Doctorate at The Hochschule Niederrhein

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Opportunities for a doctorate at The Hochschule Niederrhein

The Hochschule Niederrhein offers two options for doctoral studies:

1. a doctorate in cooperation with a university authorized to award doctorates.

2. a doctorate in a structured doctoral program in accordance with the doctoral law of the Graduate School for Applied Research in NRW (PK NRW).

Are you interested in a doctorate at The Hochschule Niederrhein or do you have questions about your doctoral project? Please send a message to promotion(at)hs-niederrhein.de

Register for the doctoral program of The Hochschule Niederrhein to benefit from the funding and further education offers.

 

What is a doctorate?

The doctorate is the awarding of the academic doctoral degree upon completion of the doctoral procedure. The doctoral procedure demonstrates the ability to work independently, in depth and scientifically.

The doctorate consists of two elements:

1. the dissertation as written documentation of the academic achievement

2. the oral examination in the form of a defense of the dissertation (disputation) or a scientific oral examination

The dissertation can be written in the form of a traditional doctorate (presentation of research results in a monograph) or a cumulative doctorate (publication of partial results in publications during the doctoral phase). The work on the doctorate is supported by your supervisors. In addition, active involvement in the scientific context, e.g. contact with other scientists or participation in scientific discourse at conferences, is recommended.

Prerequisites

According to § 67 (4) of the NRW Higher Education Act, admission to the doctoral program is open to anyone who can provide proof of a Master's or comparable degree.

Further admission requirements are regulated in the doctoral regulations of the university entitled to award doctorates or in the framework doctoral regulations (RPO) as well as in the respective doctoral regulations of the departments (APO) of the PK NRW. The doctoral regulations may provide for proof of further (studies) achievements.

Course of the doctoral program

Contact

Sarah Hoffmann
Research Data Management (FDM) Officer

In a cooperative doctorate, you will be jointly supervised by a professor at The Hochschule Niederrhein and a university in Germany or abroad with its own right to award doctorates. You write your dissertation independently of a fixed program. The doctoral degree will be awarded to you by the cooperating university.

The first step: topic and supervision

Your first consideration should be your doctoral topic. Choose a topic that you are currently researching at the HSNR. Academic staff working on multi-year projects are often given the opportunity to do a doctorate. Look for relevant job advertisements or talk to your project leader.

You can also look for your own topic, for example one that is related to your studies. Let yourself be inspired by the numerous research activities at The Hochschule Niederrhein. Then look for a professor to supervise your doctoral project. Make contact with the professor. For the first contact, it is advisable to briefly introduce yourself and your doctoral project by e-mail and ask for an appointment. If possible, attach a short synopsis of your planned doctoral project.

 

 

 

 

 

Supervision agreement

As soon as both the university supervisor and the supervisor at the HSNR have agreed to supervise the doctoral project, this must be recorded in a supervision agreement in accordance with good scientific practice. This agreement regulates the rights and obligations of all parties involved during the doctoral process. The universities usually have a template for this.

registration

Doctoral students who are registered for a cooperative doctorate at a university and are supervised at the HSNR as part of their doctoral studies are recorded at the HSNR as cross-registered students for statistical purposes. There are no contributions or fees for cross-registered students.

Cross-registered registration »

The Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of NRW has granted the universities of applied sciences based in NRW their own right to award doctorates via the Graduate School for Applied Research in NRW (PK NRW). The Hochschule Niederrhein has been able to award doctorates via the PK NRW since 2023. The doctoral degree is awarded by the PK NRW.

The PK NRW offers the opportunity to do a doctorate in structured and subject-specific doctoral programs offered by the departments of the PK NRW. The PK NRW currently offers ten doctoral programs. Each doctoral program relates to a scientific, interdisciplinary overarching topic, which is examined from several disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Have you completed a Master's degree programme and are interested in a doctorate with the PK NRW? Further prerequisites and requirements as well as the doctoral procedure are regulated in the Framework Doctoral Regulations (RPO) and in the Doctoral Regulations of the respective departments (APO) of the PK NRW.

Current regulations of the PK NRW

Do you have questions about the admission requirements of the individual departments or the regulations? In this case, please make use of the advisory services of the PK NRW.

Services and advice offered by the PK NRW

Find a topic

Your first consideration should be your doctoral topic. Choose a topic that you are currently researching at the HSNR. Academic staff working on multi-year projects are often given the opportunity to do a doctorate. Look for relevant job advertisements or talk to your project leader.

You can also look for your own topic, for example one that is related to your studies. Let yourself be inspired by the numerous research activities at The Hochschule Niederrhein.

Find a supervisory team

Then find out which professorial member is suitable to supervise your doctoral project. The professorial members and their core research areas are presented on the websites of the departments of the PK NRW under "Contributors".

Get in contact with the professorial member. For the first contact, it is advisable to briefly introduce yourself and your doctoral project by e-mail and ask for an appointment. If possible, attach a short synopsis of your planned doctoral project.

Once you have found a supervisor, think together about further supervision. The doctoral concept of the PK NRW provides for doctoral candidates to be intensively supervised by a team of several professors, which usually consists of three supervisors.

Supervision agreement

Once you have found a complete supervisory team, fill out the supervision agreement together. Use the binding template of the department in which the person is a member of.

Registration

Anyone who is doing a doctorate at PK NRW and is supervised at The Hochschule Niederrhein for this purpose must register at HSNR.

The prerequisite is acceptance as a doctoral candidate by the responsible doctoral committee. Conditional registration can take place without this acceptance if a professorial member of the PK NRW has confirmed supervision.

Conditional registration is limited to a maximum of two semesters. Enrolled doctoral candidates pay the semester fee.

To registration »
After registration

An application for registration at PK NRW must be submitted within four weeks of registration at HSNR. No fee is due for registration at the PK NRW.

Submit an application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate at the same time as the application for registration at PK NRW. The examination of the application is the responsibility of the doctoral committee of the responsible department. You will receive written notification of the decision.

As a doctoral candidate according to the doctoral law of the PK NRW, you are obliged to re-register for the duration of your doctorate for the next semester both at the HSNR and at the PK NRW. Acceptance and registration are limited to five years.

As a registered doctoral candidate at the PK NRW, you are a member of the PK NRW. Membership ends if you de-register, do not re-register, discontinue your doctorate or at the latest when you successfully pass the oral doctoral examination (disputation).

The doctoral college is an interdisciplinary central contact and coordination point for all doctoral candidates, doctoral students and professors at The Hochschule Niederrhein. The doctoral college bundles a wide range of activities to qualify and promote young academics.

Its primary task is to support doctoral candidates in all aspects of the doctorate. The doctoral college is the central service point for all formal aspects of your doctorate, but also sees itself as a companion during all phases of your extensive doctoral process. We would also like to support and advise you in challenging situations such as doubts, motivation gaps, writer's block or conflicts.

The networking of doctoral candidates within the university and with the scientific communities is an important success factor for the doctorate. It is therefore a central goal to create a communication platform for early career researchers and to facilitate joint, cross-doctoral activities.

Our tasks

  • Contact point with advice, information and support services for doctoral candidates, doctoral students, postdocs and all other university members involved in the promotion of scientists at early career stages
  • Offers to promote interdisciplinary networking
  • Financial support
  • Interdisciplinary qualification offers for support during the doctoral phase