Center for Postgraduate Studies Center for Postgraduate Studies

The HAW Hamburg doctoral students generally elect spokespeople to represent their interests each year. The following individuals were elected at the doctoral students' annual general meeting on 23 May 2022 (listed in alphabetical order).

• Helene Häußler (Faculty of Design, Media and Information)
• Moritz Kielmann (Faculty of Life Sciences)
• Thorben Ortmann (Faculty of Design, Media and Information)

The spokespeople represent the doctoral students' interests within HAW Hamburg (e.g. in the university senate and the research council) and are in regular contact with the vice president for research, knowledge transfer and international affairs.

Contact information: Promotion.Sprecher (at) haw-hamburg (dot) de – the email address is currently being set up again

HAW Hamburg expressly welcomes doctoral students to enrol. It is possible to enrol at both HAW Hamburg and the partner university. When you enrol you become a member of HAW Hamburg and are covered by the insurance for university members. You also receive a semester ticket that allows you to use buses, the metro, and regional trains in the Hamburg public transit area (zones A to E).

Please contact us to receive more detailed information and the link to enrol once you have found a supervisor at both HAW Hamburg and at a partner university entitled to award doctorates and are ready to enrol at HAW Hamburg.

The first step to enrolling at HAW Hamburg is to complete an online form. You also need to submit the following documents to the Graduate Centre:

• Signed declaration of acceptance (will automatically be completed in myHAW after the online form has been submitted)
• Copy of your personal ID card / passport (if you have an address in Germany you will also need to provide your residence certificate [Meldebestätigung] if your current address is not listed in the identification document)
• Certified copy of your higher education entrance qualification (Abitur or other)
• Bank transfer receipt for semester contribution
• Evidence of previous studies (Bachelor's and Master's certificates, certificate demonstrating termination of enrolment)
• Letter of acceptance from the partner university (in cases where admission is not granted until submission of the doctorate: confirmation of agreement to provide supervision from professor at partner university entitled to award doctorates)
• Confirmation of agreement to provide supervision from supervising HAW Hamburg professor. (Please request the form from the Graduate Centre via email.)

All of the documents need to be submitted in German or English (as certified copies where necessary).

Once the Graduate Centre has received all of the documents, it will pass them on to the Student Admissions and Registration Office for the final stage of processing.

The Graduate Centre recommends that all doctoral students sign a supervision agreement with the supervising professor at HAW Hamburg. HAW Hamburg members can download a Word template for the supervision agreement in German or English from EMIL. Information sheets about doing your doctorate at a company and the secure collection and storage of primary data are also available via EMIL.

The Graduate Centre can also send the template and information sheets via email if a supervision agreement has been reached verbally with a HAW Hamburg professor.

You can find information about financing your doctoral studies under 'Financing your PhD' on the Prospective doctoral students page.

The Hamburg Research Academy (HRA) is the central body for all prospective doctoral students, enrolled doctoral students, postdocs, junior professors, and their supervisors at nine higher education institutions in Hamburg, including HAW Hamburg.

You can find more information about the HRA and its current programme of events and workshops here.