After you have passed the disputation, you will receive an electronically signed confirmation including all grades from the doctoral office by e-mail as soon as the disputation protocol is available to the doctoral office. We like to point out that you are not allowed to bear the title before you have received the sealed document of the doctoral degree; this applies to the title „doctor designatus“ (Dr. des.) as well. Please note that the fulfilment of the publication requirements is the prerequisite for the bestowal of the doctoral degree.

For doctoral theses written in English, we automatically provide a German and an English version of the doctoral certificate. The doctoral certificate will be ready for mailing no later than 6 weeks after the disputation, provided that you have fulfilled the publication obligation at the university library. The certificate(s) will first be emailed to you as a PDF and then delivered by registered mail to the address you have provided.

You are bound to use the academic title in the conferred form!

Based on our regulations, the Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy confers the academic title “Dr. rer. nat.” for individual doctoral degree programs. If you have completed a corresponding doctoral studies program, you have the one-time choice, whether you would like to be awarded the title of Ph.D. instead. Please note that once you have been awarded your title, you are obliged to use the title in the form awarded to you. If, for example, after receiving the "Dr. rer. nat." the title "Ph.D." is used instead, this is not a possible translation, but the unauthorized use of a title that has not been awarded, which can be criminally prosecuted.

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Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) can be found here.

Read on for the next topic 'Joining the Alumni Network'.