Information for
for doctoral candidates

Doctoral candidates at Fulda University of Applied Sciences can find all the important information they need for their doctoral studies in Fulda here. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Doctoral Coordination team!

Doctoral Supervision Standards of the Fulda University of Applied Sciences

On 30 June 2022, the Presidential Board of Fulda University of Applied Sciences adopted supervision standards for doctoral degrees as guidelines following approval by the Senate on 15 June 2022. These were previously developed in a participatory process with the members of the Doctoral Scholarship Award Committee, the heads of the doctoral centres and the HRS4R network of Fulda University of Applied Sciences.

To the Doctoral Supervision Standards

matriculation

Different regulations apply to matriculation for the two doctoral programmes at Fulda University of Applied Sciences:

You have the opportunity to matriculate in one of our 8 departments.

The condition for matriculation is acceptance as a doctoral candidate at a doctoral research centre at Fulda University of Applied Sciences. You must also submit the following documents to the Doctoral Coordination Office:

  • the letter of acceptance,
  • a completed registration form,
  • an application for user identification and
  • evidence of payment of the semester fee.

If you would like to matriculate as a doctoral candidate , please contact us. We will check your request and arrange matriculation at the Student Administration.

Enrolment is possible at the beginning of the following semester or retroactively at the beginning of the current semester. The same semester fee is charged for matriculation as for students, but you can have this refunded. Notes on the refund of the semester ticket.

You have the opportunity to matriculate on an open Bachelor's programme of your choice. More information about the study programmes at Fulda University of Applied Sciences.

Access to resources

With access to resources, doctoral candidates at the Fulda University of Applied Sciences can make extensive use of the infrastructure.

Doctoral students at Fulda University of Applied Sciences can apply for the following resources:

These applications should primarily be submitted by doctoral candidates who are not or no longer employed at the university or who are not matriculated.

1. complete the application for resource access and the application for user identification.

2. you email the two applications to the Dean's Office in charge.

3. the Dean's Office checks

  • for cooperative doctoral candidates, whether there is a Supervision Agreement with a professor at Fulda University of Applied Sciences.
  • In the case of doctoral candidates from a doctoral research centre, whether they have been accepted as a doctoral candidate.

4 The Dean's Office fills out the applications and signs them.

5. in the next step, the paths taken by the applications differ:

You can now use the signed "Application for access to resources" to self-employed

The "Application for user identification" is forwarded by the Dean's Office in charge (not by the doctoral candidates, who do not even receive the application back) to the IT Support and the doctoral candidates are informed by them about the facilities of the email account. The doctoral candidates do not have to do anything else here.

This is the Presidential Board decision of 2 April 2015 (with supplement of 19 November 2015), according to which doctoral candidates can apply for access to the resources of the Fulda University of Applied Sciences (library card, email account, key) with the approval of the Dean's Office.

Congresses, publications and further education

Doctoral candidates who are supervised by a professor at Fulda University of Applied Sciences can apply for a grant to travel to a congress, for an academic publication or for individual further education.

The publication of publications, individual further training and congress/conference participation are subsidised up to a maximum total of 1,500 € per doctoral student. This maximum funding amount usually refers to the total duration of the doctorate. Grants can also be applied for more than once, but the total of all grants paid must not exceed 1,500 €.

  • Doctoral students at Fulda University of Applied Sciences are eligible to apply.
  • Applications must be submitted before the event begins or before the article is published.
  • The training, event or publication must be directly related to the doctoral topic.
  • Grants awarded will only be paid on presentation of all receipts.
  • There is no entitlement to a grant. Decisions on applications are made according to the availability of funds and depending on grants previously paid to the doctoral candidate.
  • The supervising professor of the Fulda University of Applied Sciences must confirm the purpose of the planned publication, advanced training or congress participation on the application form by signing it.
  • Please note that you must submit a business trip application for all trips that are (partially) financed by the Fulda University of Applied Sciences, even if you are not an employee of the HFD. If you do not have access to the HFD intranet, please contact Katja Richter, she will mail you an application form for external persons.

 

  • The programme of the event must be attached to the application. The grant will only be paid after receipt of the copies of the invoices/receipts.
  • The costs for participation, travel, food and accommodation must be within reasonable limits.

  • The publication must have been predominantly created by the doctoral candidate.
  • The grant will only be paid after receipt of the copies of the invoices/receipts.

The following documents must be submitted for an application for a grant:

1) Completed application form with survey form. Download application form
2) Informal letter of application with a brief explanation of how the publication/congress participation/individual training measure relates to the doctoral degree (1-2 pages).
3a) Grant for congress travel: Submit congress programme and, if applicable, evidence of acceptance of own contribution (if already available, otherwise submit later) with submission of application. Submit copies of invoices/receipts after attending the congress.
3b) Grant for scientific publication Publication grant: Submit evidence of acceptance of the publication (if already available, otherwise submit later) with submission of application. Submit copies of invoices and receipts after publication.
3c) Grant for an individual training measure: Submit program, costs, confirmation of registration (if applicable) with application. Confirmation of attendance, submit proof of payment after attendance.

Please note: The complete application must be submitted as a pdf file by email to zhinan.lu(at)verw.hs-fulda.de - please refrain from submitting it in paper form.

Registration for a doctoral degree

When you have finished writing and completing your dissertation, you initiate the final steps on your way to a doctorate by registering for a doctorate.

Different regulations apply to the two doctoral paths at Fulda University of Applied Sciences - in a doctoral research centre with doctoral rights or cooperatively with a university:

For doctoral candidates in a doctoral research centre

In the doctoral regulations of the doctoral centres you will find all the information on this topic in § 11 "Admission and initiation of the doctoral procedure". Since the conditions at the individual doctoral research centres may differ, we ask you to read the exact details and regulations in the doctoral regulations of your doctoral research centre.

For doctoral candidates in cooperative doctoral programmes

In this case, the doctoral regulations of the university with which you are doing a cooperative doctorate apply. Please contact the doctoral office of the university for this.

In the doctoral research regulations of the doctoral research centres you will find all information on this topic in § 11 "Admission and initiation of the doctoral procedure". As the conditions at the individual doctoral research centres may differ, we ask you to read the exact details and regulations in the doctoral degree regulations of your doctoral research centre.

In this case, the doctoral degree regulations of the university with which you are obtaining a cooperative doctoral programme apply. Please contact the university's doctoral office for this.

Plagiarism checks are also carried out at the Fulda University of Applied Sciences for dissertations using the "PlugAware" application.

If you would like to have such a plagiarism check carried out for dissertations, your contact person is Dr Sebastian Mehl (sebastian.mehl(at)verw.hs-fulda.de, telephone +49 661 9640 1910 / Doctoral Coordination Department ). In his absence, he will be represented by Hans-Martin Pohl (email hans-martin.pohl(at)verw.hs-fulda.de, phone +49 661 9640 9554 / Head of Division Learning and Teaching).

Please note: If you would like to have a plagiarism check carried out for Bachelor's and Master's theses, your contact person is Hans-Martin Pohl (email hans-martin.pohl(at)verw.hs-fulda.de, telephone +49 661 9640 9554/ Head of Division Learning and Teaching).

Contact

Dr. Sebastian Mehl PhD officer

Advice and coordination (currently not available)

Contact

Dr. Zhinan Lu Promotionsreferent und Projektmitarbeiter

Beratung und Promotionsförderung • Projekte ProGEPP und Charter & Code

Publication of your dissertation

If you are obtaining a doctorate at a doctoral research centre at Fulda University of Applied Sciences or an inter-university doctoral research centre with the participation of Fulda University of Applied Sciences and are planning to publish a dissertation, you will find an overview of the most important information here. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

How exactly the publication of the dissertation is expired is laid down in the doctoral degree regulations of the doctoral centres, usually in paragraph § 20 of the respective doctoral degree regulations.

Case study: Free of charge publication of your dissertation on the HFD's institutional publication server

First, the chair of the doctoral committee confirms to the doctoral candidate that he/she is authorised to publish the submitted version of the dissertation (so-called permission to print).

Then: The electronic version of the dissertation is uploaded to the Fulda document server (FulDok) and activated after the deposit copies have been submitted and confirmed by the library.

Then: Please contact Ms Manja Biermann (manja.biermann(at)hlb.hs-fulda.de) to submit the deposit copies of the dissertation.

You will receive confirmation from the library on the routing slip that the submission has been made properly. You can obtain the routing slip from your doctoral research centre coordinator.

Finally, submit the completed routing slip to the chair of the doctoral committee, who will arrange for the doctoral degree to be finalised and the doctoral certificate to be issued or delivered.

You are also welcome to use the library's advisory services and funding options for a possible open access publication of your dissertation. Please contact Patrick Langner, Open Access Officer at Fulda University of Applied Sciences.

Funding options

The library supports excellent dissertations that are published as a complete work in Gold Open Access by a publisher with a gross amount of up to 5,000 euros. The decision on funding is the responsibility of the HLB in each individual case.

Publication option

With the Fulda document server (FulDok), the library offers you the opportunity to publish your dissertation free of charge. Via the document server, theses can be found globally, are freely accessible, reusable and archived for the long term.

Patrick Langner

Department Head Media Services

Manja Biermann

Manja Biermann

Team Leader Acquisitions Campus location /Electronic Resources