Doctoral Thesis

Doctoral candidates have to write a dissertation that demonstrates the candidate’s ability to master academic topics independently and that meets the scientific standards of the field.

It is common practice in the Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution that the PhD thesis is done in a cumulative way, i.e. generally composed of three published articles in peer-reviewed journals comprising the thesis topic as presented and appoved at the public presentation at faculty and doctoral thesis agreement.

The dissertation will be reviewed by two independent (usually external) experts. Together with their supervisor(s) the doctoral candidate can suggest three experts as reviewers. Please hand in a CV and a publication list of suggested external reviewers. The appointment of the reviewers however will be done by the Studienpräses. There is a possibility of getting travel costs of external reviewers refunded. Detailed information can be found on the information sheet of the Studienpräses.  

The reviewers have a maximum of 4 months after the written submission of the thesis to review the thesis and write their report. Only if both reviewers submit a positive report on the thesis, the doctoral candidate can register for the public defense. If a reviewer assesses the thesis negatively then the thesis is handed to a further reviewer. If he/she also assesses the thesis negatively then the overall result is negative and the thesis has to be revised before it can be handed in again.

The public defense consists of a presentation of the central findings (30 minutes) followed by a general discussion about the research subject with the examination commission (approximately 30 to 45 minutes depending on the examniers and questions). The examination committee is assembled by the Director of the Doctoral Study Programme and consists of at least three persons. 
After the positively assessed public defense the doctoral candidate has the possibility to celebrate his/her completion of the doctoral/PhD study with a conferring ceremony. For more information please follow this link.