientific Practice and Scientific Integrity or by providing evidence that you have already dealt with the subject in an equivalent manner.

The Graduate School of the Faculty of Human Sciences regularly offers such courses; you will be informed about dates by e-mail circular.
Regular consultations:

At least once a year, you must discuss the progress of your doctorate with your Supervisory Committee and discuss progress and possible challenges in the context of your dissertation as well as your future work plan.

The interviews must be documented by formalised protocols.

Both the proof of good scientific practice and the minutes of your supervision interviews must be submitted later when you submit your dissertation.
Type of dissertation:

The dissertation on which you are now working can be submitted in different forms:

• As monographic dissertation (single script)
• As a monograph-based dissertation with partial publications. You have the option of writing a monograph in which partial results have already been published before the complete dissertation is submitted without the need for a separate application.
• As a publication-based dissertation (cumulative). The cumulative dissertation consists of several individual research papers and a cover text which places the research in a coherent thematic and methodological context.
  As a rule, the individual papers must be published in recognised peer-reviewed journals. In two of the individual papers, the doctoral candidate must be the first author and the papers should at least be accepted for publication.
  There are subject-specific differences in the scope and expenditure of publication services. Therefore, please consult your supervisors for advice on the required scope and expenditure of your publication services.

The following applies to both the publication-based, cumulative dissertation and the monograph-based dissertation with partial publications: If you have written your individual papers together with several other authors, the dissertation must contain a separate section describing your contribution to the results achieved in cooperation.
In the course of the dissertation process, it may turn out that a different type of dissertation than the one you initially chose proves to be more appropriate. In this case, it is possible to change the type of dissertation subsequently.

Template for the dissertation:
The Faculty of Human Sciences dispenses with uniform requirements for the formal design of the dissertation, as the standards in the subjects represented here often differ.
Provided that the rules of academic work are complied with, you are therefore free to design your dissertation formally.
For example, you can orientate yourself on what is customary in your subject and follow the recommendations of relevant German or international professional associations when designing your manuscript.
If there are no recommendations from the relevant professional societies, it is also possible, for example, to design the cover text of a cumulative dissertation according to the guidelines of the journals in which the majority of your individual studies have been published, or according to the guidelines of the journals you have received the most.

You should also consult with your carers on this question.

In addition to the courses on good academic practice and academic integrity, the faculty-wide Graduate School of the Faculty of Human Sciences offers its members additional advisory, qualification and financial support services that complement their individual mentoring.

As a doctoral candidate of the Faculty of Human Sciences you are automatically a member of the Graduate School

Membership in the Graduate School does not entail any further obligations (“passive membership”).

The Graduate School provides financial support and support only to “active members”.

Therefore, if you wish to apply for financial support from the Graduate School, e.g. for a conference trip or your own workshop, you must prove that you have actively participated in the supervision and qualification concept of the Graduate School (at least once a year); examples of activities that qualify you to apply are given in the respective calls for proposals.

Information on the Graduate School, membership and offers can be found here (link to the Graduate School).

By submitting your dissertation, you apply for admission to a doctorate. This date also determines when you can take the oral examination.

Doctoral Dates
The doctoral procedures are synchronised in several phases per semester according to fixed deadlines. This means that the earliest possible date for the oral examination depends on the latest deadline for your doctoral application to the doctoral office.

An overview of the current PhD phases can be found here.

Application for a doctorate
The complete application for a doctorate is regulated in § 12 of the Doctoral Regulations. It includes the application for admission to a doctorate (see right column of this website), the dissertation and other documents and must be submitted to the Doctoral Office. A checklist of the required documents according to PromO 10.09.2024 can be found on the last page of the application.

The complete application for admission to a doctorate must be submitted as follows:

• as a paper copy by post to the doctoral office (with the original signatures together with a bound copy of the dissertation) and
• as digital version by e-mail to promotionen-hfSpamProtectionuni-koeln.de (electronic copies of the application documents, each in PDF format)

The key to reaching a certain deadline is the receipt of the electronic application. Please make sure that the paper version of your application arrives at the doctoral office as soon as possible.
It is possible to make the following suggestions and include them in the application:

(a) Reviewers
(b) Composition of the Examination Board
(c) date of the oral examination (agreed with the participants and according to the examination phases)

When the examination procedure is opened, you will receive a notification from the doctoral office. Furthermore, no information on the state of the procedure will be given. You will receive a written notification in due course.

Evaluation
We will order the reviews of your dissertation. The deadline for the reviews is six weeks.

Afterwards, the members of the faculty who are entitled to receive a doctorate are given the opportunity to view the dissertation and the reviews for two weeks. At the end of the display and objection period, you will receive a written (electronic) notification stating whether your dissertation has been accepted or rejected, as well as the grade of the written performance. This letter will also confirm the final date of your disputation.

After you have been informed that your dissertation has been accepted, the disputation is pending. The oral examination is usually open to the faculty. However, you have the opportunity to object to the public in writing (by submitting the application to open the doctoral examination procedure).

After your examination procedure has been opened, please make an appointment for the disputation with your Examination Board (taking into account the dates of your doctorate). Subsequently, please forward the date, time and form of the examination (attendance or online) to the Doctoral Office.

Disputations can be held both in attendance and as an online exam:

(a) Presence: If the examination takes place in attendance in consultation with the examination committee, the room reservation must be organised by the doctoral candidate himself.
(b) Online: The online exam ("zoom room") is created by the chairman of the examination board and the access data is sent to all participants in advance of the disputation.

Procedure Disputation:
The disputation usually lasts 90 minutes, of which a maximum of 30 minutes should be spent on your oral presentation; the rest of the time is reserved for discussing your dissertation with the examination board. You should present and defend the results of your dissertation, and thus be able to discuss your research results in a wider context. Ask your supervisors about the focus of the content.

Immediately after the presentation and discussion, the Examination Board decides whether the disputation has been passed. The grade is determined and the decision is communicated to you.

After the disputation:
After the disputation, your certificate will be issued. You will receive it by e-mail as well as a form for the declaration of print readiness for your reviewers and information on the publication of your dissertation.

After successfully passing the disputation, the examination procedure is completed, but your doctorate is not finally completed until you have published your dissertation. Only then will you receive the doctoral certificate and have the right to use the doctorate.

Although you have successfully passed the disputation, your doctorate is not complete until you have published your dissertation. Only then will you receive the doctorate certificate and have the right to use the doctorate.

Before you start publishing your dissertation, please clarify with your supervisors or the reviewers of your dissertation whether changes have to be fulfilled before final publication.

There are different ways of publishing. An overview of this can be found in the document "Publication Guide".

You will receive your certificate (“Urkunde”) which allows you to hold the title PhD officially after you have handed in the required revision certificate and copies of your published dissertation.

Revision certificate:

You must submit the signed revision certificate (and if applicable the publishing contract and the respective confirmation of the number of copies) to the Doctoral Office of the Faculty of Human Sciences (an E-Mail would be sufficient). For further information follow the instructions for the publication of the dissertation.

Printed copies of the dissertation:

The printed deposit copies of the dissertation are to be submitted to the

Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln  
Abteilung Hochschulschriften, Tausch, Geschenk            
Universitätsstraße 33
50931 Cologne, Germany             
Room 4.002 (4th floor).

Telephone: (0221) 4703318 or 470-2573

Afterwards, an acknowledgment of receipt will be sent to the Doctoral Office automatically.

Every autumn, the Faculty of Human Sciences hosts a graduation ceremony to celebrate the achievements of all doctoral candidates who passed their viva and to bid farewell to them.

Invitations go out to all PhD students who have managed to pass their viva in the past year, regardless of whether or not their dissertation has been published yet. Friends and family, too, will be asked to share in the festivities.

We cannot wait to welcome you to the graduation ceremony!

The below photograph should give you an idea as to what you can expect: