Candidates must complete the following doctoral assignments:

- A written assignment (doctoral thesis)
- An oral examination (defence)
- Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary courses in order to acquire scientific skills, totalling 12 credit points.

Section 7, paragraph 1 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations stipulates which individuals may act as supervisors. The supervisor supervises the doctoral thesis substantively and submits a written statement (votum informativum) on the quality and merits of the thesis. A Doctorate Committee is also usually appointed, for which the doctoral candidate may nominate people to be members.

A Supervision Agreement governs the relationship between the doctoral candidate and the supervisor and the Supervision Committee, as well as other aspects regarding the implementation and supervision of the doctoral project.

If you have any questions, problems or difficulties regarding the doctorate, you can always contact the Doctorate Committee or the School’s ombudsperson. It goes without saying that all enquiries will be treated confidentially.

Before you can start your doctoral project, you first need to be accepted as a doctoral candidate in accordance with Section 7 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations by concluding the Supervision Agreement, which must be countersigned by the Chair of the Doctorate Committee. In most cases, you must also be admitted to the doctorate at the same time in accordance with Section 8 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations. Applications for admission to a doctorate must be submitted no later than one year after being accepted as a doctoral candidate.

Applications for acceptance as a doctoral candidate and for admission to a doctorate should be addressed to the Doctorate Committee for Medical Science (Dr. rer. medic). Decisions regarding admission to the doctorate and all other procedural matters are taken by the Doctorate Committee for Medical Science (Dr. rer. medic.) at its bimonthly meetings.

Please use the following application form:

• Anmeldeformular / Application form: Gesuch auf Zulassung /Admission as a doctoral candidate, Section 8

In accordance with Section 8 (2f) of the Doctoral Degree Regulations, in addition to the application for admission you must also submit proof of previous participation in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary courses or an overview of the courses which you intend to complete. Please use the form provided for this purpose.

Please check in advance whether your doctoral project needs to be approved by the Ethics Committee. If applicable, you should contact the University of Oldenburg’s Medical Ethics Committee.

Once you have been admitted, you should register as a doctoral candidate as soon as possible. More information can be found on the Admissions Office homepage.

As part of the doctorate in Medical Science (Dr. rer. medic.), you must complete interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary courses in order to acquire scientific skills (12 credit points in total). These courses are intended to demonstrate your ability to carry out in-depth independent scientific work and must be completed in the period between admission to the doctorate and submission of your doctoral thesis:

• Information on obtaining 12 credit points for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary skills, Section 1 (1c)

Please use this form to prove that you have completed these courses.

Within the framework of OLTECH’s workshop programme, in particular the PhD programme "Medicine and Health Science", the Graduate School OLTECH offers workshops/seminars through which the required 12 credit points, mandatory for the Dr. rer. medic. degree, can be acquired. Prerequisite for participation in workshops/seminars of the Graduate School OLTECH is a membership in the Graduate School and admission to the PhD programme "Medicine and Health Science". If only the 12 credit points required for the Dr. rer. medic are earned, OLTECH will issue a "transcript of records" (TOR). For the successful completion of the OLTECH programme (incl. OLTECH certificate), at least 30 credit points, distributed over three module areas, are required. More information on the contents, registration modalities, etc. can be found on the OLTECH homepage.

The doctoral thesis can be written in either German or English. It must also contain a max. three page summary in German or English. The University of Oldenburg’s Guidelines for good academic practice apply when writing the doctoral thesis.

The doctoral thesis can be written as a monograph or as a series of publications. Further details are specified in Section 9 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations. Please refer to our information sheet on writing the doctoral thesis (only available in German) for the doctorate in Medical Science (Dr. rer. medic.).

When submitting the thesis, it must have a corresponding title page and a declaration of originality:

• Title page for the submitted doctoral thesis

More information on writing the doctoral thesis:

Information sheet on writing the doctoral thesis for the doctorate in Medical Science (Dr. rer. medic.)

In general, you can submit your doctoral thesis and your application to initiate the doctoral procedure at the earliest one year after admission and at the latest five years after admission. Upon request, the Doctorate Committee may change these deadlines by an appropriate period of time. If the application to initiate the doctoral procedure is not submitted on time, the admission is deemed to have been withdrawn (for further details, please see Section 10, paragraph 1 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations).

Once you have completed the doctoral thesis, you should submit an application to initiate the doctoral procedure in accordance with Section 10 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations:

• Antrag auf Einleitung eines Promotionsverfahrens / Initiating the doctoral procedure, Section 10

Additional documents that need to be submitted are listed in Section 10, paragraph 2 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations.

Applications to initiate the doctoral procedure must be submitted to the Doctorate Committee in writing. The relevant documents must be submitted to the Doctoral Office at least ten days before the Doctorate Committee meeting.

The Doctorate Committee initiates the doctoral procedure by appointing individuals to assess the thesis. Generally speaking, two assessors are appointed who are specialists in different subject areas and together cover the scope of the thesis. More information on assessors is provided in Section 5 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations.

The thesis defence takes place following the display period, once the thesis has been accepted. The Doctorate Committee appoints an Examination Committee to conduct the defence. More information on the composition of the Examination Committee can be found in Section 4 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations.

The Doctoral Office will inform you in good time regarding the composition of the Examination Committee.  You are responsible for organising your thesis defence (i.e., scheduling a date and time in consultation with the examiners and reserving a room). In light of the coronavirus measures that have been implemented to reduce the number of people on site, it is currently also possible to organise virtual thesis defences. Please note that all members of the Examination Committee must agree to this.

Once the date/time and location have been decided, the Doctoral Office must be informed.

If you start planning your defence while your thesis is still being assessed, make sure that you do not schedule your defence to take place too soon after the expected end of the display period. This is because, in some cases, the expert opinions are not submitted on time, which can lead to delays; the defence may then have to be rescheduled.

Within one year of passing the defence you must make your doctoral thesis available to the academic community in an appropriate manner. Theses are published via the University of Oldenburg’s library and information system. For more information on publication, see Section 14 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations. A title page in accordance with the following template must be used for the printed version:

• Title page for the accepted doctoral thesis/publication

The doctorate concludes with the issuing of the doctoral certificate, which entitles you to use the title of Doctor.