Steps towards a doctorate

Find a topic for your doctorate

The first step towards a doctorate is to find your own doctoral topic. Either you have your own research idea or this has already been narrowed down within the framework of research projects. The preparation of an research proposal, accompanied by a literature search, will help you to specify your research project.

In the job advertisements at HFT Stuttgart, there are always vacancies for research topics or for research assistants, which are very well suited as a basis for your own doctoral project.

Find a supervisor

The next step is to find a supervisor for your doctoral project, i.e. a professor from the department in which you want to do your doctorate. On the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences' website you will find a list of research areas and the respective professors who could be suitable for supervising a dissertation.

Ideally, you should have already made contact with potential supervisors during your topic-finding phase. As soon as you have identified a suitable person, you can contact them directly with your application documents, such as CV, letter of motivation and - if already available - initial ideas for your research proposal.

If you need support here, you can also contact the Graduate School directly.

Secure funding

The following funding options are available to you:

• Scholarships:
  • Many foundations offer scholarships for doctoral candidates, e.g. the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes oder die Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
  • You can find more information under Funding programs
• Collaboration in a research project or in a graduate research training group at Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences:
  • Employment as a research assistant in a research project(Open vacancies HFT Stuttgart)
  • In a doctoral or a graduate research training group, the positions are usually titled "doctoral positions", which offers the opportunity to concentrate on the individual research project over the duration of the doctorate (usually 3-4 years)
• Companies or organizations from the public sector:
  • Employment with a company offers you another opportunity to earn money and complete your doctorate alongside your job
  • There is also the possibility of being employed by companies or organizations from the public sector as a "doctoral candidate" for further qualification for a doctorate in your main job

Contact the Graduate School

Together with your main supervisor, they will contact the Graduate School and discuss all further steps. The Graduate School is the link to the Promotionsverband Baden-Württemberg and to Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences' internal doctoral candidates and professor networks. It helps you to find the right doctoral program for you. In addition, it ensures that you can go through a quality-guided doctoral process and that you are supported in your individual needs during and after your doctorate.

Conclude a supervision agreement & create a research proposal

After clarifying the doctoral options, you will conclude a supervision agreement with your supervising professors, which describes the key points of the planned doctorate.

This usually states who your main and second supervisor will be (the second supervisor does not have to be determined at the beginning of the procedure), what your working title will be, which qualifications you will attend and how you will organize your schedule. If you would like to do a doctorate at the Promotionverband Baden-Württemberg, you must prepare a rsearch proposal.

You can find the templates for the research proposal and supervision agreement here.

Registration in the Promotionsverband

Once all the documents have been collected, a "quality check" is carried out by the Graduate School of Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences so that you can then register with the Promotionsverband Baden-Württemberg. With this step, you officially apply for acceptance of your doctoral procedure. As a rule, you will receive feedback (acceptance or request for revision with conditions) in a timely manner.

Enrollment or registration at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences

As soon as your application for acceptance has been approved, you must enrol at Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences within 4 weeks. If you are an employee at Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences and your employment contract includes at least 50% employment, you can be exempted from the enrolment requirement and only have to register at Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences.