Doctoral Studies

• To be eligible for either doctoral degree program, you must have completed:
  • a master's degree at a university with a grade point average of 2.5 or better, and
  • at least 300 ECTS (the faculty’s doctoral committee will decide on exceptions to these rules); and

• You confirm that you have not submitted your dissertation topic for a doctorate elsewhere.

Steps for application and admission:

• You find two university professors to supervise your doctoral project, at least one of whom teaches at the Faculty of Business Administration.

• Within three months of having started your studies at the chair of your first supervisor, you officially submit a completed version of the form "Application for Admission to Doctoral Studies at the Faculty of Business Administration [DOCX]" to the Office for Doctoral Studies. The form requires the signatures of both supervisors. The following documents are also to be attached:
  • a current, signed CV,
  • your master's certificate (original for copying), or certified copy, and
  • a language certificate (where applicable).

• The Office for Doctoral Studies will send you a written confirmation of the doctoral committee's decision:

1. that you are admitted to the faculty as doctoral student, or
2. that you are admitted to the faculty as doctoral student UNDER PRE-CONDITIONS, or
3. that your application for admission has been rejected.

• In case of a. or b., please enroll at the Campus Centre with
  • the confirmation of admission to doctoral studies at the Faculty of Business Administration,
  • with a completed application form, and
  • a health insurance certificate.

• Please inform the administration office of your matriculation number (if you have not already done so).

• The doctoral regulations of 9 July 2014 [PDF] ("Dr. rer. oec.") apply;

• If you enroll in the Graduate School Doctoral Program, the doctoral study regulations of 24 January 2018 [PDF] (program outline in German only) also apply;

• The "Statutes for Ensuring Good Scientific Practice and Avoiding Scientific Misconduct [PDF] at the University of Hamburg" apply;

• To complete a doctoral degree:
  • Doctoral Program: at least 12 credit points (CP) in doctoral courses must be successfully completed.
  • Graduate School Doctoral Program: at least 32 CP in doctoral courses must be successfully completed.

See the section "Doctoral Courses" below for further details.

• Upon successful completion of their doctoral studies, students are awarded the title "Doctor rerum oeconomicarum" ("Dr. rer. oec."). Students who complete the Graduate School Doctoral Program are also awarded the certificate in "Research in Business Administration".

• 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 management. Guidelines for data management can be found here. Your supervisors and you sign a separate agreement on your data management system, which you attach when submitting your thesis to the Office for Doctoral Studies.

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

• Students studying according to the 2014 doctoral regulations must complete at least 12 credit points (CP); students completing the Graduate School program must complete 32 CP (see "Doctoral Courses" below).

• If you decide to terminate your doctoral studies before graduating, please inform the Office for Doctoral Studies.

• If you are in your third year, and your studies look set to exceed the regular three year study period, please apply for an extension of the doctoral study period (by email) to the doctoral committee via the Office for Doctoral Studies. You will receive an official acknowledgement of your request to extend your study period.

Step 1

• Register your research stays abroad via STiNE (instructions [PDF]). Please fill in all kind of stays (max. three), e.g. research stays, doctorial courses and/or conference stays.

• Email the following, completed documents to the Office for Doctoral Studies:
  • Verification of credit points for the doctoral regulations 2014 [DOCX] (see also Information on credit points (teaching) for the doctoral regulations 2014 [PDF]), 
  • all related course certificates (in one pdf, chronological order), and
  • the Transcript of Records [DOCX].
  • see also "Doctorial Courses" as to conditions of acceptation

• Once the documents have been checked, you will receive confirmation of your credit points and the Transcript of Records. You can then proceed to Step 2.

Step 2

Submit to the Office for Doctoral Studies:

• The dissertation (5 printed copies, and one digital copy); it must include:
  • a title page [DOCX],
  • synopsis,
  • list of your work share,
  • summary in English and German,
  • signed affidavit [PDF] together with the

• Proposal for the Examination Commission [DOCX]
  Please note that the majority of the members of the examination commission must be from Universität Hamburg and that at least one must be from a different area of specialization. In case of a cumulative dissertation, a 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 by the Office for Doctoral Studies. The doctoral committee will set up the examination committee. You will be informed/kept up-to-date by the administrative office or the doctoral committee.

• The reviewers may take up to 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 both 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 for a two-week period.

If any requirements are formulated during the review period, we will let you know. You will have to fulfil all conditions (if any), and the examination commission has to confirm fulfilment before the process can continue to 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 upon this date among their members and with you. You confirm receipt of the invitation to the Office for Doctoral Studies. The chair or the doctoral student is responsible for reserving the room for the disputation.

• You orally defend your research project(s).

•  The Examination Commission
  • assigns the grade for the disputation and the overall grade,
  • approves the thesis for publication, 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 of "Dr. rer. oec.".

•  The doctoral certificate is printed and sent to be signed off.

• 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 receiving the doctoral certificate. Only after having been issued with the certificate is one legally allowed to use the title "Dr. rer. oec.".

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

Further doctoral programs at Universität Hamburg

• Current Topics in Experimental Health Economics (SoSe 2020) (Information [PDF])
• Compass: Career Development Program for Doctoral and Early Career Researchers
  Anna Born (Information) 
• Hamburg Research Academy: interdisciplinary courses  
  (Information)
• PIASTA: exchange between German and international students (Information)

Courses abroad

• IRWS International Research Workshop Methods for Ph.D. Students
• 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
• 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 aim to 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 health funds, hospitals, ministries 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 about the IQCE and the application can be found 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 can be found 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-language Experiences in the area of “Law and Economics” are preferred. Further information can be found here.