First step toward the doctoral degree
How can I, as an external doctoral candidate, find an advisor for my doctoral project?
According to § 3 of the Doctoral Regulations an advisor has to fulfil two prerequisites: he or she has to be a recognized and practising scholar in the area of the suggested prospective dissertation research and he or she must be teaching in the master’s program of the Graduate School. The professors at Leuphana University of Lüneburg and their respective institutes and centers are assigned to one of the following three faculties. Read about the research areas and publications of your potential advisor(s) online in order to decide whether a particular professor would be a good match. Please visit the websites of the faculties:
Your first step toward a doctoral degree is to contact your potential advisor and convince him or her of the benefit of your research project. For this purpose, it is often helpful to prepare a project proposal. Please keep in mind that according to the Lower Saxony University Act professors at Leuphana University are not obliged to accept doctoral students. Your proposal may therefore be rejected.
The Doctoral Regulations stipulate that my project has to be assessed by three expert reviewers. At the start of my doctoral project, however, I only selected one. How should I proceed?
Technically, the Doctoral Committee is the body that decides on the three reviewers in accordance with the doctoral guidelines. The reviewers must be appointed no later than at the opening of the doctoral examination procedure, i.e. when the written work has been completed. Until that time, it will be sufficient to have been in contact with only one expert reviewer. During the course of your doctoral project, you will normally consider, jointly with your advisor, who might be the best expert reviewers for your specific project.