Doctoral procedure at the faculty

The basis for admission to and completion of doctoral programs is our doctoral regulations. The regulations dated March 18, 2025 (Official Notice 2516) and August 7, 2025 (Official notice 2548) apply to all new admissions.

The first step is to contact a potential supervisor for your doctoral thesis. As a rule, all professors and private lecturers are eligible to serve as supervisors. The exact provisions can be found in §4 of the current doctoral regulations.

You can enroll as a student during your doctoral studies, but you are not required to do so.

Enrollment takes place at the Student Secretariat¹⁵ of the University of Bonn once you have received confirmation of your doctoral studies and offers the following advantages:

Has your doctoral project been completed and is your dissertation nearly finished? Before the thesis can be submitted, the application for admission to the doctoral procedure must be submitted.

In this application, you must specify the final title of your thesis and propose the composition of your examination committee. Please note § 4 of the doctoral regulations of the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional, and Engineering Sciences.

It is advisable to involve the reviewers as early as possible so that you can discuss your thesis from a technical point of view before submitting it. Your application must be approved by the Faculty Council (which meets three times per semester during the lecture period). (Submission deadline: No later than 10 days before the next Faculty Council meeting – the dates can be found under “News”).

Once the dissertation and all other required documents have been submitted to the doctoral office by appointment, your work will be forwarded to the reviewers, who will usually review your dissertation within two months.

If all reviews have been received and the thesis has been accepted, the members of the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional, and Engineering Sciences who are authorized to conduct examinations will be informed of the two-week review period. This is followed by a three-day objection period. If no objections are raised, the primary reviewer will obtain a declaration of readiness for printing.

In agreement with the examination committee, you set the place, date, and time of the oral examination. You must submit this information to the doctoral office at least three weeks before the oral examination so that a faculty-wide invitation can be sent out. A condition for this is that your supervisor has signed the declaration of readiness for printing.

The defense can also be conducted hybrid via Zoom. In addition to the address, the dial-in details must also be provided. Complete online colloquia must be approved by the dean.

After successfully completing the examination, you will receive further information and a preliminary certificate of the overall assessment of your doctoral performance in a timely manner.

Your doctoral procedure is considered complete once the documents required to complete the procedure have been submitted to the Doctoral Office. Only then will the certificate be issued. You will receive two certified copies. You are now entitled to use the title of Doctor. 

The original certificate will be presented by the dean at the annual doctoral ceremony. You will usually receive an invitation to the ceremony by email 6 to 8 weeks before the ceremony. Therefore, please send any changes to your contact details to the doctoral office.