Topic and supervision

Before applying for admission, you should have a clear conception of your doctoral thesis topic and discuss it with a supervisor.

Formal requirements

Section 6 of our doctoral regulations contains detailed information on the formal requirements. The basis for a doctorate is usually the study of a relevant subject offered by our faculty, which has been completed with above-average success (usually a grade of “good” or better).

However, the doctoral committee is also free to admit candidates who do not meet these requirements. If, for example, you have studied a subject that is not taught at our faculty or your final grade does not meet the formal requirements, please feel free to contact us. We will then discuss whether and how admission is still possible.

For your planning, please find out in good time about the meeting dates of the doctoral committee, as it usually only meets during the lecture period.

Important: Applications that meet the formal requirements do not have to be decided by the doctoral committee at the Faculty of Humanities.

These applications can be submitted at any time, regardless of the meeting dates of the doctoral committee.

After submitting the documents, we will check again whether you meet the necessary requirements.

If this is the case, admission will be granted by the Faculty of Humanities' Dean of Research.

Documents to be submitted

• *The doctoral agreement signed by you, your supervisor, and the managing director of the institute. Please obtain the relevant signatures yourself; the signature of the Dean of Research will be obtained by the Dean's Office.
• Please note that the agreement with your supervisor is essential for processing your documents.
• *An informal application for admission to doctoral studies, including confirmation that you have not previously applied for admission to doctoral studies at Leibniz University or any other university, and that you are not currently enrolled in a doctoral program.
• If you have already started a doctoral program and have not completed it, please submit a notice of termination of the doctoral program or a certificate of exmatriculation.
• An exposé on your topic, including a schedule (signed by your supervisor). The exposé does not have a fixed form or prescribed length. It should present the project in a meaningful way in accordance with the relevant academic conventions; if you have already prepared an exposé for parallel applications (scholarships, etc.), you are welcome to submit it.
• The title of the thesis is purely a working title at this stage and may change during the writing process, as long as the topic remains the same.
• An officially certified proof of identity. If you plan to submit your documents in person at the doctoral office, we will be happy to make a copy of your ID card at that time. In this case, certification is not required.
• A copy of your degree certificates. Applicants who did not obtain their degree at Leibniz University must submit a certified copy of their degree certificates.
• A curriculum vitae
• *Declaration of consent to the transfer of data to the Graduate Academy
• If applicable, the application to write the dissertation in a language other than German or English

Please send the documents (preferably by E-mail, otherwise without folders or bindings) to the Doctoral Office of the Faculty of Humanities (see below).

If you are not yet able to submit all the documents, it is possible to apply for provisional admission. The documents to be submitted for this purpose are marked with an asterisk.

You'd like to pursue a doctorate and enroll, but are unable to submit all of the required admission documents at this time? In that case, we can grant you temporary admission for one semester. This will allow you to enroll until the end of this period and submit the missing documents (preferably by E-mail) at a later date. Please note that the documents marked with an asterisk under “Required Documents for Admission” must still be submitted with your initial application.

If your initial admission period has expired and an extension of your doctoral admission is necessary, please apply for this by stating your reasons and submitting a statement from your supervisor (see § 8 (4) of the doctoral regulations) by E-mail to the Doctoral Office.

The Dean of Research will decide on the application for a first extension. The extension will be granted for one year.

For subsequent applications, a short work report must also be submitted, which must be countersigned by the supervisor after review. This work report should include an outline, a bibliography, and a schedule, and document the progress of the work. Reasons for extension include (among others) childcare, caring for relatives, illness, accidents, and disability. The doctoral committee decides on subsequent applications. For your planning, please find out about the meeting dates of the doctoral committee in good time.

A suspension of the duration of your doctorate for good reason is possible in principle (see § 8 (6) of the doctoral regulations). In this case, please submit a corresponding application, including the written consent of your supervisor, by E-mail to the Doctoral Office. The Doctoral Committee decides on suspensions of the duration of the doctoral program. For planning purposes, please find out about the meeting dates of the Doctoral Committee in good time.

According to §9 of the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act, doctoral candidates shall enroll.

Admission at the Faculty is a prerequisite for enrollment as a doctoral student or, if you are already enrolled at Leibniz University, for changing your subject. You can find more information on this on the website of the central Admission Office.

Once you know that you would like to submit your thesis and apply to start your doctoral proceedings, our experience shows that it is essential to have an overview of the further timeline and organizational process.

From this point on, you are bound by the meeting dates of the doctoral committee, through which decisions will be made both on the commencement of your doctoral proceedings and, at a later date, on the acceptance of your dissertation.

We therefore advise you to find out about the meeting dates of the doctoral committee and the deadlines for submitting your dissertation at an early stage.

To open your doctoral proceedings, please submit an informal application addressed to the Dean of Research and enclose the documents listed below.

You can submit your dissertation during office hours at the doctoral office. If you are unable to come during office hours, please make an appointment by E-mail.

Checklist of documents to be submitted for the initiation of the procedure:

• An informal application for the initiation of the procedure
• Three printed and bound copies of the dissertation (please discuss the formatting and binding of your dissertation with your supervisor). According to § 9 (6) of the doctoral regulations, the dissertation must be paginated consecutively.
• The title page bound into the dissertation in accordance with the applicable guidelines. Please do not write the title of your thesis exclusively in capital letters.
• An identical electronic version of your dissertation in a PDF file, which can be emailed to the doctoral office. The digital submission is subject to the deadline; the printed copies can be submitted as soon as possible thereafter.
• An affidavit in accordance with § 9 (4) of the doctoral regulations (this can be submitted separately or included in the thesis).
• An officially certified proof of identity, unless this has already been submitted upon admission (applies primarily to admissions prior to 2017).
• If you are submitting a publication-based dissertation, please note the separate requirements set out in the subject-specific guidelines for your doctoral subject.

Once all documents have been received in full, your supervisor will be asked to submit a short written statement on your dissertation to the doctoral committee and to propose the reviewers.

On this basis, the doctoral committee will decide on the opening of the proceedings and appoint the reviewers for your thesis. Please note that although supervision and initial review are often carried out by the same person, this is not automatic. Both reviewers are appointed when the procedure is initiated. Supervisors can propose themselves at this stage, but the final decision rests with the doctoral committee.

Timeline after the doctoral procedure has been initiated:

Once the doctoral committee has decided to open your doctoral procedure and the reviewers have been appointed, your dissertation will be sent to them. As a rule, a period of three months is allowed for the review of a dissertation. Once we have received all the reviews, the doctoral committee will decide whether to accept your thesis. It is also advisable to keep this meeting date in mind when planning the opening of the procedure. The doctoral office will inform you of the acceptance. From there, you will receive the invitation to the defense along with all the necessary documents. The defense should be held no earlier than two weeks and no later than eight weeks after acceptance of your thesis.

Please note that this is an ideal-typical process; deviations from this timeline are possible. For example, the review period for your dissertation may be less than three months if a doctoral candidate has to meet certain deadlines for a position. In this case, it is advisable to communicate with your reviewers in advance in order to agree on a shorter review period if necessary.

In rare cases, the doctoral committee may be unable to decide on the acceptance of a dissertation based on the reviews submitted. As a result, the timeline will be pushed back. In the best case scenario, a decision can then be made at the next meeting of the doctoral committee. However, if the committee requires further clarification, it may take longer.

Once the dissertation has been accepted by the doctoral committee, a date and location must be set and the examination committee assembled. This usually consists of the reviewers and an examination chair. Formally, this is the Dean of Research, but is usually represented by a professor from the relevant institute. Please contact your supervisor, who will forward this information to the doctoral office by E-mail.

Ten calendar days before the scheduled date of the defense, please submit your thesis as an email attachment to the examination board and cc the Doctoral Office.
The Doctoral Office will then send an official invitation to the examination board (including the location, time, participants, thesis, and content of the examination).

Once you have successfully completed your defense and we have received the examination minutes from the chair of the examination committee, you will receive confirmation that you have passed your doctoral examination and may use the title “Dr. des.”

You now have two years to publish your dissertation (see below) and receive your doctoral certificate. This entitles you to use your doctoral title.

Publishing your dissertation is the final step toward obtaining your doctoral degree. Only after your work has been published and your doctoral certificate has been awarded are you entitled to use the title “Dr. phil.”

The first step is to submit your library copies to the TIB or publish your work in the TIB repository if you wish to publish it electronically. Please familiarize yourself with the TIB guidelines before submitting your mandatory copies.

For the Faculty of Humanities, the following number of printed versions of your published dissertation must be submitted to the TIB:

Electronic publication: 0

Publisher publication: 2

Institute publication: 5

Self-publishing: 5

Please also send us your dissertation in its published form as an Email attachment. It is not necessary to submit a printed copy to the faculty.

The TIB will then send us a certificate confirming that the library copies have been submitted/published in the repository.

We will be happy to arrange an appointment with you to collect your certificate and submit the revision certificate. Please send us an E-mail for this purpose. If you are unable to pick up your certificate in person, we will send it to you by mail upon request.

You usually have two years to publish your dissertation. However, if completion is delayed, it is possible to request an extension. Please contact the Doctoral Office as soon as you realize that you will exceed the deadline.

Scholarships and other forms of financial support