This section is currently under construction. If you are interested in pursuing a doctorate at the STS Department, please reach out with all relevant information to one of our professors as potential supervisors. If you have questions regarding admission requirements or regulations, please contact graduateschool@sot.tum.de
Supervision and Mentoring
At the start of the application process, all doctoral candidates choose a person who will support them in identifying a topic, help them address any subject-specific issues relating to the doctoral project and who is willing to act as a supervisor. For this purpose, prospective doctoral candidates should get in contact with suitable professors.
When a supervisor has been found, you must complete a supervision agreement.
In addition to a supervisor, all doctoral candidates also choose a mentor. Mentors can help doctoral candidates with their project at the subject level and at the personal level, but they can also provide support with networking and career planning as well as by providing assistance in difficult situations or helping doctoral candidates settle into academic life. A mentor can be anyone who has demonstrated their capacity for independent scientific work, normally by having completed a doctorate themselves.
Further information on supervisors and mentoring
Please note: Due to the interdisciplinary and cross-faculty focus of the MCTS and the projects that take place here, we have a very unique supervision structure. At least one person from the MCTS must act as your supervisor or mentor, and they must sign the supervision agreement.
These are typical supervision configurations:
- For doctoral candidates looking to pursue a Dr. phil./Dr. rer. pol./Dr. rer. soc./Dr. oec. publ.: An MCTS professor who will also help choose a mentor.
- For doctoral candidates looking to pursue a different doctoral degree: a full professor from the relevant faculty, with a professor from the MCTS acting as a second supervisor or as a mentor.
For all configurations: The configuration should be based on your research idea and an assessment of whether your project is suitable for supervision or mentorship at the MCTS.
Supervision Agreement
Once you have arranged for supervision, you and your supervisor should complete a supervision agreement together. This agreement specifies the aims and objectives of the intended dissertation project and includes a project outline.
A template of the MCTS supervision agreement and guidelines for the project outline can be found here. The supervision agreement is required for entry onto the doctoral candidacy list. The supervision agreement governs the supervision relationship and can be modified at a later date.
Feedback Meeting
In addition to regular dialog, a mandatory interview is held between the doctoral candidate, their supervisor and their mentor no later than two years into the doctoral studies program. This is called the feedback meeting. This interview documents the progress of the doctoral project based on the supervision agreement. Participation is confirmed by means of a form which is uploaded onto the DocGS online platform.
The form is available for download here.
Further information on supervisors and mentoring
Annual Re-Registration
Doctoral candidates and supervisors confirm that the doctorate is active and ongoing by means of annual re-registration.
Generally speaking, you and your supervisor will automatically be asked to complete the annual re-registration at the beginning of the academic year by email via the DocGS system. For this reason you should ensure that the email address you registered with in this system is always up to date.