Doctoral Studies

• You finished a master's degree at a university with at least a grade of 2.5 or better and 300 ECTS (the faculty’s doctoral committee will decide on exceptions);

• You did not submit your dissertation topics for a doctorate anywhere else;

• The doctoral regulations of 9 July 2014 [PDF] apply to you;

• If you study according to the structured graduation programme, also the doctoral study regulations of 24 January 2018 [PDF] apply to you;

• You accept the current Statutes for Ensuring Good Scientific Practice and Avoiding Scientific Misconduct [PDF] at the University of Hamburg;

• During your doctoral studies, you will "earn" at least 12 credit point (CP) resp. in the structured graduation programme 32 credit points (see >> Doctoral Studies);

• When you will have successfully completed your doctoral studies in all sections, you will receive the title "Doctor rerum oeconomicarum" ("Dr. rer. oec.") and in the structured graduation programme additionally the certificate "Research in Business Administration".

• You - on your own - look for two university professors to supervise your doctoral project, at least one of whom teaches at the faculty of business administration.

• At the latest, three months after having started your studies at the chair of your first supervisor, you download the "Application for Admission to Doctoral Studies at the Faculty of Business Administration [DOCX]" and fill it in. Both supervisors sign the application form and thereby agree to the supervision. You also sign the application yourself.

• You attach the following documents to the signed application form:
  
  • an actual and signed CV,
  • your master's certificate (original for copying) or certified copy for handing in, and
  • (in case applicable) a language certificate,
and submit all together to the administration office for doctoral studies.

• The admin office will send a written confirmation on the doctoral committee's decision to you,
  a) that you are admitted to the faculty as doctoral student or
  b) that you are admitted to the faculty as doctoral student  UNDER PRE-CONDITIONS or
  c) that your application for admission was rejected.

• In case of a) or b), please enroll at the Campus Centre with
  • the confirmation of admission to doctoral studies at th Faculty of Business Administration,
  • with printed www.uni-hamburg.de/online-bewerbung and
  • health insurance certificate

• and inform the administration office of your matriculation number if you received it only then.

• About one year after having started your doctorate, you submit an exposé to your supervisors and discuss it. You will hold regular research meetings with your supervisors and prepare internal interim reports.

• Together with your supervisors you develop a procedure for data safety management. Here you will find a guideline thereto. Your supervisors and you sign a separate overview on your data safety management which you attach when handing in your thesis at the admin office.

• If you received pre-conditions at the time of admission, you process and fulfill them.

• You earn at least 12 credit points (CP) resp. in the structured graduation programme 32 CP in accordance with the doctoral study regulations [PDF]:
  • In section a) = Methodology courses (10 LP) from the modules
    • "Econometrics" (5 LP): Course "Recent Developments in Causal Inference [PDF]" (Prof. Martin Spindler)
    • "Experiments" (5 LP): Course "Behavioral & Experimental Economics[PDF]" (Prof. Markus Nöth & Prof. Guido Voigt)
    • "Survey Research" (5 LP): Course "Survey Research [PDF]" (Prof. Karen Gedenk)
    • "Advanced Modelling & Optimization" (5 LP): Course "Advanced Modelling and Optimization [PDF]" (Prof. Malte Fliedner & Prof. Knut Haase)
    • "Matheuristics" (5 LP): Course "Matheuristics [PDF]" (Prof. Stefan Voß)
  • In section b) = consolidation (min. 10 LP)
    • Seminars/workshops on content, methods, software, theories (general or subject-specific); examples can be found further down on this website under “other doctoral courses at the UHH”.
  • In section c) = supplement
    • Seminars/workshops from the UHH PhD qualification program ("Academic Writing", "Project Management", etc.) and at least one lecture at conferences/colloquia, etc. (e.g. courses offered by HRA)

Important for doctoral courses:

• In order for a doctoral course to be credited, proof of participation must absolutely be provided for
  • the duration (hours/days),
  • the agenda/module description and
  • the study achievement(s) completed, e.g. own presentation, term paper, seminar paper, written examination.
• Wordings such as "successfully participated" are not accepted without specification of the achievemen(s).
• If an academic achievement in a course is optional, the course instructor must confirm performance.
• The information on recognition of credit points [PDF] will guide you on the evaluation of the courses according to the Doctoral Regulations 2014 for our faculty.

• If you decide to prematurely terminate your doctoral studies without graduation, please inform the administration office for doctoral studies on this.

• If your studies last longer than three years, please apply for an extension of your doctoral study period (informally by e-mail) to the doctoral committee via the administration office. You will then receive a note of acknowledgement.

• First, please fill in
  • the statistics to register your research stays abroad via STiNE (instructions [PDF]), 
  • the verification of credit points for the doctoral regulations 2014 [DOCX] (see also Information on credit points (teaching) for the doctoral regulations 2014 [PDF]), and
  • the Transcript of Records [DOCX],
the two latter documents in word format, sorted chronologically in ascending order. Please mail those two documents together with the course certificates (the latter in one pdf document) to the administration office for doctoral studies (bwl.promotion@uni-hamburg.de).

• The documents are being checked and you will then receive confirmation of the credit points and the Transcript of Records. Please hand in
  • your dissertation (5 printed and one digital copy) including
    • title page [DOCX],
    • synopsis,
    • list of your work share,
    • summary English and German,
    • signed affidavit [PDF] together with the
  • proposal for the Examination Commission [DOCX]
    at the administration office for doctoral studies. Please note that the majority of the members of the examination commission must be of Universität Hamburg but at least one must be of a different area of specialisation; and that in the case of a cumulative dissertation your co-author cannot act as chairman.
  • Please also submit - in accordance with the above-mentioned current Statutes to ensure good scientific practice and avoid scientific misconduct at the University of Hamburg [PDF] - data records and data management.

• The doctoral thesis is formally checked at the administration office. Then the doctoral committee sets up the examination committee on which you will receive information.

• The reviewers may take three months to review your dissertation.

If, contrary to expectations, one or both reviewers decide not to grade your dissertation, it will be returned to you with a deadline for revision.

If two reviewers grade your dissertation with "summa cum laude (with distinction)" or the reviews differ in their marks, the doctoral committee appoints a third-party reviewer.

• As soon as all expert reports are on-hand, the dissertation and reports are available for review during two weeks.

If there are any requirements formulated during the review period, we will let you know. You will have to fulfil all conditions (if such), and the examination commission has to confirm fulfilment before the process can continue with the disputation.

• At the end of the review period, we will inform you on the grading of your dissertation, and invite you to the disputation. The examination committee agrees this date among their members and with you. You confirm receipt of the invitation to the administration office. The chair/doctoral student will take care of the room reservation for the disputation.

• You orally defend your research project(s).

•  The Examination Commission
  • assigns the grade for the disputation and the overall grade,
  • concedes press readiness and
  • issues an interim certificate to you, stating in advance the grades and your examination board. The interim certificate does not yet qualify you to use the title.

•  The doctoral certificate is being printed and sent for signatures.

• You publish your dissertation within one year at the State and University Library (SUB) or via a publishing house (see our information on the publication of dissertations [PDF] as part of the doctoral procedure). Proof of publication is a pre-requisite for handing over the doctoral certificate to you. Only after having received the certificate you are allowed to use the title.

• You acknowledge receipt of the certificate and confirm that the content of the dissertation copies published fully corresponds to the one reviewed.

Hereafter please find the links for information on credit points and publication of your dissertation:

• Recognizing credits (teaching) for doctoral degree regulations of 2014 [PDF]
• Recognizing credits according to doctoral degree regulations of 2014 [PDF]
• Publishing dissertations as part of the doctoral procedure [PDF]

• Application for admission to Doctoral Studies at the Faculty of Business Administration [DOCX]
• Suggestion for Examination Commission [DOCX]
• Sample suggestion—affidavit [DOCX]
• Sample suggestion—cover page [DOCX]
• Verification of credit points pursuant to doctoral degree regulations of 2014 [DOCX]

• Recent Developments in Audit Research and an Approach to getting Published (20.-22.2.2019)
  Nicole Ratzinger-Sakel (Information [PDF])
• Current Topics in Experimental Health Economics (SoSe 2020) (Information)
• Compass: Career Development Program for Doctoral and Early Career Researchers
  Anna Born (Information) 
• Hamburg Research Academy: überfachliche Qualifizierungskurse
  (Information)
• PIASTA: exchange between German and international students (Information)

Courses abroad

• IRWS International Research Workshop Methods for Ph.D.
• Essex Summer School
• University of Michigan: Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research
• Universtität St. Gallen: GSERM - Summer School in Empirical Research Methods
• University of Ljubljana: GSERM Ljubljana
• Norwegian Business School: PhD Winter School Oslo
• DART – Doctoral Program in Accounting, Reporting and Taxation

 Further doctoral programs

• Comprehensive PLS-SEM Seminar Using SmartPLS 3
• VHB Doktorandenprogramm
• Courses within the „Nordic Network for PhD Studies“

The Hamburg Center for Health Economics (HCHE) manages the European Graduate School “Improving Quality of Care in Europe”. In collaboration with the European Partner Universities University of York, Universidade de Lisboa, University of Southern Denmark, Bocconi University, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the globally operating medical technology producer St. Jude Medical, they undertake research on concepts to improve the quality in the European healthcare system.

Research Aims

The research results at the graduate school shall improve the quality and efficiency of the European healthcare system. The research areas focused at the graduate school lean on the six dimensions of “quality in healthcare” defined by the Wold Health Organization. Non-academic partners like the national heath funds, hospitals, ministry for health and health policy organizations closely contribute to the necessary practical reference of dissertation projects

General Information

In summer 2017, fifteen doctoral students started their research projects and undertook a broad interdisciplinary training program. The three-year curriculum includes courses like epidemiology, microeconomics or experimental research design as well as courses to strengthen job-related key qualifications that support the abilities for project management, leadership and communication. For the partner universities, the doctoral program enables the support of talented academics and of strategical partnerships with other research institutions.

IQCE is being financed by the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie-Program from the European Commission, which supports innovative academic projects in the context of program “Horizon 2020”.

Further information for the IQCE and the application you can find here.

The Graduate School Media and Communication offers an innovative and diverse doctoral program for young academics. At present, ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius are providing a short-term scholarship to establish a new research area called “Repeat, Remix, Remediate: Formen und Normen der Wiederverwendung digitaler medien” (forms and standards to reutilize digital media).

More information you can find here. 

The European Doctorate in Law and Economics is a common doctoral program of Universität Hamburg, the University of Bologna and Erasmus University of Rotterdam. The program aims to educate doctoral students on the highest academic level in the area of “law and economics”. Prospective doctoral students shall be able to participate competently at academic debates in this field of research.

Course Content and Concept

The economic analysis of rights (law and economics) is gaining more and more importance on an international level. The three participating universities are part of the leading institutions in this research area in Europe. “Law and Economics” deals with the effects of different legal norms and their rating based on the criteria of efficiency. The main research subject of EDLE is “Tensions between efficiency and other goals of general interest”. Doctoral students within this program spend one (or more) semesters in Bologna, Rotterdam and Hamburg each and take part at the courses offered. All courses are held in English.

General Information

Each year, seven or more full scholarships are awarded. The requirements for admission to the program are a degree in laws or economics as well as excellent English Experiences in the area of “Law and Economics” are preferred. Further information you can find here.