During the initial phase of your doctorate (first six months), you are asked to participate in the Kick-Off seminar

The Kick-Off seminar provides you with information on all aspects of scientific work. In addition, you will participate in an interdisciplinary workshop (two days). The three-day workshop is also ideal for networking with doctoral candidates from other disciplines.

You will find an overview of the dates as well as information on registration (only via Doc-GS) and the procedure here or on the Wikpage  of the Graduate School.

The Graduate School will record the confirmation of attendance at this seminar in your Doc-GS account. 

In addition to your supervisor, who will supervise you professionally, a mentor will support you as a doctoral student in various aspects of the doctorate. The mentor can provide further specialist support, but can also be consulted additionally or exclusively on questions of meaningful interdisciplinary qualification, project and time management during the doctorate. The topics of life and career planning as well as personal development can also be reflected upon and advanced with the mentor. Mentors can be anyone who has demonstrated their ability to conduct independent academic work through a doctorate. See also.
At the TUM School of Social Sciences, you must have a mentor from the beginning. If, for whatever reason, you have not yet registered your mentor in DocGs, please do so as soon as possible. The same applies if you want to change your mentor:

•     Please download the PDF scan of your supervision agreement from your DocGS account and have your mentor sign it.
•     Afterwards, please use the function in your DocGS account: Request change of doctoral characteristics --> Request change

Make sure that the mentorship is independent of the research project!

In relation to the entire duration of the doctorate, each doctoral candidate must attend a total of 6 semester hours per week (6 SWS = 63 hours) of subject specific-qualifications.
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For doctoral candidates who are on the doctoral candidacy list as of June 22, 2023, these subject-specific 6 SWS or 63 time hours generally comprise (New)

All forms can be found under "Links and Downloads"

During the doctoral phase, each doctoral candidate presents his or her research project for discussion in the international scientific community. As a rule, this is done by means of submitted publications or conference papers, which are subject to a peer review process. This publication is obligatory for all doctoral candidates, i.e., those writing a monograph.

Important: Extra regulations apply to publication-based dissertations.

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At the latest 24 months after joining the TUM-GS (provisional membership) a feedback meeting of the doctoral project will be held according to § 15 Abs. 7 of the statute of the TUM Graduate School, in which the continuation of the doctoral project is discussed.

Basics for the feedback discussion with the first supervisor are a.o.:

• a seminar lecture open to the public, which can be replaced by a lecture at a scientific conference,
• a written interim report by the doctoral candidate on the progress of the scientific work signed by the first supervisor and mentor,
• an updated care agreement (if necessary)
• Information with regard to the counselling interviews with mentors and
• Documentation/protocol of the feedback meeting with the first supervisor (NEW in doctoral regulations 2021)

The checklist for the feedback session according to the doctoral regulations 2012 and 2021 can be found here.

--> Upload your documents clearly structured in Doc-GS as shown in the instructions so that the approval process works without any problems.

Please note that the feedback interview must be approved again after the change of the doctoral regulations.
For this purpose, you may have to upload the documents again in a structured manner.

Doctoral students confirm their data  in DocGS once a year. Confirmation begins each year on September 1 and lasts 6 weeks until October 13. This ensures that the doctoral list contains only ongoing doctoral projects. In the course of this process, supervisors confirm via DocGS that the respective doctoral student continues to do his or her doctorate.

Attention: If you do not confirm your data, your Doc-Gs account will be blocked near the end of the hearing period on November 15 of the year.

For internal doctorates, integration into the academic environment of TUM is automatically given.

External doctoral students must prove that they are embedded in the academic environment of TUM. The integration can be provided by the present time at TUM by teaching at TUM or by being part of a research group at TUM.

Please make a written agreement on "integration into the academic environment" with your supervisor at the beginning of your doctorate. Proof of your performance will be provided in the form of a self-evaluation report written by you (including your written fixation at the beginning of your doctorate), which must be signed by your supervisor. Upload this self-report to the DocGS and submit the application. The FGC decides on the recognition.

You can find the form as a download here.

The TUM Graduate School offers interdisciplinary courses. The courses are designed as a supplementary qualification during your doctorate and offer valuable orientation for your next career steps.
You can find further interdisciplinary course providers here.

Science and research are more international today than ever before. The Graduate School, therefore, supports international and intercultural cooperation in research and developing personal and institutional networks. Internal doctoral candidates can only claim support after the feedback interview and the kick-off seminar (no exceptions).

TUM-GS provides support to doctoral candidates who are employed at TUM as research/teaching associates in the form of funding of 1,600 euros for the following:

• Stays for research purposes at a scientific, academic or research institution or within an industrial firm that conducts research in another country
• Presentation of the candidate’s own scientific, scholarly or research findings at international conferences, symposia, etc., in another country
• Attending international subject-specific summer/winter schools, workshops, etc., in another country
• Inviting international visiting researchers to do joint research on the candidate’s own dissertation project at the TUM
• Travel expenses for examiners (from foreign universities) to participate in the doctoral voce at the TUM

Doctoral candidates who are completing their doctoral research according to the current TUM Regulations for the Award of Doctoral Degrees (effective January 1, 2014) can apply for an additional 1,400 euros for the following:

• Stays for research purposes lasting no less than four weeks at a time at a scientific, academic or research institution or within an industrial firm that conducts research in another country

The following application documents are typically needed:

1. Application for TUM-GS internationalization support via Doc-GS, Signed by the supervisor and the Graduate Center Manager
2. Service/continuing education approval (Dienst-/Fortbildungsgenehmigung) - signed by supervisor or chef

You  will find all the important information in the checklist/leaflet of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology - Internationalisation Support

Important: Please note that in case of a posting, only the transfer days can be refunded ("An- und Abreisetag"). We strongly recommend that you obtain information from TUM, especially when it comes to postings ("Entsendungen"): https://portal.mytum.de/kompass/personalwirtschaft_public/index_html/kompass/personalwirtschaft/auslandstaetigkeiten_entsendungen

Further information on financial support for your stay abroad can be found here.

Doctoral candidates who are neither employed at TUM nor receive a classic doctoral scholarship cannot be funded by the regular TUM-GS financial support. Instead, they can apply for the TUM-GS Internationalization Grant of max. 1.600 Euro. External doctoral candidates can only apply for the grant after attending the kick-off seminar and with approved feedback session - no exceptions.

External doctoral candidates with excellent subject matter can apply for the grant for the following:

• a research stay at a scientific institute or with a research company abroad
• the presentation of their scientific results at international conferences and symposia abroad, and
• Participation in international professional summer/winter schools, professional workshops, etc.

You can only apply for the TUM-GS Internationalization Grant for planned trips. Please send your application documents to Frau Rietz-Leiber.

Your application should include the following information and documents:

• Application form
• Cover letter with presentation of the following:
  • Type and relevance of the trip for the doctoral project
  • Expected results (e.g. publication, conference contribution, joint research proposal with international cooperation partner, learning a method, elaboration of data and research results etc.)
  • Duration and cost of the trip (with cost estimates)
• Short curriculum vitae with Master's grade and list of publications

The application deadlines are as follows:

1st quarter - 15.03.

2nd quarter - 15.06.

3rd quarter - 15.09.

4th quarter - 15.12.

The Graduate Center of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology prepares a ranking of the applicants per quarter and forwards it to the TUM Graduate School. The TUM-GS board and the Graduate Dean decide to award the grant.

Please note that there is no advance payment for the grant

Are you doing teaching during your doctoral studies and would like to have this mentioned in your certificate? Please upload a list of your teaching activities (signed by your first supervisor) in Doc-GS.

Have you given a scientific lecture and would you like this achievement to appear in the certificate? Then you can upload the lecture (title of the lecture, where held, proof) in Doc-Gs.

Update your email address

Change of your Mentor or add your mentor

If you want to change your mentor or you have to add your mentor (because you had no mentor at the beginning), you can do this via Doc-GS. The Graduate Center must approve your change of mentor.

Change of the first supervisor

If you want to change your Supervisor within the School or outside, please get in touch with the future supervisor  and clarify the possibility of a change.
--> Please get in touch with the SOT Graduate Center as soon as possible!

Re-activation Doc- GS Account

Please fill out the form  have the supervisor sign it and send it to the SOT- Graduate Centre. The SOT-Graduate Center will forward it. The Graduate School will activate the account.
Please note: the data update must then be completed within 14 days. If this does not happen, the account will be blocked after 14 days.

Cancellation of the doctorate