Procedure and documents

How do I find the appropriate PhD position?

Please visit our faculty website to inform yourself about the various chairs and working groups.
Here you will also find the current vacancies and the respective contact persons so that you can get in touch with possible main supervisors.

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What do I have to do after I have been accepted for a PhD position?

As soon as you are employed as a scientific employee, you only need to submit an "Application (for recognition for foreign academic degrees and) admission as a PhD student" to the PhD office.
You can find all information about this under the tab "Start of the PhD".

Instructions vor submitting your application:

In the interest of environmental protection, we offer a digital review in advance to check your applications.

Please make an appointment in person with the PhD-Office for the final submission of the application:
- Note that the complete printed application with all original signatures must be brought to tis appointment
- Copies of certificates and transcripts of records (as well as any other documents) as well as the English/German translation must be provided as well as the originals.

The submission of the dissertation together with the application documents is called admission to PhD

Documents according to doctoral regulations 2019

§4 Promotionsordnung 2019 Fachmentorat

At the beginning of the doctoral procedure, the subject mentor and the doctoral candidate must draw up a joint supervision agreement in accordance with the Framework Doctoral Regulations for Doctoral Studies at the University of Würzburg, as amended. In this agreement
the type and scope of the qualification measures to be provided.
For your supervision as a doctoral candidate, only one supervision agreement can be completed. If you have already submitted one to the personnel department when you were hired as a research assistant, please use it. At the beginning, a protocol must be prepared for the report at the beginning.
 

Application for recognition of foreign academic degrees and admission as a doctoral student  

• documents for the application for recognition and admission as a doctoral student (checklist)
• application for recognition and approval (sample)
• completed data entry form for doctoral student statistics (form) 
• CV (sample) 
• proposal for the advisory committee (form)
• supervision agreement (form)

Application for admission as doctoral candidate for degrees from Germany

• documents for the admission as a doctoral student (checklist)
• application for admission (sample)
• completed data entry form for doctoral student statistics (form) 
• CV (sample) 
• proposal for the advisory committee (form)
• supervision agreement (form)

Certificate of enrollment

After receiving the certificate of enrollment for the PhD, you must submit it to the PhD-Office without being aked.
You are also welcome to send us the certificate digitally by e-mail.

Advisory Committee meeting

PromO 2019 §4 Abs. 3 - Advisory Committee meetings

The progress of the PhD process is to be reviewed in annual meetings, documented in writing and recorded in the
documented in writing and recorded in the doctoral file. The reports written in this context (see appendix 1 and appendix
2) are to be presented upon admission to the examination procedure.

Forms for meeting with the Advisory Committee

• start-up report (attachement 1 - Promotionsordnung 2019)
  -> Must be directly completed at the beginning of the PhD
• annual-progress report (attachement 2 -  Promotionsordnung 2019)
  -> Use this protocol once a year thereafter

Instructions for submission:

In the interest of environmental protection, we offer a digital review in advance to check your application.

- The final application must be submitted in hard copy with all original signatures. You may use the in-house mail (Attn: PhD Office) or the Service Center mailbox for this purpose

- As a service the faculty offers you to have the 6 obligatory copies printed and bound by Mr. Reul.

The submission of the application documents is called admission to the PhD examination.

After final examination of the submitted documents, admission to the doctoral examination is granted by the chair of the doctoral committee.
The letter for this is usually sent to the chair by internal mail. If you are no longer on the faculty, please provide a private address and e-mail-address.
At the same time, the dissertation will be forwarded to the notified reviewers for review. The reviewers have a certain period of thime to prepare the reviews, according to the valid doctoral regulations.
No appointment for a doctoral colloquium can be made before the reviews have been received. After the PhD-Office has all the reports, the dissertation & reviews will be announced by circulation.
 

Documents according to doctoral regulations 2019

Application for admission to the doctoral examination

• proceeding - admission to the doctoral examination

• list of required documents for the application (checklist)

• application for admission (sample)

• CV - doctoral examination (sample)

• affidavit of independence (form)

• statement of expert mentorship (attachment 3) 

• dissertation: title page incl. the reverse side (sample - attachment 1 & 2)

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If you specifically plan to submit a cumulative dissertation, please be sure to contact the PhD-office (!) before you actually start writing your dissertation.

In the case of a cumulative dissertation, the following documents must also be submitted additionally to the application documents above:

• application for admission - cumulative dissertation (sample)
• authorship statement (attachment 4)
• authorship statement - detailed description of the participation (form)

Documents according to doctoral regulations 2011

Application for admission to the doctoral examination

• proceeding - admission to the doctoral examination
• required documents for the application for the doctoral examination (checklist)
• application for admission (sample)
• CV - Doctoral Examination (sample)
• affidavit of independence (form)
• dissertation: title page incl. the reverse side (sample - attachment 1)

Documents according to the doctoral regulations 2003

If you are admitted to doctoral studies under the 2003 Doctoral Regulations and plan to submit your dissertation, please contact us at promotion@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de.

The defense usually may be scheduled approximately 6 weeks after all reviews have been received.
You, your examiners and a doctoral assessor will be invited to your defense at least 7 days before the examination.
The defense is intended to show whether the candidate has mastered the field of work and other subject areas touched upon by it.  The defense lasts 90 minutes.
 

Only one doctoral colloquium may be held per day.
As a rule, the defenses are scheduled on Wednesday afternoon and Friday afternoon (in each case in 2-hour intervals: 14.00 - 16.00 / 16.00 - 18.00).
If another date is urgently needed, please contact the PhD-Office. Then a possible appointment can be coordinated together and all further necessary steps can be initiated.
 

When planning your colloquium, please read the FAQ's. Afterwards, please contact the PhD-Office and provide us with the following information - preferably as a reply to the e-mail regarding the circulation:

• Desired date and time for your defense.
• Will the doctoral colloquium be held in German/English?
  Is there a difference between the lecture and the Q&A session?
• 3. examiner (PromO2011)

The doctoral office will take care of the leader & assessor.
 

Please note that you cannot schedule your defense on following session dates.

>What to do after the defense?

Grading

The following grades are to be used for the evaluation of the examination performances.

1 = very good (magna cum laude) = a performance exceeding the average;
2 = good (cum laude) = a performance that meets average requirements in all respects;
3 = satisfactory (rite) = a performance which, apart from a few deficiencies, still meets the
deficiencies, still meets the requirements;
4 = unsatisfactory (insufficienter) = a performance suffering from considerable deficiencies and which, on the whole, is no longer usable.

In case of a very outstanding performance, the grade "1" can also be awarded for the dissertation with the predicate "excellent
the predicate "excellent (summa cum laude)".
(2) An average grade is calculated for the doctoral colloquium. This is calculated
the sum of the grades of the examiners, taking into account two decimal places.
examiners, divided by their number.
(3) The overall grade for the doctoral examination is calculated from the grades of the examiners and the doctoral colloquium.
and the doctoral colloquium. It is calculated by taking into account
the sum of the double arithmetic mean of the grades awarded for the dissertation and the grades awarded for the doctoral
dissertation and the average grade of the doctoral colloquium, divided by three.
(4) The overall grade for the passed doctoral examination, with an average, is as follows

from 1,00 to 1,49 very good (magna cum laude);
from 1,50 to 2,49 good (cum laude);
from 2,50 to 3,49 satisfactory (rite).
If the overall grade is "1.10" or better and the dissertation has been accepted with the predicate "excellent (summa cum laude)", the grade will be awarded.
(summa cum laude)", the overall grade "1" is awarded with the predicate "excellent (summa cum laude)".
the predicate "excellent (summa cum laude)" is awarded.
(5) After completion of the doctoral procedure, the candidate shall be issued an examination certificate by the chairperson. This contains the
overall grade of the doctoral examination. It does not entitle the holder to use the academic degree
of a doctor of natural sciences, which must be expressly pointed out to the applicant.

The certificate ("Zeugnis") can be issued upon request after passing the defense. It does not entitle you to bear the doctoral title.
You may only legally call yourself Dr. rer. nat. after you received the diploma ("Urkunde").

In order to receive the dipolma, the following must be done after successfully passing the defense:

1. First, if there are any changes to be made to your doctoral thesis, you should make them. Then, the doctoral supervisor must sign a "Confirmation of the conformity of the print" (this letter is known in the departments).
   After you have this letter, you must submit your deposit copies to the university library (PromO2011 - 5 samples ; PromO2019 - 3 samples) and still complete the formalities there. This printing is not possible through the faculty.
    
2. After that you have to publish your dissertation - information about this can be found here. You will then receive a confirmation of receipt from the university library.
   This, as well as the declaration of conformity of the doctoral supervisor, must be handed in or submitted in the original to the attention of the PhD-Office.
   Only then can the diploma entitling you to use the doctoral title be issued.
    
3. Please note that the date of the confirmation of the doctoral advisor must always be before the submission to the university library! If it is not possible for you to come to the library in person, you can ask a colleague of the chair to do this for you, or you can do it by phone or by mail. Please contact the university library in this regard, as we do not know their regulations.  
    

• declaration of conformity of the printed version of the dissertation (sample)
• publishing of dissertations