Your path to a doctorate at CARRI

(1) Find a CARRI member who is willing to provide your initial care.

(2) Draw up a research proposal (English version) in close consultation with your primary supervisor.

(3) Once your research proposal has been accepted by your primary supervisor, you should draw up a supervision agreement (English version) with your primary supervisor and – if applicable – with your secondary supervisor, and have them sign it.

(4) You should then upload all the necessary documents via docDaten.

(5) Once the administrative office has reviewed your online application, you must either submit the original copies of the complete certificates and documents you have uploaded – including your higher education entrance qualification and proof of identity – to the administrative office, or send certified copies by post.

Only the ‘copy for the registry’ of the application, bearing the original signatures, is required. A copy of the CV and the supervision agreement is not required.

• If you are a doctoral candidate at the university, you will automatically be granted access to the Library and digital resources.
• If you are undertaking a doctorate as an external student, you can apply for a guest account through your supervisor’s department or enrol as a student (the latter option is only available at HM).
• Further information on enrolment can be found at:
  • Section 18 of the HM Enrolment Regulations
  • On the Graduate School’s website

The general accompanying doctoral programme consists of the following compulsory elements:

• Compulsory courses:
  • Good scientific practice (usually comprising 7 hours)
  • Academic Work / Academic Writing (usually comprising 14 hours)

• Students must also choose courses totalling at least 14 hours from the range of compulsory elective modules offered by the partner universities.

Here you will find the current courses at Hochschule München, as well as the courses at Nuremberg University of Applied Sciences and the course dates at OTH. As a rule, students attend compulsory courses in particular at their host university.

The accompanying doctoral programme consists of the following compulsory components:

• Doctoral candidates are required to participate regularly and actively in the research colloquium organised by the Doctoral Research Center. Each doctoral candidate must present the progress of their doctoral project at least three times. You can find the current dates and venues here. Please make a note of the dates. Regular participation means that you must attend all colloquia throughout the duration of your doctoral degree and contribute actively to the discussions.
• Doctoral candidates must present their doctoral research project for discussion to the academic community at least once during the course of their doctoral studies. This is usually done by presenting the doctoral research project at a recognised conference with a peer-review process.
• At least once per semester, doctoral candidates and their supervisors must hold a joint feedback meeting to discuss the progress of the doctoral project and the accompanying doctoral programme, and to agree on the next steps. The doctoral candidates summarise the results in minutes and have these countersigned by their supervisors.
• The supervisor may arrange for further subject-specific training courses as required.

You must document your completion of the accompanying doctoral programme using the form Dokumentation_PBP_CARRI and collect the necessary supporting documents. You must submit these to the Administrative Office by email before submitting your doctorate, as described in the form.

Please discuss the submission of your monograph or your publication-based dissertation with your Supervisor.

Please ensure you have the following documents ready in full:

a) An up-to-date curriculum vitae in accordance with Section 20(2), first sentence, point 2 of the RPromO

b) Statement by the primary supervisor on the initiation of the proceedings

c) Title of the written doctoral thesis

d) Written doctoral thesis (at least four copies and an electronic version)

e) In the event of provisional approval pursuant to section 20(4), fourth sentence, of the RPromO, evidence of the fulfilment of the conditions

f) Evidence of successful completion of the compulsory components of the accompanying doctoral programme

g) Fully completed form Dokumentation_PBP_CARRI

h) A declaration regarding prior publications in accordance with Section 22(3) of the RPromO, together with a list of such prior publications and a complete and up-to-date list of all other academic publications by the doctoral candidate

i) A current official certificate of good conduct

j) Details of the intended doctoral degree and a statement as to whether the degree is to be awarded in the masculine or feminine form

k) Submission of the following written statements:

• The doctoral thesis and the academic work documented therein were produced independently and without unauthorised assistance.
• The printed copy is identical to the electronic version.
• The written doctoral thesis had not previously been submitted, either in full or in part, to another examination board; the doctoral examination for the intended doctoral degree had not previously been definitively failed.
• The candidate has not yet passed the doctoral examination required to obtain the intended doctoral degree.
• All sources and reference materials used, as well as passages taken verbatim or in essence from other works, have been identified as such.
• The written doctoral thesis may be stored electronically and used for the purposes of citation verification; it may also be checked for any instances of plagiarism using digital tools, in particular plagiarism detection software.
• The doctoral candidate is aware that the doctoral degree may only be used once the certificate has been issued, and that the rights acquired will lapse if the statutory copies are not submitted on time.

The Doctoral Committee appoints the first examiner and the second examiner. The first supervisor is usually appointed as the first examiner. The second supervisor is usually appointed as the second examiner.

• For each oral examination, the Doctoral Committee appoints an examination board, which generally comprises the first examiner, the second examiner and a further person qualified to award a doctorate, who chairs the board.
• The oral examination consists of:
  • a 30-minute academic presentation delivered extemporaneously, followed by a discussion of the objectives, approaches and findings of the written doctoral thesis
  • followed by a discussion lasting at least 45 minutes.

• All members of the partner universities are admitted to the oral examination (presentation and discussion). By mutual agreement with the candidate, a wider public may be admitted to the presentation.

The written doctoral thesis (dissertation), in the version approved by the Supervisors, must be submitted to the university library of the host university for public access in one of the following publication formats:

• six printed copies, if the complete thesis, designated as a written doctoral thesis, is published by a publisher as a book with an ISBN and the publisher confirms a minimum print run of 150 copies or makes it available as an e-book published by the publisher that is permanently accessible online, or
• six printed and bound copies of a digital version of the written doctoral thesis published on the university library’s publication server; in this case, the doctoral candidate grants the university the right to reproduce the thesis, make it available on data networks and convert it into other formats as part of its statutory duties.

In any case, a printed copy of the written doctoral thesis is retained in the doctoral file at the Doctoral Research Center.

Further details are set out in Section 28 of the RPromO.

The doctoral degree may only be used once the certificate has been issued. The rights acquired will lapse if the statutory copies are not submitted on time.

In the event that a publication has been subject to a publication embargo, an informal application may be made to the Doctoral Committee to use the title provisionally.