You can apply to be admitted as a doctoral student if you have successfully completed the following required pre-doctoral studies through an examination:

1. a relevant master's degree program,
2. a relevant course of study at a university of at least four years duration, or
3. a relevant post-graduate study course following an undergraduate degree at a university or other institution of higher education with the right to confer doctorates

As a rule, proof of a written pre-doctoral thesis and an above-average degree in a degree program with usually 300 ECTS is required for admission.

Graduates with only a medical or dental state examination or internationally equivalent degrees are generally excluded from admission to the doctoral procedure Dr. sc. hum.

Exceptions can be found in the doctoral regulations (Promotionsordnung) § 4.

Applicants with foreign university degrees must obtain an advisory assesment from the Central Office for Foreign Education before submitting their application documents. Please refer to the information on the ‘Doctorate’ webpage.

As a rule, the doctoral thesis should comprise approximately 3 years of full-time work.

In justified cases, cumulative dissertations are possible (see implementation regulations for publication-based dissertations).

If you are accepted as a doctoral student after March 1st, 2022, the participation in a structured training program is mandatory (PromO Annex 2), see

• Implementation regulations Structured study program

Detailed information on TAC meetings and the content of the structured program organized by the School of Translational Medicine of the Medical Faculty Mannheim (STMM) for doctoral students of Dr.sc.hum. can be found on their website: STMM.

According to § 5 of the Promotionsordnung, an application for admission as a doctoral student should be submitted to the Medical Faculty Mannheim before the doctoral work begins. Digital registration for doctoral studies is done via the doctoral portal heiDOCS.

• heiDOCS - Create user account for the online doctoral file

• heiDOCS - Login to the online doctoral file

Please note: A written application to the Medical Faculty Mannheim is also required.

Please hand in all the documents listed below to the doctoral office, unless specified otherwise. Please print out the documents.

• Checklist I,

• Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate,

• Exposé (binding guideline)
• If applicable, ethics approval and additionally a short summary of the content of the ethics approval,
• If applicable, file number and NTP (non-technical project summary) of planned animal experiments,
• Current curriculum vitae (CV) in tabular form,
• In case of an industry-based or third-party funded doctoral project: Copy of the employment contract,
• In the case of financial support or other contractual agreements with industrial partners: confirmation from the company that there will be no restrictions on the publication of the dissertation results,
• Proof of completed university studies in the form of an officially certified copy: diploma or bachelor's and master's degree, including certificates, transcripts and list of subjects (transcript of records) in the original language and, if applicable, as a German or English translation,
• Please note: For degrees obtained outside the EU, an expert opinion on admission to doctoral studies must be obtained in advance from the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs. Please have your supervisor forward this to the Doctoral Office by e-mail only.
• For degrees from China, India and Vietnam: APS,
• For onboarding from third-party states: Declaration of compliance with export control regulations for the acceptance of a doctoral candidate from a third-party state. (Further information: Export control checklist, Export control declaration [in German])
• Proof of language proficiency for applicants whose native language is not German or English,
• Doctoral agreement (Promotionsvereinbarung) with details of the individual study program -

  • Implementation regulations Structured Study Program

  • Template Doctoral Agreement

• For identity verification, a valid identity card or passport must be presented when the application documents are submitted.

In the case of a planned cumulative dissertation, an application for approval must be submitted to the doctoral committee before the dissertation is written. For this, the following documents must be submitted to the Doctoral Office:

• Description of the doctoral candidate's own work
• Cover sheets of the planned publications

Please also read:

• Implementation regulations for publication-based dissertations
• Implementation regulation for the use of AI
  Please note: Submit ‘Documentation of the use of AI tools’ separately and as an appendix to the dissertation.

Dissertation

• Guidelines for writing the dissertation
• Gender-neutral language
• Dissertation template (PC)
• Dissertation template (Mac)
• Note on the dissertation template

Dissertation Abstract

• Word Document Template Abstract

Reference management with EndNote

Please pay special attention to the link " Zeitschriftentitel im Literaturverzeichnis korrekt darstellen (Display journal titles correctly in the bibliography)" and contact the library if you have any questions.

Please submit all of the required documents to the doctoral office, unless otherwise indicated. The dissertation does not have to be delivered in person. This can also be done by mail or by an appointed person. Please print the PDF documents listed below. Please copy all documents for your own use, as the doctoral office does not make copies.

Please submit the documents listed below in the specified order, punched and unstapled (unstapled), without a brochure cover or loose-leaf binder. Only fully signed applications received by the doctoral office in the required form, and before the specified deadlines, can be considered by the doctoral committee.

• One bound copy of the dissertation,
• An electronic version (PDF) of the dissertation (your last name must be contained within the file name) sent by email on the day of submission to susanne.volz@remove-this.medma.uni-heidelberg.de,
• Checklist II,

  Please note: Proposed reviewers and examiners must not have published with the doctoral candidate and must not be members of the same working group. When proposing reviewers and examiners for the oral doctoral examination, there should be at least one distinction between the proposed individuals.

• Application to initiate the doctoral examination procedure,
• Written evaluation from the doctoral supervisor in original and in digital form (without the supervisor’s written evaluation the procedure cannot be initiated),
• Proposals for two thesis reviewers, including current contact details such as address and e-mail. For summa-cum-laude theses, two additional external thesis reviewers (also with current contact details) must be named,
• Ethics approval, if applicable,
• Dissertation abstract (signed by the doctoral supervisor),
• If some or all of the work has been published, a description of the doctoral candidate's contribution to the publication(s), signed by the doctoral supervisor,
• For cumulative dissertations, a description of the doctoral candidate's own contribution to the publications using the Publication Summary Form,
• A copy of the first page of any publications that have resulted from the dissertation work,
• A confirmation of the completed study program signed by the doctoral supervisor with a list of courses attended, as well as proof of TAC meetings within the structured training program (Transcript of Records), as well as the TAC reports and the short protocols of the TAC meetings,
• Documentation of the Use of AI Tools (submitted separately and included as an appendix to the dissertation)
• Tabular curriculum vitae (professional and scientific career),
• Current (max. three months old) police clearance certificate,
• Statistics form,
• Deposit slip for 50,00 Euro (bank account: Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, IBAN: DE40600501010004616342, BIC: SOLADEST600. Reason for payment: Promotionskonto Kostenstelle: 90501050.4).

The procedure usually takes four to six months (Obtaining expert opinions, display periods, etc.). You will be informed in writing about the acceptance of the thesis, correction requirements or missing documents. Please understand that due to the large number of doctoral examinations, it is not possible to answer interim inquiries about the status of the procedure.

General conditions

The oral examination must be taken within six months of the dissertation being accepted. In justified cases, an extension may be requested before the deadline expires. The chair of the examination committee sets the date of the oral examination in consultation with the members of the examination committee and the doctoral candidate.

The examination comprises the presentation and defence of the dissertation, as well as the assessment of the doctoral candidate's general ability to engage in academic discussion and conduct in-depth academic work. The oral examination should generally last about one hour. Of this, 15-20 minutes are allocated to the presentation of the dissertation.

The examination is open to the university public. At the request of the doctoral candidate or for other important reasons, any form of public access may be restricted or excluded. The deliberation and announcement of the examination results are not public.

The examination usually takes place in person. In justified individual cases, an oral examination by video conference may be approved at the request of the doctoral candidate. An application form is available on the website of the Doctoral Office. All members of the examination board must approve the application. A suitable supervisor must ensure that the oral examination is conducted properly. There is no entitlement to take the oral examination via video conferencing.

Assessment of the oral examination

The examination board is appointed by the doctoral committee after acceptance of the dissertation. It consists of the chair (a member of the doctoral committee) and the examiners for the main subject (usually the doctoral supervisor) and the two minor subjects. All members of the examination board participate in the questioning of the candidate and in the discussion. The dissertation and the oral examination are given equal weight in the overall assessment of the doctoral performance. The oral examination is only considered passed if the examiners for the main and minor examination subjects, in agreement with the chair of the examination committee, have confirmed at least a satisfactory (rite) performance. If the examination is not passed, it can be repeated once within twelve months.

Upload an electronic version of the dissertation to the Heidelberg document server heiDOK. For this purpose, please note the Special regulations for the publication of dissertations;

After the electronic dissertation has been uploaded, the following documents have to be handed in at the library (UMM, House 42):

• Completed and signed declaration for the publication of electronic dissertations,
• A bound copy of the dissertation (Important: No ring binder or spiral binding). The print copy must exactly match the electronic version on heiDOK,
• Send the dissertation abstract as a Word file - your last name should appear in the file name - immediately after submission of the bound deposit copy by e-mail to bibl-dissertationen@remove-this.medma.uni-heidelberg.de.
• A screenshot of the successful upload of the dissertation to the heiDOK server.