The annual extension of scholarships ensures the quality assurance of the structured doctoral studies program, the supervision services within the Graduate School, and the dissertation. It also ensures a consistent awareness of the Graduate School’s evaluation criteria and offers for everyone involved in the process.

Mandatory steps to extend the Ph.D. position / scholarship

The following information can be downloaded as a leaflet (PDF).

Team meeting

The meeting between the doctoral student and all members of the supervisor team is a mandatory part of the extension process. It should take place in June/July. The doctoral candidates should arrange an appointment for the team meeting with their supervisors in May. Please use Skype or Adobe Connect for any supervisors who are not in Berlin at the time of the meeting. Our office is happy to offer advice and support. If no appointment can be made for everyone involved, please contact the office in due time.

The meeting should clarify the following aspects:

• progress status of the dissertation
• coordination regarding the dissertation’s content, method, and theoretical approach; identification of discrepancies (if applicable).
• agreement regarding the work plan for the following months (including conference visits, involvement in teaching events, visits abroad for study or research, planned publications, use of course offerings at DRS, et al.)
• if necessary: identifying problems and a mutual search for solutions & recommendations to the office / the Graduate School’s board or director

Progress report

The doctoral student completes the progress report form and sends it via email well enough in advance before the meeting to all members of the supervisor team. Following the meeting, the doctoral student amends the item ‘results of the supervisor meeting‘ and submits the work report to our office by July 31.

Work sample and schedule

In consultation with the supervisor team the doctoral student creates a work sample. This means:

• an annotated outline of the dissertation
• completed dissertation chapters or chapter excerpts
• an annotated list of literature read and evaluated
• a schematic schedule for the coming year.

The doctoral candidates send the work sample via email well enough in advance before the meeting to all members of the supervisor team. These documents are the basis of the meeting. The work sample does not need to be submitted to our office.

Votes

Each member of the supervisor team completes the voting form (Word document) following the advisory meeting. 

The vote should be submitted to our office by mid-August at the very latest. Our office treats the votes as confidential. Other members of the supervisor team are only informed of votes if the issuing supervisor is informed and has agreed to this.

No news is good news: if we are missing documents for the extension process we will be in touch with you. If you do not hear from us, the extension process is under way, and nothing else is required from you.