Doctoral Studies in Hamburg

1. Identification of a dissertation topic

How do you find a topic? There are several books that will give you an idea on how to do this. "The Craft of Research" by Booth, Colomb and Williams is helpful for getting a research topic. However, one general way of getting a topic is thinking about what you are interested in and asking questions such as HOW, WHY or WHAT.

Discussion with professors and friends might also help in the identification of a PhD research topic. It is also good to look at recommendations of other researchers in the area of your interest.

The topic is a very important part of the application process. Everyone you will talk to will ask about your topic. It is very important that you really think about this carefully. It doesn't need to be ground breaking, it just needs to be mind-boggling.

2. Finding a supervisor

In the University of Hamburg one needs to have a supervisor (called Doktorvater/Doktormutter or Betreuer/ Betreuerin in German). This is the person under whom you will conduct your research and write your dissertation. S/He supervises your progress, gives you guidance and important advice. Your supervisor has to be a professor at the University of Hamburg. Of course, if your research is a multidisciplinary one, you can possibly have an additional supervisor from any other German university or from any other faculty/institute of the University of Hamburg.

There must be a common ground between his/her research interests and yours. It may be good to look at the website of different departments of the University for the personal web-pages to identify professors who share your research interest. Then, contact and ask them about the possibility of doing your PhD study under their supervision. Contact of contacts can also help in finding a supervisor. That means if you know somebody who knows potential supervisor/s for you, he/she may contact (at least to establish first contact) the professor/s on behalf of you.

This website gives you more information on how to find a supervisor and choose a PhD topic.

3. Recognition or validation of your degree

If you have a degree, like a masters or other kind of degree from a university outside Germany, you have to think about the recognition process. To do this you have to first identify a responsible person in the faculty in which you are going to conduct your PhD study. Here: http://www.verwaltung.uni-hamburg.de/campuscenter/download/fachberaterlisten/index.html you will find out who is responsible for this purpose in your respective faculty. Try to find out the complete information on how to reach him/her including office hours. It might also be useful to contact the person before going physically to know exactly what documents you should take with you. Of course your supervisor or his/her secratary might also help you in finding this person

These people check the equivalence of your degree with the degrees offered in Germany and carefully look at the courses that you took during your previous studies. Based on their result, they may say that the degree is equivalent and the courses that you took are enough. Or if they feel that you lack some background in the area, they may require you to take some more courses.

4. Level of your German language competence

Many foreign students have to have a proficient level of German to even start any studies in the university. Luckily, English is the second scientific language in Germany and if you speak English you have one relatively less hurdle to pass. The dissertation can be written in English. Any way, you have to proof that either you have a German language competence enough for writing your dissertation or that you will write it in English (based on your agreement with your supervisor).

But, even if you write your dissertation in English, the need for German language for your daily life is unquestionable. So it is advisable to have at least a basic level of German. After all, you are in Germany and the language here is German. There is no way out :-).