Opening of doctoral procedures

Please submit your documents in full in an email to prommnf@uni-potsdam.de. You are welcom to use BoxUP or another file sharing provider (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and send a link to download your documents. Please assign file names in the order shown in the checklist (for example: 02Supervision agreement, 03Dissertation, 04Own contribution, ... ).

1. Request to open the examination process for a doctoral degree,
2. Agreement of Supervision,
3. thesis,
4. for cumulative thesis:  statement of own contribution with a confirmation by the principle supervisor (§ 11 (2)),
5. affidavit that the thesis has not previously been submitted to any other university and that it has been prepared independently and exclusively with the specified resources,
6. scientific abstract, with author and title,
7. CV (signed and with information about scientific activities),
8. List of publications (published or accepted) and/or other scientific results,
9. Scan of the diploma/master degree according to § 8
10. a) Proof of enrollment (§8 (6)) or b) proof of employment in public or ecclesiastic services or c) Police clearance certificate („Polizeiliches Führungszeugnis“, in original), if the applicant has not been enrolled as a student for more than 3 months,
11. Documentation of teaching experience,
12. Documentation of participation in the doctoral seminar,
13. Generally understandable summary in German for non experts/ lay persons (with author and title of the thesis – max. 1 page),
14. cotutelle: cooperation-contract of a joint doctoral procedure between the University of Potsdam and the foreign university approved of the Faculty Board.

Attention! The signature of the subject representative on the opening request must be in the original. This original signature can, be obtained from the doctoral office in exceptional cases. All other required signatures (Own Contribution, doctoral seminar, proof of teaching experience  etc.) can be made digitally.

This form must be submitted to the doctoral office (by post or in person).

The following documents must be submitted in original as soon as possible by post or in person. This can be done after the deadline, but before the meeting of the doctoral committee.

• a bound printed copy of the dissertation (copy for display in the office) 
• affidavit (point 5), signed in original
• officially certified copy of your last degree certificate (or copy on presentation of original)

Please note the editorial deadline for the relevant meeting of the doctoral committee.

The list of the responsible subject representatives can be found below the meeting dates of the doctoral committee.

Example for a front-page (.doc)

After the opening, the reviewers are each sent a copy of the dissertation. They have eight weeks to submit a review.

Once the last review is received and all reviews are positive, the chair of the examination committee will be tasked with finding a date for the defence. As a doctoral candidate, you will be informed that your dissertation has been accepted and that a date is being sought for the oral defense.

Please read § 14 of the Regulations for details of the defense.