Formal requirements at the beginning of your doctorate
In order to get your doctorate off to a successful start, there are a number of formal requirements that you have to meet. We have created a checklist for you to provide a better overview.
Financing
Doctoral candidates have various options to finance their livelihood during their doctorate. The most common positions are as academic staff in research and teaching or third-party funded projects as well as scholarships from organizations promoting the gifted, but there are also other sources of income.
Supervision agreement
Good supervision throughout the qualification phase is the key to a successful doctorate. We therefore advocate the conclusion of an agreement between doctoral candidates and supervisors. The supervision agreement drawn up by TH Köln regulates the rights and obligations between doctoral candidates and supervisors. Of course, you can adapt and add to the agreement to suit your own needs.
Cooperation agreement
If you are planning to do a cooperative doctorate, you must plan your doctoral project in cooperation with a university (this is not required for a doctorate with PK NRW). Depending on the cooperating university, they might provide templates for a cooperation agreement.
Alternatively, TH Köln also has a template for a cooperation agreement in German and English:
Enrollment
Doctoral candidates who are employed as research assistants at TH Köln are free to enroll at TH Köln. All other doctoral candidates must enroll at TH Köln as soon as they have found a supervisor at TH Köln and at the university.
Registration at Graduate Center
In order to give you the best possible support and provide you with the right information, it is important that you register at Graduate Center.
Please use the following registration form:
Membership at the Doctoral College NRW (PK NRW)
As a doctoral researcher of TH Köln you have the possibility to become a member of the PK NRW if your doctoral supervisor is a member of the PK NRW. For all doctoral researchers who are doing their doctorate through the PK NRW, membership is obligatory. For all other doctoral researchers, membership offers an additional opportunity for networking as well as access to the services of the PK NRW.
Recommendations for events at the beginning of the doctorate
To get your doctorate off to the best possible start, we recommend participating in the following events:
- Welcoming new doctoral candidates. At this event of the Graduate Center Service Office, which is offered every 2-3 months, we would like to present the diverse offers and funding programs for doctoral candidates at TH Köln in detail, answer questions and get to know you personally. Of course, you also have the opportunity to make contact with other doctoral candidates. As soon as you have registered your doctorate in the Graduate Center, you will receive an invitation.
- Seminar 'Good Scientific Practice'. The workshop provides an overview of the rules of good scientific practice and how to deal with scientific misconduct. Frequent areas of conflict and the gray areas between questionable scientific practice, rule violations and misconduct are shown.
Good Scientific Practice - Seminar 'Introduction to Research Data Management'
- Afternoon for Doctorates. The afternoon of the doctoral studies offers doctoral candidates the opportunity to get to know each other and to exchange ideas and to talk to the university management.
Exchange and Networking
